The Minimalists and T.K. Coleman discuss the implications of Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter. Listen to full episodes of The Minimalists Private Podcast: patreon.com/theminimalists FOLLOW THE MINIMALISTS:
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Are the minimalist, happy or upset that elon musk bought twitter care? Don't care, my goodness,
you're allowed to not care. You have to have a definitive opinion. Silence is violence
what are thoughts on elon musk buying twitter
mean personally, I literally felt no emotion, positive or negative about that decision. Like my honest reaction was interesting,
I know who elon musk is
He does a lot of interesting stuff and says a lot of interesting things. I have
such hard time, knowing where he's coming from, because he just strikes me as the kind of person is playing games, half the time with what he tweets like he's, like mass,
Lee trolling people. I have no idea what he's thinking I was going on, but, like I
Didn't leap into like all this is a political victory for x or
or or like all. This is a great danger to society. I'm curious about it,
I'm interested in seeing what
this the social media space looks like a year from now, two years from now I,
think there is danger in just assuming that on everybody who seem
to be on your side and some kind of way is some great.
Champion of freedom every time they do something like this look for all. I know, because I've been around
I've seen it happen before too
from now the twitter experience could be, as
anti freedom, as people always thought it was an elon musk is just support,
the status quo. That could be the reality or for all I know, twenty four months
winter can be like whoa, so glad elon bought it. But for me I
expect something that I have
and I valued and I grew a lot from before I ever.
Sperience any pressure to be a thought leader, and that is, I respect the space
is spending a lot of time observing and meditating and contemplating
what the world knows was going on in my heart and my so I'll be
you to let you know what I think about twitter. You know, after a couple of years of observation and experience and what I think the difference is between elon musk, but
now I literally feel no emotion about it and I haven't even taken the time to
read what anybody else has to say like I literally can tell you what anybody else thinks about it other than like there's just a predictable
Political reaction of a lot of people feel like all this is bad.
It's. Unlike all, this is good, but I haven't even listened to a single podcast or read a single article, article on it and I'll want. The topic that comes up with this is censorship and freedom speech,
and it's funny, because I am all about freedom of speech.
I love that first amendment man,
I we can say anything we want without any repercussions, but
there are a lot of people who I want to shut the hell up. So me having. If I had that power I
absolute power corrupts absolutely. There are certain people. I would shut the hell up. You just like delete their sorry, there's a private business. I do whatever I want you're, not welcome here by so so it's like it's funny
but I can recognize how that that's hypocritical and you know
with elon musk, like yeah, certain people that he's probably not going to you know banned from twitter like Alex Jones.
Great example. I think that you know like I don't want to hear what he has to say. In fact, I think his
his lies in his the pedestal that he's on has real life consequences and those real life consequences effect
people in a negative way so
Alex, I would shut him up, but I also see that that's counter intuitive to freedom of speech. So I mean I don't know what else to say, except like we're all hip
in some way, I could see it on myself. I don't really know
a deal with it, but you know I recognise the fact that way. That's one of the ways I'm very
critical. What what will there is that the all important private public distinction right on it on a private plough
form so like if you take like the pure
voluntariness or a libertarian position on freedom of speech. You could say
hey in your store in your
whole, more on your platform where you are the owner, you
get to set the rules, no matter how silly and superficial they may be sure? And so, if you want to say hey to come into my restaurant, you got to have a shirt on, or shoes or you're not allowed to swear or even crack jokes or talk about basketball. That's your right to say in my domain that I own these are the rules and you're free to not
on my domain, you're free to go, give your mind
in time energy to a competitor. So I don't think it's hypocritical
say hey. If I owned a restaurant, or if I owned a platform, I would only allow certain people to set up an account whatever it will make you
popular will make you subject to criticism, but that's all part of the fair game of free speech. Free speech doesn't mean you are
immune from disagreement and social ostracize asian it just me
no one with the threat of coercion,
central institution with the threat of coercion, has the power.
Fine. You are lock you up for expressing their views and so on. I don't think there's
the inherent hypocrisy with that. But you know
I would say is that you know I think about quoting cs Louis again that he says
Maybe true,
Some men deserve to be slaves.
