April Awakening: Day 26
So Elon Musk is all set to acquire Twitter. $44 billion. Must be nice to have that kind of cheddar to spend. Either way, people have been ultra divided over this. Some think this is a return to freedom of speech. Others say it’s a threat to democracy. People are so worried about things that haven’t even happened yet, they’re willing to go full-on drama queen and actively hope for the worst. I don’t know why anyone would do that. Maybe to appease some kind of baser instinct that thinks all hope is lost and affirm they were right. Me? I don’t really care either way. I haven’t tweeted anything this month, apart from sharing these entries. I’ve scrolled a couple times here and there, but even that got old after a few minutes. I just don’t care to see anyone else’s thoughts at the moment. And it doesn’t matter either way, those tweets will exist whether I look or not. What I can’t wrap my head around is why someone would want to make sure those “wrong” thoughts don’t exist whatsoever.
Too many online have outed themselves recently as pro-censorship, saying it’s a good thing when certain accounts get banned, or applauding when some failed streaming site gets ‘canceled.’ If your side is allowed to speak, then the other side is as well. If I had to put a dumb label on myself, I’d call myself a free speech absolutist. Everyone should be able to say and think whatever they please, and ideally be prepared to back up what they say. I don’t condone canceling, mob overthrow, life ruination, or threats. I encourage discourse, disagreement, discussions, and open-mindedness. And it’s just weird to me that there’s people out there who don’t. They’d rather live in an echo chamber, hearing only agreement right back at them. It never made sense to me. It’s the one thing I think I can safely say I’ve been consistent on in all my years online. I may have made jokes or critiques on why certain pieces of media should be thrown into the fiery pits of Hell, but I never ever thought they shouldn’t be allowed to exist. Not everything has to be for everyone. What’s it to me if some weirdos out in Weirdoland want to hold and harbor beliefs I have absolutely no desire to adhere to?
It seems to me some want to create a perfect world where only a certain faction of person can live in. Those who step out of line with any form of dissent may not enter the building. I don’t know how we got here in 2022, and I don’t exactly know how much more we can even take before the whole thing breaks. While I don’t think freedom’s return rests on just one guy’s shoulders, it’s entirely possible for it to contribute to a breaking of barriers put up by those absolutists who don’t want to play fair for everybody.
I’ve believed for years that there’s got to be something that can help raise society’s morality bar. We’ve set it far too low for a very long time. It’s so far in the ground, we’ve forgotten how to be human to one another. It’s much easier to demonize than it is to realize another’s differences. I think that by talking it out, we can get there. Even if it’s just a little online talk. You can’t live in an echo chamber forever. That’s the easiest way to get the walls closing in.