Twit

To paraphrase Al Pacino’s Tony Montana in Scarface: “In this country, first you get the money, then you get the power, THEN you get the Twitter.” Surprise, surprise. Elon Musk’s flirtation with Twitter has led to this headline from ReCode: Is Elon Musk really going to buy Twitter for $43 billion? Maybe? My reaction: Will I keep using Twitter? Maybe? Musk has made a hostile bid for Twitter to the tune of $43 billion. Remember when it seemed like such a nice idea that billionaires would buy media brands? Welcome to opposite world. One of Twitter’s greatest trolls is going to buy Twitter. Or maybe not. We don’t know. That’s part of the fun of being a troll. Here are a few quick thoughts that I should probably just share on Twitter, but I’m trying to get used to not sharing anything there in case Musk really owns it.

First, there’s no doubt that Twitter hasn’t managed the business side of things particularly well and that the company has untapped financial potential. “That’s why Google brought in $257 billion last year, and Facebook brought in $117 billion —and Twitter did $5 billion. And it’s why Google is worth $1.7 trillion, Facebook $583 billion, and Twitter $36 billion.” But there are better ways to “unleash” that potential than taking the company private, especially into these hands.

Second, much of Elon’s fixation with Twitter relates to the notion that Twitter is failing to give people enough free speech (which is like saying a tsunami is failing to provide enough moisture). A few weeks ago, Musk tweeted: “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” One thing that should be done is to educate people on what free speech is (it has nothing to do with private companies like Twitter). But it’s worth putting Musk’s insinuation that he is somehow being silenced into a broader context. He has 81 million followers on Twitter. Almost every word he says makes headlines. He is the richest person in the world and probably the most famous, too. To quote the great philosopher Nigel Tufnel, if the loudest, free-est speech ever measured goes to ten, then Elon’s goes to eleven. His speech goes to eleven. His fame goes to eleven. And his wealth goes to infinity and beyond. And yet, he feels like he’s somehow being shortchanged by the current ecosystem. I see this trend playing out with other wildly successful businesspeople as well. This era brings us a staggering version of narcissistic victimhood. People who couldn’t be benefiting more from the current state of things are intent on convincing themselves that they are actually the victim of the current state of things. A lot of smart people have made a lot of money during the internet era. But it doesn’t take a genius to show up at a gold rush with a shovel and a pan.

Third, this whole situation is one more reminder of the big issue that underpins so many of America’s other issues. The wealth divide is out of control. Elon Musk is obviously a very smart and incredibly effective business person. I suppose one could argue that if any business leader deserves to have built a net worth of $273 billion over the past decade, it’s Musk (even though he didn’t start Tesla, he took it over). But no one should be able to amass that amount of wealth in a decade, especially a decade in which so many average Americans have gone from the middle class to intermittently lining up for food. And, still, for some of those on the fat end of the cat scale, it’s not enough to have all the money and all the fame and all the power. They want their toys, too. And Elon Musk may very well buy Twitter and take it home and make the rest of us play by his rules. I’m a capitalist. I’m an investor in tech companies. But I can also see that things have gotten out of hand. As Bob Lefsetz wrote this morning: “People have too much money. This is what happens when belief in the American Dream runs amok.” What Elon strange trip it’s been. And, sadly, it could just be getting started.

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