Elon Musk has always been very clear about the danger of the “woke mind virus.” He said, “The woke mind virus has thoroughly penetrated entertainment and is pushing civilization towards suicide. There needs to be a counter-narrative.” He also repeated how he saw it in apocalyptic terms during an interview with Bill Maher in April and stressed the importance of fighting against it.
That’s why the controversy over Twitter’s throttling of the Daily Wire film “What is a Woman?” because of “misgendering” was so inconsistent with his prior statements on the matter.
“This was a mistake by many people at Twitter,” Musk said. “It is definitely allowed.” Yet even after Musk said he would fix it the film was still facing trouble, getting a hate speech label on it.
I appreciate the reply. We posted the two clips flagged by Twitter and they were indeed labeled “hateful conduct” and the share functions were disabled on the posts.
We are trying to reach your team to determine what this means for those posts, whether or not our event tonight…
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
But then Twitter and their head of Trust and Safety Ella Irwin had a parting of the ways. She told Reuters she resigned, but given the timing, one has to wonder if there was a parting of the ways because she was on the wrong side of the Daily Wire decision. It sounds like a “hand me your resignation” moment.
Twitter is not perfect and there are going to be issues. But it is so much better than it used to be since Musk took over and one of the things that’s rather unique about that is that you can complain to Musk and get a response, and an effort to fix things. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an owner of such a huge company have such an open process as Musk has.
Now, Musk appears to be going the extra mile to rectify the issues with the film’s launch on Twitter on Thursday by helping to promote it on Friday, saying that “Every parent should watch this.”
Every parent should watch this https://t.co/pIp6UP6vq8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
He’s helped it get 27.5 million views so far and that’s likely to go far higher, so I think that may make up for the faulty launch they had on Thursday because of Twitter.
Musk also further clarified his positions on the matter, which I think are similar to most Americans.
Consenting adults should do whatever makes them happy, provided it does not harm others, but a child is not capable of consent, which is why we have laws protecting minors.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
Musk went even further when he criticized the White House statement on transitioning minors. Joe Biden and his team attacked states who wanted to protect minors, calling transition surgery/actions “medically necessary” and the laws “hateful.” Musk termed that take “insane.”
Insane https://t.co/y1cz26vCzK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
On top of that, he even committed to lobbying to criminalize “severe, irreversible changes to children” below the age of consent.
This is a major problem. I will be actively lobbying to criminalize making severe, irreversible changes to children below the age of consent.
Shame on those who advocate this! It is utterly contemptible.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
I’m not sure you can be much more committed than that.
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