So "X" - nothing to see here. Elon's in control - Part XXX

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120467824#Comment_120467824

And he completely destroyed the BBC Interviewer

https://twitter.com/Data_1001/status/1646132631485177856

https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1646118900621344768

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469241#Comment_120469241

funny how all his supporters on here were so adamant that it was a voluntary action.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469255#Comment_120469255

A poorly prepared Journalist was made a little uncomfortable by a guy playing silly buggers with semantics.

No one got "Destroyed".

"Destroyed" has become such an edge-lord term , it really no longer means what the word was intended.

Anytime you see a Video titled "X gets DESTROYED by Y" it never actually shows anything like that.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469619#Comment_120469619

Yeah, there's nothing to see here; talk about over-eager hyperbole. As you say, the journo was completely unprepared, and it's not like he couldn't have pulled a slew of anecdotal tweets, or various stats collated by groups monitoring this kind of thing. Mind you, the interview was supposedly arranged extremely short notice, so it's entirely possible the journo simply didn't have the time to prepare in the first place.

Either way: Musk didn't "destroy" anyone, and kinda speaks to the bootlicking endemic with this guy's ever utterance. Again though, you're not going to get an empathetic point of view from a guy whose status is so far removed from any degree of mundane hardship, since his childhood; of course Musk doesn't recognise Hate Speech, why would he with his <trigger warning> ... privilege?

Hate to laugh though, literally the second reply under the "Destroyed" tweet is:

Way to go elonmusk !!! These “reporters” need to answer for their role in Covid disinformation.

🙄

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469592#Comment_120469592

That's true. I'm sure we could pour over the early days of this thread, find some choice users who at the time insisted this.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469255#Comment_120469255

Where?

I.R.Y.E.D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469708#Comment_120469708

In LaLa land

AndrewJRenko

The decision making is clearly being done by people with the maturity of Jay from Inbetweeners

https://twitter.com/conor_pope/status/1646212307784024074?s=46&t=3l1OhjvjsuAh4w9RMjlH8g

pjohnson

The fact he said that his dog is CEO of Twitter now actually does explain some of Twitters recent changes.

Snake Plisken

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469255#Comment_120469255

It was a joy to watch Elon destroy that lad😀

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120470714#Comment_120470714

Where is this "destruction"?

Or is it just the clickbait/meme "destruction"

Harika

Lad got a 20 min warning and then Musk derailed wherever he could. Lad could have asked the same "give me examples and sources signed by their parents and grandparents" ...

To add to the "destroyed" faction. Mainly I see this with Schapiro, Peterson etc... Spewing words at the audience that 90% of viewers won't understand and the unprepared audience members can't handle either. "As Tolstoy really meant the capitalistic agenda of the precarious, we have to ask yourself what is truth?" ...

mariaalice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119834580#Comment_119834580

Only mildly related to this but what I find interesting is how modern tech is eating itself in an unusual way, all tech depends entirely on microchips and the research, developments, and production of the 'machines' that make the microchips require brilliant people it's cutting edge stem/ engineering, yet it's the careers at Facebook, Google, Twitter or finance and the like are seen as desirable because of promotion by social media downplaying cutting edge engineering as a career, after all, how many have heard of ASML.

lizzyjane

The BBC really is gone to the dogs if thats what they employ as a journalist.

Musk made him like like a fool with a basic question.

joseywhales

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471037#Comment_120471037

People will follow the money and why wouldn't they?

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469619#Comment_120469619

Musk was quite fair with the journalist, he asked him a perfectly fair question.

He gave him ample time to answer the question.

By the way this wasnt just any BBC reporter, this chap is the BBC North America Tech reporter.

As you say, the journo was completely unprepared, and it's not like he couldn't have pulled a slew of anecdotal tweets, or various stats collated by groups monitoring this kind of thing. Mind you, the interview was supposedly arranged extremely short notice, so it's entirely possible the journo simply didn't have the time to prepare in the first place.

