this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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[–] Vlyn@lemmy.zip 237 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Because he's doing everything to make it fail and destroy the platform, isn't it obvious?

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 149 points 1 year ago (8 children)

No, you don't throw away $44 billion just for shit and giggles, not even if you are as rich as Musk. Musk is (probably) a narcissist who thought he could make it work in his delusional mind.

He wanted a mouthpiece for the MAGA crowd, and he probably thought the desire in the population for it, would make it succeed, if he made the platform embrace that. He probably envisioned himself as a great liberator, who would be celebrated for bringing free speech back to America.

Musk has been losing it for a long time, and it seems to only get worse.

[–] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who could of forseen brands not wanting to advertise over hate speech that would turn off half their customer base? I'd love screenshots of my companies products floating around next to seasticas and racism.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Yes that's so strange, think of all the extra attention the controversies create!! I bet he planned to double the prices for advertising.

[–] steltek@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Also, I don't think a narcissist would intentionally and publicly humiliate themselves the way Musk has done (Not a psychologist).

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Absolutely true, being humiliated is just about the worst thing for a narcissist.

An example of that, was when Elon Musk called the diver who actually rescued 13 children in Thailand a pedophile. Imagine that, calling the hero of the day a pedophile because you are butthurt!!

[–] crate_of_mice@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

No they definitely don't like to be humiliated, they probably feel that a lot more deeply that non-narcissists. But at the same time, they lack the self-awareness that would help them avoid getting into situations that would lead to humiliation.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He’s being bankrolled to keep it up and running for the next election. It will be interesting to see if the money runs out.

[–] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Nah Saudi money goes deep

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think a lot of “hardware” people underestimate software. Historically, hardware was way more complex but the hardware problems have kind of been solved. There’s only so many ways to design a phone or laptop. Software, meanwhile, has only become more complex and challenging.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I agree, but I don't see the point in this context?

The software to build and run Twitter, is probably not worth much besides for running Twitter. No Twitter means no value in the software for it either.

[–] dragontamer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

No, you don’t throw away $44 billion just for shit and giggles

Why not? Elon Musk is famously on ketamine, ambien, and a whole slew of mind-altering substances.

Given how the contract was written, and given how much Elon Musk fought against the contract, it was obvious that he made a short-term decision (likely while high on some substance), and then quickly regretted buying Twitter. Within a week or two, he started a court case to NOT BUY TWITTER, despite signing an ironclad contract.

In my mind, its really fucking obvious what happened. Elon Musk partied a little bit too hard with some mixture of ketamine+ambien+alcohol, it mixed weirdly in his brain and he made a bad decision. A few days later, when he sobered up a bit, he realized how shitty of a decision he made but it was too late to roll things back.


Everything else Elon Musk has done is just... shitty reputation management. He's trying to convince the world he's still got it, despite making a bad (possibly drug-induced) decision

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

He made a huge mistake, either because he was under the influence, or because he is delusional. That doesn't mean he actually intended to throw out $44B just for shit an giggles. Obviously he didn't when he sobered up.

[–] MajorHavoc@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

"He cannot be that self deluded."

Narrator: He was.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

I wonder if he ever had it.

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[–] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think that's obvious to everyone. But, if you're claiming he's doing it on purpose..... That's just some next level batshit conspiracy theory.

[–] Vlyn@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Is it? He's either a moron or he's doing it on purpose. There is simply no other explanation.

At this point it's just too many dumb decisions, if he had done absolutely nothing after taking over he'd be better off than he is now.

[–] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Delusional rich guy who's nowhere near as smart as most people thought he was is the most simple explanation. He's obviously got some kind of god complex and thinks he's right about everything.

[–] Vlyn@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I mean he has been called a real world Tony Stark for the last decade. Maybe that went straight to his mushy brain and he is still on that high. Back in the day he listened to experts, now whenever he's at SpaceX they employ "Elon handlers" who just nod to every suggestion and then try to get rid of him.

He got too much positive press and lost it.

