This essay is a contradiction in terms. The only real point is: We shouldn’t be writing or talking about this bullshit. And yet, I don’t know how to make that point without writing or talking about it. So, yes, I am aware of this inherent contradiction, but see no way around it. Let’s go!
Elon Musk reinstated Donald Trump on Twitter, and presumably, that means that Donald Trump is going to send out Tweets again, instead of just Truths, which is what I think they were called on his app.
I’m not sure how much this really matters, or how much it really should matter, but I do know that I, and many others, are upset about it, and we wish that Twitter would kick off people who openly foment violence, openly encourage the overthrow of the United States, openly and knowingly lie (constantly), and whose Tweets can be directly linked to an organized attempt to murder the Vice President and various members of Congress. Really any one of these should be enough, and that’s why Trump was rightly kicked off in January of 2021. In essence, what each of us is saying is, “If I ran Twitter, I would refuse to give him a platform.”
Besides all the bullshit “Free Speech” arguments that Musk leans on, there is a far more cynical capitalistic one: Trump draws eyeballs, so it makes sense for a platform that is trying to make money to use Trump in order to make money for itself. Capitalism, after all, knows no morality.
So, in reading every article about this in every major publication (they’re almost all the same article, and really not worth reading), I couldn’t help but wonder where their morality had gone in their choice to ramble on about someone whose silencing we all allegedly claim to want. Only Quinta Jurecic in The Atlantic gets it right, subtitling her article, “Two wealthy and self-involved men are seeking the attention they crave,” and suggesting that we “at least be more discerning in what kind of attention we pay them.”
I’ll go a step further: If you want to read about what Donald Trump is Tweeting, or write about what Donald Trump is Tweeting, then you clearly are in favor of Donald Trump’s Tweets being spread as far and wide as possible. So, you know, if that describes you, fuck you.
And honestly, the same has to be said for Musk and Twitter. Yes, it’s fun to write about the fact that Musk is a pretend-genius with lots of money, and that now, as he’s going down in flames, we all get to remind ourselves that few billionaires are even a little bit smart and most of them are just lucky, sociopathic morons. But as long as you’re still Tweeting on a platform that he owns outright, you obviously support him and want to make sure he has lots more money. I think it would be better for everyone if, instead of going on Twitter today, you write Elon Musk a check and put it in the mail for him.
Look, guys, this is really easy: Delete your Twitter, stop Twittering like a Twit, stop writing articles about Trump, stop writing articles about Musk, just fucking STOP. If you really care, it’s very easy to stop. Even I can do it, after this article. Let’s all agree to just pretend they don’t exist and talk about literally anything else. Yes, I know, it’s happening and it’s news and we can’t ignore it or else … what, exactly? Your articles might not get clicks, you might feel out of the loop? Is there any really non-cynical reason? Ask yourself, if you know that Trump’s voice should not be magnified, if you know that Musk’s behavior should not be rewarded, but if you also know that you, personally, would benefit from doing both of those above — is that decision really a difficult one? Or are you a fucking Nazi?
Meanwhile, in another outrage:
If you’ve read me at all, you know that I’m a harsh critic of the U.S., and I don’t like the way that we tend to criticize other countries from within our glass house of mass incarceration, a history of brutal genocide and segregation, our depraved obsession with war and killing, our hypercapitalist dystopian economic policies, and recent developments that have moved us way up the list of human rights abusers. But, seriously, Qatar is actually a country worth criticizing. It could be the fact that, since it is illegal in Qatar for women to have sex outside of marriage, you can go to jail for reporting your own rape. This has actually happened multiple times, even recently to a woman working on the easily-overlooked event known as the World Cup. And then there’s the nature of this World Cup, the hosting of which was awarded to this tiny country with almost no industry largely due to, well, pretty much straight-up bribery. But then there’s the real kicker (ha!), which is that, in order to host a World Cup, you’re supposed to have, like, soccer stadiums ready to go. Qatar didn’t, and didn’t even have cities in which to build them. So they built the cities, from the ground-up, in the desert, in temperatures up to 120 degrees, in a country with no laws whatsoever governing treatment of workers or holding powerful people accountable for anything. The result? Thousands of migrant workers died building the infrastructure for this event.
So, yes, there is a lot to be outraged about here, and if you read news articles, you’ll see the outrage. Do you know what else you’ll see? Well, this is the front page of ESPN.com, a screenshot from my computer taken right now, at 9am EST on Monday 11/21/22:
Bracketed by “Monday Night Football” ads, you’ll notice the big headline about something that happened in Qatar, and other upcoming games are indicated above. If this is the coverage of this odious event, then what exactly is the shape of this outrage? A an evil country, that condones rape and treats women as subhuman, bribed international officials in order to get themselves fame and attention, and then murdered thousands of people in this quest for self-aggrandizement. Say what you want about Trump, but his death toll is a lot lower than that of Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, a man whose name you don’t even know but has been responsible for about twice as many deaths as Osama bin Laden. Yes, this is all horrifying and gross. So why is England participating? Or the USA, or Canada, or France or Germany? Is soccer really this important? If Russia were hosting the World Cup, would any of those countries participate? What the fuck is wrong with everybody?!
Although this is probably an overused insult, I can’t think of any other way to put it: If you find yourself talking about World Cup scores over the next few weeks, then yes, you are an amoral piece of shit, you are a fucking Nazi.
Look, everyone, this is easy. Some things are easy. Musk is a piece of shit, so stop writing about him or using his website. Every time you go to his website, advertisers pay him money. Every time you use his app, you’re giving him money. He doesn’t need your money. If he wants money, he can get a real job for the first time in his life and work for it. Just stop it.
Trump is a piece of shit whose words cause harm. So stop reporting them. Stop talking about him. Make him pay for his own airtime, see how many people he can get to vote for him without the free aid of the “liberal” media. Stop saying his name. Just stop it.
And the Qatar World Cup is a fucking travesty. I know that you probably don’t care if thousands of brown-skinned people died. I know you probably think they deserve it and want to laugh in the faces of their families. I know you probably wish you could go to Qatar and rape some women and get away with it. That totally sounds like you. Oh, no, wait, that’s wrong? I have insulted you unfairly? Then please, oh please, pretend that this isn’t happening. Please, if you control any media, do not put soccer scores on it. Please petition U.S. Soccer to forfeit their match (I don’t know when it is or whom it’s against; I don’t fucking care!) and immediately withdraw from the tournament. Please, please, please, just stop it.
Stop saying Voldemort, or Beetlejuice, or whatever name you know that you should not be saying, because to say the name gives it power. It is really not that hard to stop.
I’m going to try to write about some sunnier things in the future, but just, hear this in the back of your mind. When you were worried about Covid, you wore a mask on yourself so that you wouldn’t inadvertently spread the contagion. Now, you’re upset that Twitter won’t do that muzzling work for you. But you have already shown that you can muzzle yourself! And that responsibility doesn’t end just because the mask mandates are up. Behave responsibly. Stop yourself before you spread contagion. Resist the urge to make money on the backs of Nazis.
Don’t be a fucking Nazi.
Good luck!
