Tuesday, April 26

More Speech. Not Exclusive Talking Down Only.

 Greg Bensinger

Twitter has never been a place for rational, nuanced speech. 

Expect it to get much, much worse.

The decision by Twitter’s board of directors on Monday afternoon 

to accept a takeover bid from Elon Musk means the company thinks 

the social media company would be best served by the ownership 

of a man who uses the platform to slime his critics, body-shame 

people, defy securities laws and relentlessly hawk cryptocurrencies.

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This member of the NYT editorial board appears afraid.

Of free speech.  I hope the newspaper's new executive editor isn't.

* First thing I would like him to do is revert back to consistent style.

Under outgoing black editor Dean Baquet's stylebook, the B in the 

reference to Black Americans was capped; white remains lowercased...

Dominant/submissive.  Unequal treatment on skin tone. #Sad.

** Don't be afraid of honest criticism.  Revert to shared standards.

"Get It Straight. Go forward... Move ahead. Try to detect it?

It's not too late."

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"Body shaming " in 2022 is... Referring to Bill Gates' big belly with the pregnant man emoji. (The man travelled with President Clinton to Epstein's island of young girls.  Open your mouth and criticize him already... Poke fun at the flab of the aging oldster who allegedly consumed young flesh: he's fair game for "mean" words and memes.  Why protect that ... from deserved criticism?  Don't like it? Don't consume it. Don't shut it down...)

It's Paul Simon's classic lyrics: "Mr. Beer Belly, beer belly: get these mutts away from me!  You know, I don't find this stuff amusing anymore..."  ~ Graceland album (1986).

It's the childhood schoolyard taunt: "Fatty, fatty 2x4: Can't get through the bathroom door!  Too late now, it's on the floor, fatty fatty two by four..."  Aimed at big bullies.  Words. Not violence. Words, not used against kindly chubby kids but as verbal tools.  Words, not violence.  Don't fear honest words.

Why would a member of the editorial board at the NYT resist words, leveling the playing field for more voices?  Respond in kind.  Don't silence "lesser" others...  #BraveNewWorld.  #UseYourWords  

#MasculinityMeansFreeSpeechNot"Safe"SpacesLikeProtectedPrivateIslands