Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter, what does Donald Trump think about it? And why didn’t he try to buy one of the other Meta platforms like Facebook, or Instagram? Explore the topic on this episode of More To The Story With Lucas Kitchen. Also learn about Elon Musk’s big mission to save the human race and how Jesus fits into the whole thing.
Why did Elon Musk Buy Twitter.
A big change is coming to Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. Elong Musk bought twitter. Everyone is speculating why. In this episode we’re going to give Elon the chance to speak for himself.
Hello and welcome to The show. I’m Lucas Kitchen.
Do you remember those old Dos Equis commercials about the most interesting man in the world? Well, I think Elon Musk just might be the real, most interesting man in the world. A day doesn’t go by that Elon Musk isn’t in at least one of my news feeds. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that either he’s one of a set of identical quadruplets-and that’s how he’s able to accomplish so much, or that he’s an alien who doesn’t sleep, or maybe that he’s an alien quadruplet. In any case, he’s always got something interesting he’s cooking up. And this month is no different.
This is why in my New Sci-Fi novel set to be released in 2023 I named the capital city of the future colonized solar system Musk City, Mars.
Latest update: Elon bought Twitter. Hmm. I didn’t know that kind of thing was for sale. Try pulling up to the drive-through window, I’ll take and order of facebook with a side of TikTok, please. He bought twitter for 44 billion dollars on Oct 27th. That’s interesting because that’s the same day I walked on the treadmill for almost 20. Musk has said he’s a “free-speech extremist, which is interesting because he paid more than any one ever for that free-speech.
Since its 1.8 billion dollar IPO in 2013, Twitter has been a publically traded company, but Elon’s purchase will take the company private again. Don’t worry if you’ve invested in the tech giant. They say the stock buyout will come at a fair market value on Nov 8th. I did a quick check on robinhood. I own a share of a share valued at two dollars and fifty four cents, so I’m looking forward to the 8th. I’m hoping it will make up for all my other robinhood-based bad decisions.
Donald Trump seemed to be pleased that Elon bought Twitter, saying that Twitter was back in sane hands.
On his first day of ownership Elon showed up at Twitter HQ, weirdly carrying a kitchen sink. I took this as a reference to the old idiom he’s going to throw out everything but the kitchen sink. But in this case, since he brought a kitchen sink, I guess he’s going to get rid of that too.
Keeping with that theme, he immediately fired the top executives. That included the CEO, CFO, and chief Legal Counsel - who oversaw twitter’s misinformation policy. That’s code for “the Czar of Censorship.” See what I did there. Czar and Censorship both start with the same letter, though Czar sounds like a Z and Censorship sounds like an S. It’s deep. But let’s get back on track. Here’s the big question.
why did he buy Twitter?
Well, I’ve used my dormant Twitter account as much as I’ve used my college text books, my professors said I should keep. But after hearing the Musk was in charge I logged back in. My first tweet was this to Elon:
@elonmusk, want to come on my podcast for an interview? My mom and dad are both regular listeners now, though dad still misses sometimes. They'd really like to hear why you bought Twitter. Could you respond through email to confirm, though? I don't really know how to use Twitter?
I tweeted that. I’m still waiting on a response.
I know what you’re thinking: How is he going to respond to me through email? I didn’t leave my address in the tweet. See. This is the genius! He’s in charge now. He has all the souce code. He can just click the big owner button and see all my info. So, if he’s really in charge, he can email me.
So like I said at the beginning. I gave him the chance to answer this question right here on this show in person. But he didn’t take me up on that opportunity.
So some time passed, probably about 3 minutes, and I got to looked at his Twitter profile, and I must have really sparked something with my question. In stead of responding to me directly through email, he gave his reasons for buying twitter right there on his account. And here’s the creepy part. He posted this days before I even asked. See. I told you he’s the most interesting man in the world. I bet he’s doing it through neurolink.
On Oct 27, the day of the purchase, around 8 AM he gave his reason. The platform he chose to do it. Twitter, obviously.
“I wanted to reach out personally to share my motivation in acquiring Twitter. There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter... Most of it has been wrong. The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence."
Many people seem to think that to avoid fighting, we should stop opponents from arguing. That’s actually not the case. We allow words so that we can avoid violence. If you take people’s ability to debate and discuss away without fear of retribution, you remove the opportunity for opponents to avoid becoming enemies.
I see this with my children. There’s a temptation to stop them anytime they argue. Most of that temptation is really selfish. If I have to hear another argument over our limited supply Ryan’s world surprise egg toys I’m going to remove my ears with the carrot peeler. However, that is doing them a disservice, when you think about it. What they need to discover is how to argue with love and respect for each other, Becasue I’m not always going to be there yelling at them about how they should yell at each other. When they come and tattle, I often say, don’t talk to me about that, go work it out together.
