The Cost of Being Right

It keeps popping up in the news that since Elon Musk took over Twitter (now X) that it's losing throngs of daily users. And while that's true, what's not necessarily true is the reason why users have left. The media wants to paint it as "an attack on free speech and promotion of hate speech."

But, as is typically the case, who is defining what free speech is and what can be classified as hate speech? The media. And well, the left.

All too often anymore the truth itself can simply be called hate speech. Like saying a man is a man and a woman is a woman. Forget about science or the verifiable truth of that statement. It's hate speech in the eyes of many people.

In order to be a racist in today's world, for example, you need not honor the KKK or support segregation or other things. You simply need to call for a secure border and have conservative values. And if you espouse these values in a place like X, you are going to be labeled a hater and a racist, and according to some, you should not be allowed to say these things and because Musk, unlike his predecessor Dorsey, is not policing and censoring and shadow banning these values, many people simply can't handle that.

Those are the people who are leaving. The ones who before Musk were able to willy nilly say anything they wanted and could be assured that anyone espousing different opinions or values would immediately be shut down.

What essentially happened is that the playing field was leveled, and a good many people simply could not handle it.

By leaving they also have the impression that in some way they are sending a message that this simply cannot stand, and we should go back to the way things were or else. We'll destroy you, they are essentially saying.

Of course, that's not going to happen. The site is better now than it ever was. Freer now than it ever was. And more truly user-friendly than it has ever been. Everyone gets to have a voice, like it or not. 

At the same time users are dropping off, of course some advertisers are also saying no to X. That can be a problem since X is of course a business, and its main source of revenue is from advertising. Musk has said he wants to charge all users to use the site, but I think that's a recipe for disaster. That could potentially destroy the site and any hopes it can make a full recovery.

While some may be willing to pay for the chance to tout their opinions and share their lives on the site for a small fee, I would suspect most would not. I would be one of those who would not be willing to pay to post.

At the same time, I think that if the site were to operate behind a paywall, it would also become less diverse and more of a "club" of sorts than a total free place to express oneself.

But that's a separate issue.

Part of the reason some advertisers are jumping ship, though, is directly related to the media and its portrayal of X, which they think resonates with their customer bases. In fact, I think the reality is just the opposite of that. Consumers are paying attention to woke politics by companies more than ever, and if they see an advertiser essentially rallying against free speech, I am not sure this will bode well for them.

Most people, despite how it seems sometimes, are more conservative and patriotic than many give credit for—even many liberals.

What Musk's X is suffering from is very simple. It's suffering from doing what's right. It's suffering because it broke up the monopoly the left held on speech. And naturally there are going to be some people who simply won't accept that.

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