DAN WOOTTON: Elon Musk is Twitter's final hope to rescue free speech

DAN WOOTTON: Twitter has become a liberal authoritarian bullying cesspit where debate goes to die. Elon Musk is the final hope to rescue free speech before the woke mind virus takes over big tech once and for all

Want to know the best endorsement of Elon Musk’s audacious and game changing $44 billion takeover of Twitter?

How its woke army of censors, er, I mean staff members working from home across outer San Francisco’s poshest suburbs reacted.

There were Twitter emoji tears, memes of people having an emotional breakdown and even vows of silence from those ‘too in shock to speak’, according to the Washington Post.

Ironic given it’s this same bunch of people who have spent the past decade silencing any controversial voice who goes against the orthodoxy of the champagne-swilling liberal metropolitan elite millionaires club.

And then there’s the army of so-called ‘Twitter celebs’, a bizarre group of privileged people who believe you should only be accepted online if you sign up to their politically correct world view.

I’ll certainly shed no tears over the departure of the deeply unpleasant, Meghan-defending woketopian Jameela Jamil, who vowed that Musk’s future ownership meant she had sent her final tweet.

‘Ah he got twitter,’ she mourned. ‘He’s buying it for free speech. It’s going to become an even more lawless hateful xenophobic, bigoted, misogynistic space.

Jameela Jamil (pictured) vowed to leave Twitter after Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media giant

DAN WOOTTON: I’ll certainly shed no tears over the departure of the deeply unpleasant, Meghan-defending woketopian Jameela Jamil, who vowed that Musk’s future ownership meant she had sent her final tweet

‘One good thing about Elon buying twitter is that I will *FINALLY* leave and stop being a complete menace to society on here. So it’s win win for you all really.’

But Jamil’s temporary flounce off (she’ll be back, I guarantee it, her ego won’t let her stay silenced), was just the beginning of the hysteria.

Occupy Democrats writer David Weissman raged: ‘I still think Elon Musk owning Twitter is a bad idea. He will amplify racists, bigots, and misinformation. 

‘He is a bad-faith actor with his distorted views of free speech and censorship.’

But that wasn’t the end of it.

When all else fails, the hard left who want to control what you consume turn to one thing: Racism.

Activist Shaun King tweeted, before deleting his account like the coward he is: ‘It’s about white power. 

‘The man was raised in Apartheid by a white nationalist. He’s upset that Twitter won’t allow white nationalists to target/harass people. That’s his definition of free speech.’

Of course, the irony is lost on Mr King that he’s the only racist in the room with such an outrageous comment.

Deranged Sirius XM host Dean Obeidallah went even further, writing: ‘Elon musk buying Twitter is a dream come true for white nationalists. 

‘After all musk is from the former apartheid country of South Africa which the white supremacists idolize.

‘Wonder if Elon musk will copy the apartheid rules of his home country South Africa and give us check marks based on our skin color? The whiter the check mark the more rights you have on Twitter. #AskingForAFriend’

DAN WOOTTON: How can any Twitter staff member genuinely accept that it’s right for the democratically elected 45th President of the United States Donald Trump to be permanently banned from the platform, while the Taliban and the Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministry continue to spread their very obvious disinformation? (Pictured: Elon Musk)

Such a response would be laughable, if it wasn’t so terrifying.

In the tyrannical world of the woke left, where cancel culture runs rampant, the go to solution to any perceived threat is to silence the opposition.

Musk has described the phenomenon as the ‘woke mind virus’ ripping through Big Tech companies like Netflix, Meta and especially Twitter.

In the meantime, the Tesla and SpaceX boss has been restrained and sensible with a commonsense view that Twitter, which has become the default public square, should be open to everyone.

‘I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,’ he tweeted just before the deal was done on Monday.

Musk is 100 per cent right.

How can any Twitter staff member genuinely accept that it’s right for the democratically elected 45th President of the United States Donald Trump to be permanently banned from the platform, while the Taliban and the Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministry continue to spread their very obvious disinformation?

By the way, my solution is not to ban any of those despotic regimes; I want to know what they think so we can try and combat what they’re doing.

But it’s very obvious that, for Twitter to ever be taken seriously again, the moment Musk gains control of the toxic cesspit of a platform this autumn he needs to immediately reinstate Trump.

That’s just the start though.

The number of people silenced for questioning the orthodoxy on the trans debate, Covid vaccines and lockdowns is, quite frankly, terrifying.

There are too many revolting permanent bans to mention but there are two I’m particularly worked up about.

Dr Robert Malone, the eminent American physician and biochemist whose stellar work helped develop MRNA vaccine technology, who was booted off for raising questions about the rollout.

DAN WOOTTON: It’s very obvious that, for Twitter to ever be taken seriously again, the moment Musk gains control of the toxic cesspit of a platform this autumn he needs to immediately reinstate Trump.

Now I don’t agree with every word Mr Malone has to say, even though he is an incredibly impressive man, but I happily gave him a platform on my GB News show, because scientific groupthink must be challenged at all times by experts.

Then there’s Father Ted creator Graham Lineham who was permanently suspended for standing up for the rights of biological women in the increasingly toxic trans debate that has also seen JK Rowling cancelled by Hollywood (but holding onto her powerful Twitter account).

Lefties hate Musk because, as the world’s richest person, he doesn’t need them for anything and he loves pricking their bubbles of pomposity on everything from the dangers of remote working to his belief in exploiting the loose rules of capitalism to his own ends.

But Musk has rightly pledged to improve Twitter with a host of new initiatives, including opening up its highly secretive algorithms that dictate which tweets and accounts get seen ‘to increase trust’.

Now I’m well aware that most happy, sane and ordinary folk don’t use Twitter and I absolutely salute anyone who has stayed away from the platform, which is more than three quarters of Americans, by the way.

Twitter has become a liberal authoritarian bullying hellscape where debate goes to die.

It’s a toxic stream of hate 24/7 that sees Be Kind warriors who proudly display the Ukraine flag on their profile wish death upon anyone who disagrees with them on the culture war issue of the day.

But the reason I’m talking about it is because those who set the political and news agenda around the world every day are obsessed with tweets – and they use what’s trending to drive the agenda.

Be in no doubt that Twitter has an outsized influence on international politics.

As Musk argued: ‘Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.’

But, especially in the US, Twitter has become wholly unbalanced, with 67 per cent of users leaning toward the Democratic party, compared to 30 per cent who tend to support Republicans.

That’s no wonder given the rampant bias on display. Musk’s challenge now is redressing that imbalance.

Doing so will make him the most unpopular person in polite society internationally.

He is going to be roundly attacked by virtually every newspaper and TV channel in the world, from the New York Times to CNN and the BBC.

They’ve already revelled in this slight from his rival, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who sneered without a hint of irony, in reference to Musk’s business interests in Asia: ‘Interesting question. Did the Chinese government just gain a bit of leverage over the town square?’

But I have faith in him to hold firm against the barrage of hatred set to be unleashed – because he knows that this mission is even more important than sending a man to Mars.

Elon Musk is the final hope to rescue free speech before the woke mind virus takes over big tech once and for all.

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