Every generation has its tech heroes, among other more super (fictional) and less regular (real-life) ones. For the Millennials and Gen Zs, that hero is undeniably Elon Musk. For my Gen X, AKA the âforgottenâ and/or âlostâ generation, that was/is Kim Dotcom.
What could these two distinguished and controversial individuals have in common? Well, to begin with, theyâre Twitter buddies.
Elon âLekkerâ Musk and Kim âKiwiâ Dotcom
You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you canât please all of the people all of the time.
â John Lydgate
So, one fine day, Kim Dotcom wasnât feeling fine about Elonâs âsleepingâ Starlink satellites. By the way, a great song by Tasmin Archer. Look for it on YouTube.
Elon entered into the full âmea culpaâ mode with his reply:
Then, we had a series of tweets about love, humanity, peace in the world, and other commonplaces every Miss Universe contestant knows by heart.
Love is in the air, but at a lower altitude than âkamikaze dronesâ and the Internet satellites, obviously.
Whatâs fair is fair, Kim Dotcom has a lot on his plate too. The Ukrainians may forgive Elonâs peace âsuggestionâ one day, but Hollywood wonât let Kim slip through their copyright fingers, which is more certain than death and taxes. The silver lining for Kim is the fact that heâs living in the doomsday-bunkers-for-billionaires-friendliest country in the world.
In the worst-case scenario of a nuclear apocalypse, itâs good to have Kim Dotcom for a friend, even if itâs only on Twitter.
The basic survival premise is to get to New Zealandâs apocalypse-proof bunkers just in time before, you know what. But, thatâs another story.
Just before we leave the founder of MEGA, not to be confused with MAGA, to enjoy in the company of Peter Jacksonâs Hobbits (LOTR and The Hobbit Trilogy filming location), letâs not forget to mention Kimâs political âtryoutsâ as an independent candidate and with the MANA Movement, again not to be confused with MAGA Movement. Why is that even a thing? Well, big money, big tech, and politics are simply destined or doomed to cross paths, this way or another.
The âDamnationâ of the Political âWrong Turnâ
Does Elon Musk have to be omnipresent? Thereâs no other way to put it, and this is a legit question to ask. Whenever thereâs an event that captures the entire worldâs attention, thereâs no high probability, but certainty Elon would be there, involved. Iâm not talking about the war in Ukraine. Do you remember the trapped Thai youth soccer team? There has to be a bitter taste of controversy left behind Elon. Itâs just the way it or he is. In his own defense, he has every right to say that the road to bad publicity is paved with good intentions.
The cherry on top was delivered by Larry T Bird. The Twitter takeover is a done deal judging by the locked staff stock accounts. So, weâre free to address the Elephant in the room. Elon is bringing back Trump on Twitter to spice Midterms up, thatâs the plan. Nah, I donât think so. Why so serious? I see âBatman Beginsâ rather than how Twitter ends.
and setting some new rules about the pool areaâŚ
Also, I wouldnât go that far as judging someoneâs character or personality based on tweets.
"In addition to being the worldâs wealthiest man, Elon Musk also seems to be exhibiting the symptoms of histrionic personality disorder. HPD, as itâs known in the psychiatric sciences, resides in the âCluster Bâ garden of personality disorders and is associated with narcissism, attention-seeking behaviors and manipulation. HPDers tend to be charming and lively, often verging into flirtatiousness and excitability," Politicoâs Jack Shafer wrote.
Why so personal? All I see are Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent in one of the final scenes of âJustice League.â
Iâm not the first nor the last who has compared Elon Musk with Bruce Wayne, but those who compare Trump with Clark Kent should consult that Politicoâs columnist I quoted. Whatâs wrong with this picture? Nothing.
The man who is taking us to Mars has to worry about what heâs going to tweet next because he might get suspended. Câmon! Seriously?
But, whatâs going to happen with the current Twitter employees?
Letâs say, for the sake of this story, that I have a friend who works at Twitter. Heâs asking me for a piece of advice on whether or not he should leave or stay.
Iâd say, if you want to leave only because you donât like Elon as a person, then youâre about to make a mistake, which youâre very likely to regret. But if you want to leave because you believe that Elon is way over his head with the whole Twitter thing, then youâre right. You work at Twitter; you know the ins and outs of it. In that case, I understand and support you.
I have had clients from all over the world. With some of them, I shared the turbulent and brutal history of our nations and countries. But what does that have to do with business? NOTHING!
Are you a professional regardless of the circumstances OR an activist regardless of the âagendas?â
What you do in your free time; itâs your thing. Your workplace should be sacred. Thereâs no room for politics, ideologies, bias, and similar at work.
Twitter Donât Cry - Midterms Have A Bigger Fish To Fry
Can the richest man in the world decide the outcome of the Midterm Elections in 2022? Nope! By the way, a great movie by Jordan Peele. Youâre free to ask Kim Dotcom where you can watch it for free, but I wouldnât recommend you that.
Elon Musk canât fix inflation and the southern border crisis. He canât make pro-choice and pro-life activists come up with a win-win scenario, nor make Zelensky and Putin shake hands and smile. However, Elon could get caught in the midterm crossfire. Whatâs even worse, he could become the very tree distracting us from seeing that the tech forest is on fire.
âThe Supreme Court will hear two cases that could change Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Slate's senior writer Mark Joseph Stern tells "Nightcap's" Jon Sarlin why big tech and social media companies are calling this a "fundamental threat to their existence.â
When youâre facing an âexistential threat,â you arenât yourself. This means that the big tech could and would become extremely biased. Elon Musk, with or without Twitter, can afford to be âpolitically neutral,â but YouTube and Facebook canât.
âEspecially at a time when many Republicans would like to rewrite Section 230 to include ham-handed safeguards for political conservatives.â This means that the big tech would have to be even more generous with their donations to the Democrats because âmembers of Congress regularly consider legislative changes to Section 230, so the Court may not, in the long run, have the last say.â
Plain and simple, while youâre deciding whether or not you should tweet under the âruleâ of Elon Musk, you may lose your immunity as a content creator because âSection 230âs protections are essential for website publishers and app services to offer user-contributed content and that restrictions on the statuteâs historically broad immunity would impede innovation and prove unduly burdensome.â
As you can see not even all the money in the world canât guarantee that you will have it your way. Itâd take one Supreme Court decision to change Section 230 and make Elonâs $44B investment in Twitter - worthless.
Elon Musk will be damned whether he turns left or right, does something, or does nothing, but you wonât if you support my nomination for the HACKERNOON CONTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR- ELON-MUSK with your votes at this yearâs Noonies that will last longer than midterms.