Elon Musk Buys Twitter
Meandering thoughts of the meaning of Twitter.
Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter, which is now a private company owned entirely by one individual. Elon Musk is an interesting man, because he is a capitalist, a true “captain of industry,” as opposed to a mere executive and manager. The capitalist with both great personal wealth and direct control over an important company is the arch-enemy of the managers. Twitter is among the most important companies in the world because of the role it plays in unrestricted fifth-generation warfare. It’s more than just “the digital public square;” it is more like the public brain.
Whether or not attempts are made from the left or right (counter.social and gab.com), respectively, it is impossible to compete with Twitter. There is no free market competition to be Twitter. Only Twitter can be Twitter. Twitter has defined an entire class of person (in some sense analogous to the ruling class): the Blue Check. To be a Blue Check is inextricably linked to Twitter. You cannot “build your own Twitter,” because what Twitter is is absolutely unique as a matter of historic consequence.
Libertarians and conservatives will mistakingly believe that the existence of a free market in social media means that there is free competition to be Twitter. Contrary to what some people may believe, there is actually a free (-ish) market in social media. The failure for any competitor to outcompete Twitter is not due to the lack of a free market, it is because Twitter’s “competitors” are fundamentally incapable of competing with Twitter. Twitter is not competing in the social media space. Twitter simply is. Twitter is like the New York Times is. Like Disney is. Like a king is.
Any of these things can be destroyed, but they cannot be replaced. Disney cannot be replaced. Nothing with can ever have the same “magic” that Disney had. The western may have been destroyed, but was it replaced? Of course not. Only a western can be a western. Something else can compete for the dollars made by westerns (like sci-fi), and succeed in doing so, but that doesn’t replace the western, does it?
Fungibility is a basic economic concept, and it confuses me why libertarians don’t seem to understand this concept when applied to a cultural space occupied by some entity. We can analogize this to physical space. Saying “build your own Twitter” is like saying “discover your own America.” I know that libertarians don’t really tend to use this rhetoric anymore, but I want to make the point that the concept of a free market for Twitter is fundamentally impossible; not merely prevented due to State regulation, but literally impossible. This is so because it is impossible to occupy the same cultural and historic space (unless you can time travel) as Twitter, in the same way that it is impossible to discover your own America. You could (at one point) discover new land, of course, but that isn’t the same thing as discovering America, is it? Land exists at a particular location; it’s not fungible. Neither is Twitter. This applies to roads, as well, by the way. You can say “build your own roads” all you want, but roads are non-fungible too, because they exist in non-fungible space. Every single road is a monopoly on some particular space, whether it is privately owned or not; here we find an example of a monopoly existing without a State.
But I digress. I think the point is made. This article isn’t meant to dunk on libertarians, but it was important to establish exactly what Twitter is. This is why Elon Musk purchasing it is such a big deal. The ruling class cannot simply replace Twitter. If Elon Musk controls it, and does things with it that are against their interests, this is very bad for them. Twitter is an extremely important and unique weapon that cannot just be discarded; it must be managed without being destroyed. As a public company subject to a board of managers, it has been managed successfully. In Musk’s private hands, there is no longer an internal mechanism within Twitter itself to manage his decisions. This means that it must be taken to the sovereign level:
Suddenly, the federal government is very interested in Section 230 reform. The message to Elon Musk is simple: do what we say, or we will regulate, destroy, or take over your company if we have to, and make the purchase of Twitter the biggest waste of your entire life.
All of the worst people in the world are on board with hating Elon Musk, too. It’s virtually identical to the hate mobs that spawned on command for Donald Trump. Hilariously, Elon Musk hasn’t really even done anything yet, and in general does work that leftists would normally love. But now they suddenly hate “billionaires” and “oligarchy” again when it is commanded of them. The 🇺🇦Ukiesexual🇺🇦 people live by the friend/enemy distinction. All it took was for him to even suggest that “wokism” has gone too far (which is obvious to literally everyone), and their Schmittian sensors activated.
Indeed, Elon Musk has not done anything yet. The big hurdle is not actually the purchase of Twitter. Elon Musk sponsors Twitter now - so what? Now, he must actually control it, which means forcing the personnel employed at Twitter to execute his bidding. Lots of capital and big purchases alone do not unseat the managers - usurping their role as decision-makers does.
All of my readers will know that free speech as a concept doesn’t make any sense at all. The conservative right and rightists with mental disabilities other than conservatism are laser-focused on Musk’s intentions regarding free speech, but this is boring and un-insightful. What will be really interesting is when (if) Musk actually asserts control over Twitter, which he can only do by becoming personally involved and responsible for the decisions made at the company - which does appear to be the way he elects to manage Tesla and SpaceX, and I presume, The Boring Company. If Musk actually uses power at Twitter, ruthlessly if necessary, then it will be a small reversal of the managerial revolution, with the capitalist class actually striking a blow against the managers. In this sense, Musk would thereby be a dissenting elite by virtue of being outside of the ruling class (the managers). This type of elite is exactly what is needed to defeat the current governing elite – it is when the elites are in contention with one another that their abuses of us are tempered, and even better, the possibility of the ruling elite being replaced entirely can emerge. Musk could be the one-off, or he could be the start of something very interesting.
Addendum: I should address the alarm over Musk’s goal of “authenticating all humans.” People are going nuts, claiming that he intends to end anonymous accounts. My response is: learn to read. I suppose the McDonald’s account will have to be banned, as McDonald’s is definitely not a human (unless Mr. McDonald is finally willing to dox himself).