When Elon Musk talks about free speech, I wonder if he understands what that is. Coordinating and strategizing with Nazis and making death threats is not free speech. You also don’t have the freedom to accuse someone of being a pedophile just because they disagree with you. Also, losing a social media account doesn’t mean you lost your freedom of speech because Twitter isn’t the only place humans are allowed to express themselves. Twitter is not a government platform.

But, I think Elon understands perfectly well that spreading conspiracy theories and instigating a white nationalist terrorist attack to install a fascist dictator who lost an election isn’t free speech. I believe he knows he’s full of shit. What makes me believe that was his post about the Democratic Party becoming more extreme thus making Elon side more with Republicans, who are making it harder for black Americans to vote while boycotting a cartoon mouse. Nazis and MAGAts held two separate protests simultaneously against Disney last week in Florida, yet you couldn’t tell the two groups apart. But sure, Elon. It’s the Democrats who’ve gone extreme.

Now Elon is saying that as soon he gets his grubby short-fingered hands on Twitter, he’s going to allow Donald Trump to return. This is a threat to democracy.

Elon told an interviewer at an automobile conference that it was a mistake for Twitter to ban Trump after he tried to destroy democracy. The irony here is that Trump’s supporters believe removing Trump was an anti-democratic move for his attempt to destroy democracy.

Elon said, “I do think that it was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.” No, you egghead. He has a voice. Nobody took his voice away. Does Donald Trump let everyone at his rally have a turn at the microphone? If not, does that mean he’s not allowing everyone a voice? We are not entitled to use every platform.

If National Public Radio refuses my demands for airtime to give a two-hour diatribe against ketchup on hotdogs, they’re not taking away my freedom of speech. Elon’s logic says Donald Trump has taken away my right to swim if he doesn’t allow me to use the pool at Mar-a-Lago.

Elon expanded on his thoughts on Trump, saying, “He is now going to be on Truth Social, as will a large part of the right, in the United States, and so I think this could end up being, frankly, worse than having a single forum where everyone could debate. I guess the answer is that I would reverse the permanent ban.” Donald Trump has only made one post on Truth Social so far. Banning or reversing a ban on someone doesn’t prevent there from being more than one social media forum. Also, it’s not a bad thing if a large portion of the right-wing avoids Twitter. Who throws a party and gets sad that Nazis don’t show up? Who wants to bob for apples with Goebbels?

Free speech is a constitutional right. Speaking on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, MySpace, YouTube, etc, is a privilege. You can burn a privilege. Donald Trump burned a privilege by using Twitter in an attempt to destroy our democracy and have himself installed as an unelected dictator. It’s amazing we have people fighting to restore the account he used to try to destroy the government. It’s like giving a rapist Viagra.

Donald Trump claims he won’t return to Twitter if the ban is reversed, choosing instead to promote Truth Social, which he’s not using. But Trump is lying. Trump boycotting Twitter would be like Trump boycotting KFC. It’s not gonna happen. He’ll be back.

And when Trump comes back and is just one of the many changes Elon enacts to destroy the platform, millions will leave. I’m going to stay. Hell, It’s taken me over a decade to get over 12,000 followers. I’m not throwing that away. Also, someone needs to stick around and continue to fight the lies. The only way Elon is going to remove my voice from Twitter will be to ban me. As I understand it, he’s really big about blocking people so maybe removing his critics is next.

I would take it as a badge of honor if I was banned for telling the truth, like posting something about Elon having hair plugs. What? I have freedom of speech. If Donald Trump can claim he won an election he lost and retweet Nazis, I can call out Elon’s hair plugs.

Music note: It was Nirvana while coloring.

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