But no one amongst us. No one among us deserves to be a master and whenever I
about like controlling speech and censorship, I always think to myself
Certainly, there are people that are worthy to be censored, but who, among the
is worthy to be the sensor.
I urge, I don't think, there's anybody out there. That's noble enough trustworthy enough righteous enough were consistent enough to be a
Were these sensor of ideas, and so I'm a big champion of san lan
All the crazy people talk because I
humanity's ability to think critically about what they're going to believe
then I trust some central institutions, ability to say not allow. We are the truth. Detectors we're going to think critical.
for you by not allowing you to have access to these books are part cas. We know what's best for you, we're going to protect you from being exposed to these lies. Oh yes, and who is it that gets to define law?
Why us the trustworthy
institution. Imagine that being abused, inconceivable right. All you gotta do is
imagine that president that you didn't like four years ago, eight years ago, twelve years ago, sixteen years ago, trust me,
to go no further back than that. Imagine what that power looks like in that person's. Have hmm this. I think that free speech is not self evident,
right and it's not a the right itself is not self evident. That is also a contract with cum, oh yeah, yeah, and so what I will say,
as the other star neighborhoods in america right now or you don't have free speech. You know,
I love your speech, has consequences, you don't have to go somewhere far
you gonna, never neighborhood. I grew up in the trailer parks. You grew up in raleigh and your speech had consequence real consequences, yeah
real life, immediate consequences.
Right and we all know- and I'm not incur-
Jim. Anyone to gotten divine say simply saying this is what the reality of the world is. I think the aspiration for free speech
it is something that I certainly admire. I like the idea that any of us can say anything, but the problem is when he had any of us can say anything all the time it creates this giant trash heap.
And so elon musk buying
twitter is like depends on what your prospect
If is, if you love on musk, then it's like one
four breeze on a trash heap. If you
it's a fart on a trashy,
either way it's not going to change appreciably what's going on there, because, yes, you can, since
Alex Jones right, but go back to the very beginning of this maximal episode of this.
That up a cell ryan or we talked about the chinese
a farmer and Alan watson wanted Alan, what say you never know what will be the consequence of the misfortune
and you never know what will be the consequences of good fortune
Maybe you think this elon musk thing is great, but it could end up
being very unfortunate for you, or maybe you think it's terrible and the consequence ends up being something that seems
amazing to you long term and the truth. Is you simply don't
no right now, even if you're, the biggest he Ellen fan. Even if you do
buys the man and wish he was never born. You want to heap all of these dinner.
Eighty monitors on to him
either way you don't know
by the way twitter is its the best trash heap of all the trash heaps right. We have facebook and and instagram and tik tok, and I prefer twitter
to all of the other mediums, even those who want it. They can only five percent of the minimalist followers are actually on twitter. We share stuff there,
all the time, but when I look at the when I look at the landscape,
it's a lot of noise? It's a lot of trash and I don't want to contribute garbage to that landscape.
maybe you Aren'T- comes in and cleans up the trash sheep. I don't know, but it seems more likely that it's not within his control, because everything is being heard
there. Is that even the expectation that like might my context for this, is that the talk on censorship
particularly with social media, really heated up at the time when trump's accounts
were, were suspended or deleted or inactivated or whatever, because that that was a pretty on
in a move in our lifetime. Never have we had a president or somebody like that notorious have have social media,
be like you're off we're just turning your
if we don't like what you're saying we'd, we disagree, we think you're dangerous were turning your account off. That was the first time and there are
People complaining to that they were
followers that their accounts,
spend it, and there are a lot of complaints from the more conservative leaning sigh that, like a there like censoring our stuff, their changing
oh great emphasis on so a lot of people that, just on the surface water
celebrating elon, musk and free speech or sound like our right we're going to get back to a point where,
more of a free for all and hey. You disagree with me. That's fine, but I don't have to worry about getting my account suspended for disagreeing,
Joe Biden about something or something along those lines. I think that was the impasse,
and I got like there certain topics.
