In one of the most ironic and oblivious things that have ever been said on MSNBC, leftist host of The Beat, Ari Melber complained in a lengthy monologue about Tesla CEO Elon Musk buying Twitter, and actually worried that Musk could shadowban and censor the Democratic Party’s candidates in the upcoming midterm elections without anyone knowing. It’s as if Melber has been living on another planet for the past five or so years because conservatives have been censored constantly under Twitter's current leadership.
Melber started off by attempting to convince his audience that they should care about Elon Musk owning Twitter, “I'm just telling you this thing matters a ton. The world's richest person who is very good at accumulating wealth and power thinks this is worth spending tens of billions of dollars on because frankly he thinks it's that valuable and he thinks it may help him,” Melber said urgently.
He then broadened his focus beyond Musk or even former President Donald Trump because “they are symptoms of the world we’re living in where technology has outpaced any of our ability to deal with it.”
Continuing his whining, Melber lectured that “if you are a democracy like the United States that used to regulate media ownership and say Rupert Murdoch can't have too many local TV stations and newspapers in one town, they have laws for that are still on the books.” He then suggested that Congress should limit whether someone should be able to own all of Twitter.
“If you own all of Twitter or Facebook,” Melber prefaced by saying, “You don't even have to be transparent. You could secretly ban one party's candidate or all of its candidates, all of its nominees.”
Apparently having no self-awareness or sense of irony at all, he continued his laughable speculation: “or you could just secretly turn down the reach of their stuff, and turn up the reach of something else and the rest of us might not even find out until after the election.”
Melber said this despite the fact that Musk has specifically stated that he sought to purchase Twitter because he wants to return the platform to respect free speech.
Even if Musk promised to ban all Democrats from the platform, Melber seemed to believe that shadowbanning or censorship has never happened before. This guy is truly oblivious to the world around him.
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To read the relevant transcript click “expand”:
MSNBC’s The Beat
4/25/2022
6:26:43 p.m. EasternARI MELBER: The point is, people who work with this stuff, they understand how important this is. I'm not telling you need a Twitter account, I’m not telling you you have to jump in the ocean to study whether the ocean levels are rising. I'm just telling you this thing matters a ton. The world's richest person who is very good at accumulating wealth and power thinks this is worth spending tens of billions of dollars on because frankly he thinks it's that valuable and he thinks it may help him. Trump, by the way, today is claiming he won’t even return to Twitter if the ban were lifted but few take what Donald Trump says seriously on that score.
So, what is happening here? This is far bigger than Trump or Elon Musk. They are symptoms of the world we’re living in where technology has outpaced any of our ability to deal with it. That's true whether you're a parent trying to figure out what you can and can't let your kids do at various ages.
It's true if you are a democracy like the United States that used to regulate media ownership and say Rupert Murdoch can't have too many local TV stations and newspapers in one town, they have laws for that are still on the books but the Congress hasn't gotten around to limiting whether someone can own all of Twitter.
And as we discussed in one of our special reports just last week, if you own all of Twitter or Facebook or what have you, you don't have to explain yourself. You don't even have to be transparent. You could secretly ban one party's candidate or all of its candidates, all of its nominees. Or you could just secretly turn down the reach of their stuff, and turn up the reach of something else and the rest of us might not even find out until after the election.
Elon Musk says this is all to help people because he is just a free speech, philosophically clear open-minded helper, a world helper if you will. Is that true? Should you take him at his word? Should you care about this whether you have a Twitter account or not? This is important stuff.