It wasnt a hastily arranged meeting, the journalist wasnt poorly prepared.

https://twitter.com/JamesClayton5/status/1645993176296198144

So the journalist asked Musk for the interview so he should have been prepared properly and professionally for it.

Instead he asked shallow gotcha questions to try and trap Musk but ended up instead having his arse handed to him.

blarney_boy

Yeah, piss poor journalism by the BBC

"Elon since you've taken over Twitter it's full of hate speech"

"Can you give some examples?"

"No I can't . . . anyway moving on to my next question"

I mean this is what I see all the time from the same loopers on boards.ie as well

"This thread is full of hate speeeeeech!"

"Can you give some examples / posts from this thread?"

"You're all a bunch of racists!"

As Elon would say - is it actual hate speech or just ideas you personally don't happen to like . . .

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471342#Comment_120471342

Don’t get confused between a badly prepared journalist and the actual reality.

https://twitter.com/ccdhate/status/1644743660179800064?s=46&t=3l1OhjvjsuAh4w9RMjlH8g

Harika

PBS also leaving:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-12/pbs-joins-npr-in-quitting-twitter-over-state-backed-designation

Musk is like a teenager without impulse control. Kicking after NPR defo will bring the advertisers back on the platform.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471426#Comment_120471426

But I thought MemeLord Musk DESTROYED this claim?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471805#Comment_120471805

Remember the term "Alternative Facts"?

Start at your conclusion and work backwards: we know, 212 pages in, certain cohorts have a predefined vision of what Musk is to them, and good luck persuading them otherwise. So Elon Musk "destroyed" a journalist who conducted an interview at (supposed) short notice and probably had zero facts or research to hand. A random tech. reported at that, one whose clothes and stubble suggested the last thing he was expecting that day was an interview with Elon Musk.

This was obviously a tactic by Musk: organise a hasty interview, have the Beeb scrambling to get ready, then act like the dominant brain in the conversation while the other side is tying its shoe laces. Credit where it's due, it's devious and obviously worked well such that his fans are cheering wildly. Musk's little moments about supposed "CoVid disinformation" icing for those we know are inclined towards conspiratorial bollix.

All these so-called Alpha types love their power plays - do all you can to impose yourself on the other, through physical means or otherwise. It's why, IIRC, Police don't tell you they're coming to question you - don't let the suspect relax or get their stories ready. Or Lyndon Johnson used to stand uncomfortably close to people.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471860#Comment_120471860

And if the BBC journalist did have an example, he probably already had an answer prepared well I can't discuss a specific person's complaint privacy yadda yadda yadda.

All to distract from Musk 'destroying' Twitter's value and his own wealth in the process.

Penn

There's no doubt the interview went badly for the BBC journalist. Regardless of the reasons, the journalist was unprepared for any pushback on very serious statements which Musk would obviously defend or ask for evidence on.

As for "destroyed" though, that's just internet speak for people who need to claim something as a win, while actively ignoring the other parts of the interview where he admits he only bought Twitter because he was going to be forced to by a judge, that he sleeps at the office sometimes (I guess it means he can read catturd2's tweets quicker if he's on-site), and that the whole experience of buying and running Twitter has been pretty painful. And that he doesn't have a grasp on the difference between publicly funded news outlets and government propaganda news outlets and is trying to conflate the two either purposefully or just because he's an idiot.

Not to mention that just because the BBC interviewer didn't have examples of hate speech at hand, doesn't mean it's not happening. There are Twitter-Blue-Verified accounts with racial slurs or Nazi references in their names, and accounts that just tweet quotes from Mein Kampf for example, and Twitter is facing fines of approx 30bn for not removing Nazi hate speech in accordance with German laws (and given that they do ban some accounts in Germany for Nazi hate speech but don't ban those accounts in other countries shows that they know it counts as Nazi hate speech but are okay with it in other countries).

So yeah, an ill-prepared interview and the journalist made a balls of some of it. But has it changed anything? No.

