| Elon Musk may not have Twitter yet, but he's certainly got the other thing he's been seeking: attention. The world's richest man's bid to buy the site outright has everybody watching, including our columnists. Max Boot says a takeover is all bad news; Musk running Twitter and stripping it of much of its content moderation would be ruinous for the platform — and for our democracy. America's bygone era of greater gatekeeping was "saner and less polarized," Boot writes, because the newspapers and networks filtered nonsense out of political discourse. Musk wants to welcome it. Eugene Robinson sees a silver lining, though: Perhaps this is the push we all need to finally get off Twitter. When Robinson first started using the site, he considered it one of the "dumbest ideas" ever. Now, like many of us, he's hooked. Maybe Musk's "mercurial, combative" reign could finally return to us all our wasted hours. Good, bad or somewhere in between, there's one thing indisputable about Musk's bid: The behavior, as Christine Emba notes, is "peak billionaire." She writes: "When seemingly inexhaustible wealth is concentrated in the hands of a wildly ambitious loose cannon like Musk, it can only lead to severe social consequences." Elon, we're watching. And we're worried. Want to receive an email alert each time these authors publish a column? Sign up for Max Boot. Sign up for Eugene Robinson. Sign up for Christine Emba.  (Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters) There is way too much nonsense online as it is. Musk would only make it worse. By Max Boot ● Read more » | | | | Journalists are addicted to the social media service. But a takeover by the chaotic billionaire might give some of us an excuse to rethink our relationship to it. By Eugene Robinson ● Read more » | | | | What would you call it when one fantastically rich person can make decisions with potentially life-changing ramifications for many, many people — based on nothing more than their mood? By Christine Emba ● Read more » | | | Drivers waiting to cross into Texas are backed up for miles, thanks to the Republican governor. By Catherine Rampell ● Read more » | | | | If you wanted to design a breeding ground for future Islamist militants, it would be this refugee camp in Syria. By David Ignatius ● Read more » | | | | So far, he has consistently been on target. By Jennifer Rubin ● Read more » | | | Ukraine still faces a mortal threat to its existence as a nation. By Fareed Zakaria ● Read more » | | | | Voters believe the president's policies are a disaster, and his efforts to convince them otherwise are backfiring. By Marc A. Thiessen ● Read more » | | | | Here in North Carolina, the largest bloc of voters in this spring's primaries is almost certainly going to be composed of voters opting out of a party label. By Tony Woodlief ● Read more » | | | Shared custody with your ex is a test of your limits. By Tracy Moore ● Read more » | | | | Most Americans don't think left-wing indoctrination has taken over their schools. By Paul Waldman ● Read more » | | | |
Email 
No comments:
Post a Comment