Now, Elon seems to be saying he wants Twitter to be a place where opponents can work it out together, peacably. I hope he’s right.
He continues his rationale:
"There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society. In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost. That is why I bought Twitter. I didn't do it because it would be easy. I didn't do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity..."
This is not only a danger, but it’s already begun to happen. Conservatives feel that liberal ideas get baked into social media policies and products. There are dozens of social media platforms that were born from outrage over the feeling that left-leaning tech companies are cramming liberal cakes down their throats. These new platforms are generally very conservative since what they are responding to is the very liberal censorship on existing platforms. The divide has already begun.
So, splitting off for political and religious reasons is not always bad. The United States is the result of a religio-political split from the British Empire. The protestant church was a result of a split with the Catholic. The evangelical branch, which I belong to, exists as a result of a split with high church traditions. Splits are often needed. Some splits are even nessisary.
The greatest example of a nessisary break up, the split of Spice girls, or One Direction, or NCYNC. The world is a better place without these nightmares still happening.
But then, on the other hand you have the Beatles. Their breakup was devestating. Not all splits are good and not all are bad. Whether good or bad, when you share the same territory, resources, and society, there is an inherent need to get along. Sometimes a split is the best way to keep the peace. But it’s also a great way to cause a war.
Can we just admit that the United States is going to have its friction points, as it is a melting pot of cultures? Cultures don’t want to melt, they want to remain homogenous. Melting hurts. Assimilating is painful. There are times when cultures can merge for the better, but cultures also have the right to conserve their values. At times that means splitting apart. At times that means mending the divide.
Whatever the case may be, I think Elon is right about this. We need a place to talk about these things safley, so that it doesn’t spill into violence.
For my part, I hope Elon can do it. I hope he can mend the rifts that have fractured through the social media landscape. I think it’s worth a shot, and I’m glad he was willing to gather up 44 billion to try.
He goes on to say why he bought Twitter:
"...I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility."
What an incredible statement. He claims he is trying to help humanity because he loves humanity. This, apparently, is what drives each of his massive business ventures. SpaceX is aiming at making humanity a multiplanet species to reduce the likeliness of extinction. Tesla is helping us transition to electric power in part to reduce the dangers of climate change. And now, Twitter is going to be the place humanity can talk through its problems to reduce the likeliness of war. These are big companies with big missions.
He says his mission is to better society. Now I really, really like what Elon is working on. He’s an amazing guy, and he works at an amazing scale. I love rockets, and electric cars, solar panels, and technology. I applaud his efforts to use those tools to positively affect the world through these big initiatives.
However, there’s an inherent problem with the approach. He’s promoting a humanistic salvation. It’s the Salvation of society through innovation and technology. In his defense, he’s not claiming he can give eternal life to the individual, or anything like that, but he’d do it if he could, but he’s aiming for the salvation of the human race, through human effort. So, like I said, it’s a humanistic salvation.
There’s an interesting thing about being a Christian. I call it prophetic determinism. Prophetic determinism is the mental outlook that allows Christians who believe in end-times prophecy not to stress too much about climate change, for instance, because they are confident that the end of this age will come in a way already determined by God through prophecy. So, someone can believe climate change is real, they could even believe it’s a man-made phenomenon and not worry much about because they believe what God says about the end times. This could be applied to cataclysmic meteor strikes, solar storms, world wars, and the list goes on. I don’t believe the human race will go extinct. As a Prophecy-believing Christian I’m confident that the human race will endure until the end of this age, when Christ returns, simply because God’s word has declared it so.
Now, Prophecy doesn’t determine the condition of the human race or the quality of life through the ages. So, while we evangelicals don’t believe that the ultimate delieverance of the human race will be through a spaceX rocket, a Tesla solar panel, or a renovated Twitter, we do believe that there is value in improving the quality of life in meaningful ways. For me, that’s how I take Elon’s efforts. I’m hoping he can improve the quality of life, and solve some of the devastating effects that social media has brought upon society. As for the salvation of the human race. He’s just not going to be the guy.
It will ultimately be Jesus who brings about the salvation of the human race.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:17-18
So, who’s the most interesting man in the world? While Elon is on the list, Jesus tops it. Actually, I guess you could say Jesus is on a list of his own. Imagine all the things Elon has done and is yet to do. Jesus did and will do immeasurably more.
There’s an excitement that surrounds any person that offers the human race salvation, but humanistic salvation is ultimately empty. Elon might be able to bring about an improvement in quality of life, but the only real salvation is in Christ.
As the verse says, those who believe in Jesus are not condemned, as John 3:16 says, those who believe have everlasting life. By all means, enjoy the innovations of fellow humans, but if you want eternal life, you must believe in Jesus for that.
Thanks for watching, I’ll be back with you soon.