McFly85

Things that the word ‘DESTROYED’ relates to in regards to Elon Musk:

His personal fortune

Teslas share price

Twitters valuation

Twitters functionality and reliability

His reputation

Things it does not relate to:

Challenging a journalist on a question.

fly_agaric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471342#Comment_120471342

Seems clear to me what is going on with Twitter (+ changes there) even as someone who does not use it much! People seem to think it is a big joke, how dumb Musk is etc. etc., but expect they could be laughing on other side of their faces during the next US election. IMO Musk is maybe convinced that democracy is going to fail soon in the US, is positioning himself to benefit from that.

Sudden Valley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472469#Comment_120472469

I dont think democracy is in any danger in America and twitter is definitely not a threat to it. Once the trump era comes to an end either with another loss or his re election, politivlcs will go back to normal. I dont think twitter will have a resurgence under Elon whoever wins the election

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472469#Comment_120472469

Can he hold his creditors off for another 18 months though? I dont see how with the way the finances currently look, ad spend is estimated to be still down 89% from prior to him buying the company, the number of people subscribed to twitter blue are nowhere close to what he would need to replace that ad spend and that number is unlikely to do anything but drop. Celebs arent subbing to twitter blue and neither are companies or orgs, in fact many are straight up leaving the platform. And thats just some of the problems he has, I honestly don't see him making it to the elections without some massive change of fortune which is incredibly unlikely.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471900#Comment_120471900

If anything, it's a good reminder of how subversive and reductive Twitter exists as a tool for current affairs; more than simple editorialising by news outlets, we see a snippet of a conversation, edited and its context removed or ignored - just to score a "win" in some arbitrary and simplified game of "my guy won"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472469#Comment_120472469

I don't think democracy in the US is set to fail, but nor do I think it's in rude health either. The main foundational problem, as I see it, is that you have two competing institutional camps that go beyond here "Left vs. Right": those who recognise the county is too different to cling to flawed historical systems past their usefulness (lifelong appointments, 2 senators per state, the electoral college etc.) and requires revision; and those under the abstracted banner of "originalists", who think it's all perfect and amazing and should stay that way (a little gerrymandering merely being good for the blood).

American democracy probably should have fallen apart years ago, but is so fundamentally dysfunctional, the brittleness seems to be baked in & expected. Like a Jenga tower that can take a little bit of wobble, and everyone knows where the line is. Trump definitely caused the most wobble in modern US history, so I get why some might see apocalypse around the corner.

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469255#Comment_120469255

What a dickhead - interviewer is a journalist paid to ask questions of subjects not a representative of the BBCs position. Lets interview the Twitter canteen staff on the companies corporate strategy.

Musk has really gone off the reservation

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472869#Comment_120472869

He is a journalist, he is supposed to be objective and knowledgeable on his subject the tech sector.

Instead he was biased and went into the interview with an agenda, one he couldnt back up.

Musk was polite, forthright and patient in the interview, people are so biased if they are blaming Musk.

I'm tired of biased journalists, they are supposed to be objective and let the public decide for themselves in relation to matters.

BoxcarWilliam99

Great interview with that BBC journo who repeatedly tried to box Musk in but inevitably failed and was made look foolish and amateurish.

The journalist seemed like a nice guy but was totally unprepared. Nice to see these company men have the light turned on them. Hopefully start of a new trend.

fly_agaric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472668#Comment_120472668

That's true, I suppose it may collapse in on itself before then. I hope so!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120472784#Comment_120472784

I don't agree with him either (if I am correct that he believes the authoritarian isolationist right in the US is going to "win" that stuggle over next few years + gain power, at a federal govt. level anyway).

I have just been thinking over the last while that he will use Twitter as a tool to support them and win favour so he can be in a good position to be advising and whispering in ears (as well as making lots of money) when they take over the country (as one of a kind of class of US plutocrat/oligarch "friends" of what will likely be an extremely corrupt govt. ala worst of the Trump era, or exceeding that)!