[–] zurohki@aussie.zone 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He looked like a real world Tony Stark when he was surrounded by teams of smart people doing all the hard parts and PR for him.

What we're seeing now is pure unfiltered Musk. He was probably always like this, but now he's off the leash.

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[–] Cabrio@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

God knows how a wannabe Steve Jobs who bought into all of his companies ever got compared to Tony Stark.

[–] BleatingZombie@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

The first one. He's stupid

[–] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

Occam's razor and all that. He is simply a low intelligence person with a fuckload of money.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I mean... he is a moron.

[–] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because he’s doing everything to make it fail and destroy the platform, isn’t it obvious?

It is tremendously obvious, I agree. At one point it felt kinda hyperbolic to say, but not for awhile now.

I'm not knowledgeable enough to be able to speculate what's in it for him, but it's 100% obvious that's what's being done.

[–] Vlyn@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

He might call him self pro free speech, but he actually hates it (as long as it's not his own free speech). Getting rid of Twitter is a massive blow to free speech. One less platform where he and his companies can get outed and criticized on.

[–] severien@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Twitter was becoming another walled platform (not being able to read the content without being logged in) even before Musk's take-over.

I'm happy for any walled platform to fail. IMO they have no place on internet.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago

It’s less nefarious than that. He wants to be a championed business leader. He’s just a fuck up who was forced to buy a platform that he never actually intended to buy (except for maybe a couple of days when he first suggested it). Sure, it will help his side when he runs it into the ground, but that’s not his intent despite being the cause.

[–] chalupapocalypse@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

People told me I was crazy when I said he bought it to shut it down. Look who he hangs out with, people with a fuckton of money who hate free speech. Very powerful people who control media empires and run oppressive regimes.

He might be stupid, but the people pulling his strings aren't.

[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

Like others have said, bullshit. He'll drive it into the ground and pretend that was his plan the whole time, like he's some undercover genius three steps ahead of everyone, when really he's just constantly playing catch-up with his narcissistic outbursts.

[–] phx@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

That's like saying "my car may fail after I poured sand into the gas tank and replaced the electrical with speaker wires"

[–] squiblet@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

That was my original thought when he came on and immediately fired 75% of the staff. It's not some savvy slimming down or cost-cutting. It was more like a wrecking ball.

It was fairly clear that his overall desire was the make the platform less useful for liberals and more for conservatives. It seems like he is content to destroy it if he can't achieve the latter.

[–] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I keep thinking there must be some high level plan here to destroy twitter for the good of humanity. I mean it's that or Elon actually just is that stupid. At this point the latter seems the most likely ...

[–] Deftdrummer@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Twitter was not the golden bastion to humanity you think it was.

[–] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

That's my point. In theory Elon realized how toxic it was to public discourse and sought to destroy it.

If you look at his actions and the actions of a competent person trying to destroy the platform, they are virtually identical

[–] Transcendant@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You've got it back to front imo. Twitter was a useful tool for disseminating info, whether for protest movements, political movements, whatevs. Pre-Musk, there was a degree of control on twitter re disinfo, harassment, hatred etc. Now, it's no longer a useful tool for leftwing people to gather and share their thoughts; it's no longer a useful tool to disseminate information; it's no longer a tool for rallying protestors.

Look at who invested (Saudi kingdom); look at when Musk took it over (mid-terms); it seems pretty obvious to me that the takeover was a very expensive purchase to make the actions of oligarchs & despots that much easier.

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[–] o_oli@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

If he was destroying it for the good of humanity he would have to somehow destroy the concept of it rather than a single platform.

Probably best spending 40 billion on education in the harm social media can do lol.

I really do think he's just delusional. I won't call him an idiot because there is clearly intelligence and talent in his head, but he's gone off the rails in some capacity whether it's mental health issues or power crazed or who knows.

[–] kool_newt@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

What if Elon was encouraged to buy twitter by people who knew he would fuck it up in short order for them?

If you want to take down a corporation, there's two main ways right now. Have Elon take charge, or have Ken Griffin short them into the cellar.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

What about Elon Musk makes you think he'd do anything for the good of humanity?

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