The Judge Is The Public
On Elon Musk's Dealbook interview, the renewed calls for censorship online, and dirty media tricks.
It could probably be argued that Elon Musk’s original sin was buying Twitter in the first place. Through a multi-report series called The Twitter Files, one that featured work from numerous independent reporters, Musk essentially allowed the outing of all of the state-requested censorship that was happening during the great hysteria of 2020 and 2021. Those documents were highly damaging to the politicians and bureaucrats who oversaw that mess and I’m thankful Musk had the stones to go through with it.
More recently however, Musk has come under fire over claims that he’s an anti-Semite. The claims stem from various Twitter/X posts going back to at least June. Following the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent retaliation in Gaza, the elite order apparently can’t yet decide if anti-Semitism is okay or not judging by what has been been displayed on college campuses across the country in recent weeks. Like everything in politics, perhaps principals are more important than principles.
Regardless, claims to Musk’s anti-Semitism have intensified recently following a post he replied to on X and in response to Media Matters writers intentionally creating a negative experience for themselves so they could manufacture a story. Following the Media Matters hit piece, prominent advertisers like Disney DIS 0.00%↑ and Walmart WMT 0.00%↑ have subsequently started withholding ad dollars from the platform. Naturally, because we’re in the era of weaponizing everything, there are people boycotting Disney+ over all this.
Sidebar: If you really want to grind your feet in Disney’s couch, you need to cancel your pay TV service.
This all brings us to last week. You’ve probably already seen the big quote from Elon Musk’s appearance at Dealbook. But for those who haven’t yet seen it, Musk sat down for 90 minutes with CNBC CMCSA 0.00%↑ and New York Times NYT 0.00%↑ contributor Andrew Ross Sorkin.
You may recall, last year’s Dealbook conference featured then yet-to-be-arrested Sam Bankman-Fried just weeks after FTX collapsed.
Perhaps a fitting end then to this clownshow of a month was NYT times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin quite literally thanking Sam while the audience showered SBF with applause…
But getting back to Musk and Dealbook, Andrew Ross Sorkin wasted no time getting to the meat and potatoes of the current outcry. Interrupting Sorkin’s question about advertisers leaving X, Musk went nuclear:
Musk: I hope they stop. Don’t advertise.
Sorkin: You don’t want them to advertise?
Musk: No.
Sorkin: What do you mean?
Musk: If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself.
Sorkin: But…
Musk: Go. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey, Bob, if you’re in the audience.
The entire exchange goes on for longer and is certainly worth watching. At one point Musk said that if advertisers continue to leave, it will kill the company. Amazingly, at least publicly, Elon Musk seems willing to martyr his recently acquired company over this seemingly coordinated effort to drain Twitter’s primary funding. Following the exchange above, Sorkin challenged Musk’s assertion that advertisers rather than Musk’s own actions would be blamed for Twitter’s demise. Musk’s response:
The judge is the public.
Somewhat hilariously, near the end of the conversation Sorkin asked Musk if the New York Times was being throttled on X because it hasn’t paid for a subscription to use the service. Musk’s handling of that question was sub-par in my view. But his overall point is something I’ve said in the past as well. Namely, freedom ain’t free.
I’ll be totally honest, I have absolutely no idea how this is going to end for Elon or X. Once upon a time, I loved my experience on Twitter. Then COVID happened and everything got weird, so I left (temporarily). I’ve felt that Musk is planning to take Twitter/X a more walled garden direction to properly monetize his platform through consumer usage rather than through advertiser subsidy, but that’s really just a guess. I don’t care for how he’s treating Substack, but that’s his prerogative.
Today, Substack is the obvious choice. For me, it’s a better platform for creators to build which is likely why it too is being attacked by the anti-free speech psychopaths at legacy media companies. Speaking of which, the recent tactics we’ve seen from the old guard are alarming.
Can there be any doubt about the depths legacy media companies will go to eliminate competition in the age of the internet? Look no further than what is happening to Russell Brand or Peter Schiff. Two very different content creators with very different messages - each though came under fire from corporate media “journalists” before any actual criminal charges were filed. We don’t know how the Brand story will end, but Schiff’s is horrifying.
Peter always finds a way to turn a 20 minute podcast into a 60+ minute podcast, but this recent episode is absolutely stunning. You may recall Schiff’s bank came under scrutiny from both 60 Minutes Australia and The Age back in 2020. At the time, the bank was under criminal investigation - ultimately no charges were filed and there was no evidence of wrong doing. But the bank still went to receivership despite deposits being fully backed. The media essentially destroyed this bank because the people behind the reporting didn’t like Schiff personally.
We know this because not only were authorities unable to find enough proof of wrong doing to lead to a conviction, but they couldn’t even find enough to bring charges. Despite that, 60 Minutes Australia absolutely dragged Schiff on air and online. They set up an ambush interview in his home under the guise of wanting his views on gold and the economy. Then they proceeded to report that his company was servicing tax evaders and other criminals. Not only was it all fabricated, but they knew it was false at the time. Their attorneys went to great lengths to keep the full interviews confidential and even threatened to sue Schiff for things commenters may say if he chose to publish the full videos.
Schiff just won his defamation suit. The reporter and the producers of the 60 Minutes hit piece won an award for the reporting.
“Given your power and given what you have amassed, the importance you have, I would think you want to be trusted. I would think, maybe you don’t need to be liked or hated. But trusted matters.” - Andrew Ross Sorkin to Elon Musk at Dealbook last week
It would be wonderful if the media elite would hold themselves to the same standard they wish to hold everyone else. However, that is likely expecting too much from the chosen few.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again; if you value speech freedom and independent voices, it is imperative that you support them and the platforms that empower them. It would be wonderful if you would do that here at Heretic Speculator. But, frankly, I’d be happy if you pick anyone. There are a lot of truly great writers here. When we get paid, Substack gets paid. The judge is the public. And the wallet is the gavel.
Thank you for your commitment to free speech.