Is this a mask mandates your position on a vaccine, your position on by certain topics where, if you expressed a certain kind of opinion, your account might be
suspended or deleted, and I think a lot of people are of certainty
are excited because they feel, like maybe elon musk is going to do less of that,
maybe will maybe won't. I ever heard you. I must make a statement promising anybody that so I it'll be interesting to see how things
for he has made statements about it, but as he,
I missed that he's gonna change that yeah down.
But you know it's just interesting because all of the censorship- I I think, they're actual, I think it's good intent, you know, but what do they say? The road to hell is paved with good intentions, yeah man. I think you know these platforms that the powers that be they think that they're preventing harm from falling on people- and
That's where it gets tricky, because it's like is it preventing harm falling on people or is it just censoring people cause like there are certain things about coven and masks that were getting censored a year ago and then
You know all the sudden. The cdc has new information and they're like oh, our perspective has changed
and now these things are getting censored a year ago allowed to be beyond platforms, because the cdc has said it. Okay, I we agree with these things now
yeah I mean there's I dunno, there's always outliers edison. Is that it's not black or white? That's really what I'm trying to say like there's a lot of outliers that a lot of nuance that and I don't think, there's any human on this planet that can sift through all the nuance and make the best decision that that that leaves are
or that that prevents harm from falling on any one yeah. And yet, who do we trust to make sense of that nuance that it's okay to seek out curators? I go to museums and a curate a museum, but I'm choosing for to go to that museum, an inexperienced saturation! Yes, water is not a curator,
right, and I think that's the difference right. It have a sudden. A art museum came to my house a sort of moving pictures around. I would be incensed by that right.
now you're and I think it goes back to the
sunlight is the greatest disinfectant. Because for me, when I see Alex Jones, I see
as a comedian. I don't know how people take him serious. I think one of the reasons they do take him seriously, though, is as soon as he censored or it makes people think like well, wait a minute yeah. What do we do? We're censoring the truth right yeah. I think the best way to expose someone like Alex Jones is
What andrew showed said, former podcast guest of ours, that he brought him on his podcast and let him just pontificate for two hours and all of a sudden you I saw like ah
who will? I would never take this seriously? Now, but if all this was censored, I'm but the peaks mercury
whom I wonder, what he really what he sang where they hide yard. I think the best way to make a conspiracy
theory, sound or look credible is to censor it.
And and and try to make the information inaccessible, because the conspiracy theory is going to be based on an us against them mentality. That says this
stop they don't want you to know. Every conspiracy theory is based on a precept,
this is something they don't want you to know, and you validate that you reinforce it, make people more curious about it, but you don't
we start that I can
accuracy theories, are a great invitation, a great opera,
many to engage in philosophy, because what a conspiracy theory,
centrally does says
the mainstream story that you're told about something important
and here's a theory about how that's a lie in europe being deceived, and I think it's a great opportunity for people to accept the challenge of say. Ok, attali am free to disagree with this conspiracy. Theory less just make that the default
keeping at it as the default bullets earn our right to laugh at by bad ideas. Why do you think it's false? Because it's not just about what you believe it's about, how you
that belief and why you hold that belief- and I think conspiracy can chow
just then a healthy way to make us say all right, a decent
with what he saying. I accept the mainstream story, but but why? Why do I think that person's wrong? I always think that's a valuable interval,
eyes and I dont think human beings should be protected from it. I think human being should be encouraged to do it.
Does it mean that you know as parents for instance or as teachers
We're dealing with minors that we just let them why?
whatever they want on tv, we want to protect them in the sense of teaching them the principles of critical thinking until they get to an age of like watching. Certain types of things are consuming certain types of content, but I'm
big fan of of bringing it all into the light and say: let's have public discussions about this controversial conspiratorial view, because if it's
I sense bring it down to the light, will expose it. We don't have to run from it. We will have to be afraid of it, but if there is some truth to it, perhaps we can learn
Because every generation has commonly accepted,
moves that were a conspiracy to previous generations.
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Transcript generated on 2022-07-12.