# Now that Elon Musk has bought Twitter - now the Pit edition (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 25, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442 "2022-04-25T22:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 141
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2802 "2023-01-25T00:45:23Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > To me, the appearance of the DeLorean on screen was an immediate recognition of a spectacular implosion of a company and its founder. Yes, we all knew it looked cool. We also knew that it was completely submerged in the stink of failure. Ehh, I think that you were/are more well informed than the average consumer. I still run into people who only know the DeLorean from the Movie, and are surprised when I let them know how much of a dog it was. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2803 "2023-01-25T01:08:10Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Like, the equivalent of, “You made a hat … out of a lunch box?” or some such. Pure incongruous juxtaposition. I’ll accept that answer too. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2804 "2023-01-25T01:56:27Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > The joke, rather, that he was flat-out perplexed, and lampshading how _strange_ a choice it was. Like, the equivalent of, “You made a hat … out of a lunch box?” or some such. Pure incongruous juxtaposition I agree with this interpretation ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2805 "2023-01-25T10:54:00Z")
> **[Elon Musk Caves to Pressure From India to Remove BBC Doc Critical of Modi](https://theintercept.com/2023/01/24/twitter-elon-musk-modi-india-bbc/)** > > Officials from India’s ruling right-wing party said American tech companies like Twitter and YouTube complied with demands to remove the documentary. Regardless of what you think about the documentary, this is being done by the self-described “free speech absolutist”. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2806 "2023-01-25T12:15:00Z")
Just to keep the record straight, IMO this is a positive thing for India; it represents a win over BBC which has had illusions of the colonial era and thinks it understands and can influence Indian politics. This is what Biden’s foreign secretary, Ned Price said on this issue : "State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that he is not familiar with the documentary but is very familiar with the shared values of India and the U.S. Ned Price dubbed “India’s democracy a vibrant one” and even stressed “exceptionally deep ties.” [U.S steers clear of BBC Modi series row; ‘Familiar with shared values, not…’ | Watch - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJqOQilgy8g&ab_channel=HindustanTimes) This is what Rishi Sunak had to say on this : “…he didn’t agree at all with the characterization of PM Modi in the documentary.” [Rishi Sunak Shuts Down Pak-Origin UK MP In Parliament Over BBC Documentary On PM Modi - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug9wruB63Yo&ab_channel=IndiaToday) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2807 "2023-01-25T12:20:09Z")
So it’s okay to suppress media critical of the government as long as you don’t agree with it? ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2808 "2023-01-25T12:30:11Z")
Disagree entirely. The quality of the documentary isn’t the issue, and I’m certainly prepared to assume the BBC isn’t pushing flat-earth type junk. Further, it’s not really compelling that you can quote some diplomats from countries with friendly ties to India saying they support Indian leaders/democracy. Modi and his ethnic nationalism are not beyond reproach Finally, as others have said, it’s kind of all beside the point when Musk is claiming to be a free speech absolutist. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2809 "2023-01-25T13:24:38Z")
The “win” might be good for India, but Modi is _bad_ for India. And Musk is another “free speech for me but not for thee” repub. All their bloviating about “triggered” and “safe spaces” is just more projection. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2810 "2023-01-25T14:00:41Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > So it’s okay to suppress media critical of the government as long as you don’t agree with it? Please help me understand if you are talking about India or the US ? Are you hinting at the time Nancy Pelosi censored American Winter Olympic athletes to not criticize China ? Or are you talking about the censorship John Cena experienced before apologizing in Mandarin to the people of China, for calling Taiwan a country ? Or are you talking about the recent Top Gun movie where Tom Cruise used to have Japanese and Taiwan patches on his jacket, but they have all been censored and removed now ? On a serious note, India is a vibrant democracy and there is frequent and critical criticisms of Modi in the Indian media - as it should be. BBC comes from a country that just executed Brexit, driven in large part by racist attitudes on immigration to the UK. It certainly has no moral high grounds to deliver sermons on inclusivity. Sovereign Countries have rights to protect their own democratically chosen governments and leaders. Isn’t that why think America supports Israel’s censorship of Al Jazeera ? Anyways, BBC’s anti-India rhetoric is just a money making trick given the hard times it has fallen into (I am hoping BBC will survive Brexit) [https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/yes-bbc-hates-india-but-know-that-its-india-hate-is-a-money-strategy/ar-AA16GrOm](https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/yes-bbc-hates-india-but-know-that-its-india-hate-is-a-money-strategy/ar-AA16GrOm) As to Elon Musk or twitter - its a first world problem and I do not know enough to care. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2811 "2023-01-25T14:05:10Z")
Even taking everything you’ve pointed out at face value, that isn’t a good argument FOR censorship. It just supports the argument that India isn’t alone in its (bad, IMO) behavior. And now, being from a country that did something stupid (Brexit), means your criticisms are invalid? I come from a country that elected Trump, and I criticize nationalists in other countries all the time. You seem defensive about this. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2812 "2023-01-25T14:08:22Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > As to Elon Musk or twitter - its a first world problem and I do not know enough to care. Did you READ the title of this thread? Because, and I hate to break this to you, Elon Musk and Twitter are the topic of the thread, the entire purpose of the thread, and the main thing people are talking about in the thread. This particular documentary and it’s suppression is in this thread not as statement about the merits (or lack thereof) of the documentary, but the fact that Musk’s free speech positioning is completely fraudulent. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2813 "2023-01-25T14:25:38Z")