That's what the changes are about, trying to make it "their" social media platform and set the correct atmosphere (perhaps another part of the right's "noise machine" in the US as I think it has been called).

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473502#Comment_120473502

I don't think it's as complex as that. I think it's as simple as Musk is a rích, mouthy asshole that the... I dunno, conservative, broadly right-adjacent & social contrarians love. There has been this longstanding conspiracy that social media is controlled by "liberals" with some bias going on punishing those not towing a line (well, insofar as "bias against díckheads" can be considered a bias); the initial posts here after Musk's purchase of Twitter and subsequent firings were positively orgasmic that the "blue haired brigade" were being given the heave-ho; or gleefully posting tweets of women leaving Twitter (that weren't part of content or moderation departments, just women leaving/getting the sack). Here comes Big Brain Musk to give Twitter back to the boys.

Elon Musk is the poster-child for those with Victim Complex, and wouldn't read more into it than that. Mostly down to, as said, the fact Musk is an opinionated, rich ásshole who can say what he wants without consequence, coupled with whatever weird compulsion urges him to be so irrationally performative. And if not that specifically, has his own conspiratorial thoughts re. Russia, CoVid or whatever that other fringe groups love. He has become a lightning rod by dint of the fact he coincidentally possesses various opinions beloved of those railing against "woke" or the inescapable zeitgeist some would reject as predominant. All the while ignoring any aspects that mightn't vibe with that perception.

To whit: I wonder if those cheering about Musk "winning" the interview, noticed he admitted he voted for Biden? Oops. Nobody's perfect I guess.

Close to half the country voted for Mr Trump in the last US election, Mr Musk said, but he added: "I wasn't one of them. I voted for Biden."

In another part of the interview, he defended ending a Twitter ban on Mr Trump who had been removed in 2021 when the platform accused him of inciting violence.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65251160

BoxcarWilliam99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473502#Comment_120473502

To be fair COVID showed us who the real authoritarians are. It ain't the right.

The left wanted people banned, shunned,fired, made examples of, locked up etc if they didn't go along with the virus fear fest.

The right were like meh il wear a mask if I want, il get a Vax if I want etc

Remember when the real authoritarians showed themselves . Example:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/media/2021/aug/05/cnn-fires-employees-covid-unvaccinated-office

fly_agaric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473596#Comment_120473596

Thanks, maybe am overthinking it (...!) and as I said I don't use Twitter much at all. May as well expand...

Have been reading about him showing his belly for Xi and praising of the Chinese "system" that lets him make money there, while he heaps scorn and abuse on current democratic US govt. and its useless regulators who all conspire to stymie profits etc.

Also the whole very disturbing vaguely pro Russia positions he has taken on Ukraine war, use of the technology he owns to press US defence dept. into giving him more money.

I think it's indicative of someone who really quite likes authoritarianism and corruption (as he's a sort of Superman/God King high above the rest of the plebs that are made miserable under such systems), thinks a lot more of it in the US would be just excellent for him and for business/profits and increase his ability to attach his companies to the gushing US govt. milk teat (biggest udder in the world). The US right are most likely to deliver all that.

He doesn't need to care what anyone thinks about him at all, or who leaves Twitter or doesn't order a Tesla if the US govt. is a corrupt managed democracy with dodgy "elections" and he's a connected "friend".

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473904#Comment_120473904

Nice re write of history there, the US right wing nuts were not "meh", the virus broke their brains (and brains of alot of people around the world!). Probably for rest of my life every time someone mentions it (Covid), donkeys like you will pop up start and wailing about the "muzzles" and the "medical fascists" etc. Please go away.

BoxcarWilliam99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473914#Comment_120473914

We all remember who the authoritative goose steppers were and it wasn't the right.

You acknowledge this by not offering any retort backed by example. "Please go away". We all remember

Heres another example:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/biden-vaccine-mandate-defund-senate-republican-vote/

All of the democrats voted for vaccine mandlates except for two. Thankfully.

Did the have vaccine mandates in China?

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473914#Comment_120473914

Let's not forget some reactions to a disease that only killed two people in the US.

https://www.vox.com/2020/2/26/21154253/trump-ebola-tweets-coronavirus

pixelburp

Didn't take long for the thread to get sidetracked by CoVid conspiratorial bollix. Oh how I missed all that.

/S

Beasty

Drop the Covid comments

thegame983

There really does seem to be a conveyor belt of clowns working in the media these days.

Agenda driven smear merchants without a single interesting thing to say.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120474063#Comment_120474063

Just like Muskys version of Twitter.

Musk knows how to appeal to his fans. About the only thing he can do right is to hook them. The cult of personality guarantee's the devotion.

Just feel sorry for the poor folks who gobble up all the crap from every grifter taking advantage of them yet somehow think they are the smart ones.

lizzyjane

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120471426#Comment_120471426

Will youtube be held to the same standards I wonder or is it just Twitter because Musk is now in charge?

The absolute vileness on youtubes comments section is worse than what you would see on Twitter.

lizzyjane

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473143#Comment_120473143

Not todays journalists. They are activists now in the guise of journalists who are so blinded by there own conditioning from an early age that they cannot see how biased they are.

kowloon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120475442#Comment_120475442

Youtube absolutely should be held to the same standards. Has anyone suggested they shouldn't?

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120475442#Comment_120475442

Of course youtube should be held to the same standard however Twitter and the youtube comments section are not anywhere close to being the same thing, an example of this is there arent daily and even hourly articles all over the internet about what various famous people, politicians or random nobodies have said or posted in the youtube comments section are there?

The focus is specifically on twitter not because Musk is in charge but because of what he has said and done while being in charge.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120475609#Comment_120475609

'tis Whatabout.

YouTube's problem ATM is how it's punishing low-medium creators who increasingly find it hard to monetise their work - to the extent many prominent "education" creators have pivoted towards other services like Nebula. Over-zealous automatic moderation is de-monetising videos for sometimes arbitrary reasons, while the pipeline for challenging these strikes isn't great, a bit of a black box & takes time (which is not something those trying to make a living can have).

For example: recently YT changed the monetisation strategy to reduce income on videos with "excessive" swearing, which is ... interesting. I vaguely recall a history video-maker commenting that even mentioning "Hitler" got you demonetised (so in this case he called him "Mr. Moustache"!), though he has mentioned the name since so perhaps that was solved. Some channels have had their income fúcked by nuisance "copyright strikes" caused by trolls... that gets the video demonetised 'til reviewed - which can take long enough to put financial pressure on the Creator.

But yes, nobody's talking about YouTube here ... cos it's not a thread about YouTube. Going by the poster's other comments I suspect their annoyance with YouTube is more about "lefties" being offensively "woke", but YouTube does have problems - they're not the same as that of Twitter. Certainly the loudest complaints aren't with respect to engagement or antagonism of its comments (though that can be a problem)

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120475442#Comment_120475442

YouTube comments are in control of the channel owner. It's easy enough to delete individual comments, or block individual accounts, or filter for specific keywords or require all comments to be approved before publishing, loads of options there.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120476875#Comment_120476875

From watching many big and small youtube creators the comment moderation tools they are given are by all accounts are absolutely terrible and its nowhere near as simple or easy to moderate video comment sections as youtube would like people to believe.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120476977#Comment_120476977

I’ve done it, not with a huge audience, but the tools are there. You can block comments, filter by keyword, require manual approval of all comments, block individuals.

Tow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120476998#Comment_120476998

YT creators can also assign other users comment moderator powers. So they do not have to waste all their own time playing whack a mole.

silliussoddius

Have we gotten a sensible explanation for Musk’s offer price of $54.20 and why Twitter is the bastion of free speech when we already have anything goes cess pits like 4chan/8kun.