In other words, his answer to > [@Gyrate](#): > > So it’s okay to suppress media critical of the government as long as you don’t agree with it? was “Yes, if India’s doing it”. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2814 "2023-01-25T14:27:12Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I come from a country that elected Trump, and I criticize nationalists in other countries all the time. I come from the same country, and I recognize that Indian Nationalism is different than the European or Orwellian Nationalism. That’s a different thread though. > [@OldOlds](#): > > Even taking everything you’ve pointed out at face value, that isn’t a good argument FOR censorship. I come from a country that had special hearings and committees to establish Russia’s interference in the elections. Similarly, India’s elections are coming soon. When a foreign media digs up a more than 20 year old incident, that has been tried by the supreme court of India with numerous investigations and testimonials, India has a right to defend its sovereignty. Switching gears, all democracies in the world will control to some extent Social Media like Twitter, especially during elections. Here is how the EU is censoring Twitter: > **[How the EU is Forcing Twitter to Censor (and Musk Can't Stop It) ⋆ Brownstone...](https://brownstone.org/articles/how-the-eu-is-forcing-twitter-to-censor-and-musk-cant-stop-it/)** > > Make no mistake about it. The European Union is, in effect, imposing its censorship on the entire world. I think the outrage above is because a not so rich, non-white country like India has censored Twitter. And I am being called defensive !! EU’s censorship was okay though. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2815 "2023-01-25T14:33:15Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > I think the outrage above is because a not so rich, non-white country like India has censored Twitter. And I am being called defensive !! EU’s censorship was okay though. Please show me where I said that. I think the EU has, in general, a less than ideal relationship with free speech. I’m not saying it’s not free, but banning ideas in the public square is silly, IMO. If RT does legitimate journalism on Biden, they should not be prevented from publishing that in the US. If a Russian Troll Farm is lying about Biden pedophile rings, that’s a different matter entirely. For that matter, if a US Troll Farm is lying about Biden pedophile rings, that’s a different matter (slander and libel are carved out of free speech for a reason). You’re the one who brought up the BBC’s colonialist tendencies. I don’t think that should preclude them from doing journalism about India. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2816 "2023-01-25T14:39:23Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > If ~~RT~~ **BBC** does legitimate journalism on ~~Biden~~ **Modi** , they should not be prevented from publishing that in ~~the US~~ **India**. (The strike outs and bold word inserts above are mine) Yeap - Agreed, with word substitutions in the Indian context. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2817 "2023-01-25T14:46:10Z")
I was reacting to your implication that I only felt that way because it was India (brown) and the BBC (white). Or that I was ok with EU censorship. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2818 "2023-01-25T14:58:15Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Did you READ the title of this thread? Because, and I hate to break this to you, Elon Musk and Twitter are the topic of the thread, the entire purpose of the thread, and the main thing people are talking about in the thread. > > This particular documentary and it’s suppression is in this thread not as statement about the merits (or lack thereof) of the documentary, but the fact that Musk’s free speech positioning is completely fraudulent. Well said. Those who doesn’t recognize and condemn Elmo’s blatant hypocrisy on free speech are themselves hypocrites. > [@Gyrate](#): > > In other words, his answer to > > > [@Gyrate](#): > > > > So it’s okay to suppress media critical of the government as long as you don’t agree with it? > > was “Yes, if India’s doing it”. The appears to be exactly what @am77494 is saying. Whenever I have broached the subject of harmful speech, such as hate speech or the malign influence of disinformation on the political process, I’m consistently told by Americans how much they value the sacred, unconditional protections of the First Amendment. For @am77494 to now be able to claim that protection of their free speech rights in America is fine, but it’s morally OK for India to suppress speech they don’t like, must take some major cognitive dissonance. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2819 "2023-01-25T15:28:40Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > The strike outs and bold word inserts above are mine) [Moderating] Changing someone’s words inside a quote box is against the board rules, even when acknowledged like you did here. Please avoid doin\* this in the future. No warning issued. [/Moderating] \*g ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2820 "2023-01-25T16:17:06Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Sovereign Countries have rights to protect their own democratically chosen governments and leaders. Isn’t that why think America supports Israel’s censorship of Al Jazeera ? Israel doesn’t censor Al-Jazeera. It’s part of my basic TV package. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/2821 "2023-01-25T16:20:04Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > IMO this is a positive thing for India IMO, it’s never a positive thing when a government can suppress critical speech. > [@am77494](#): > > It certainly has no moral high grounds to deliver sermons on inclusivity. The BBC should not need “moral high grounds” to avoid having its documentary suppressed by the Indian government. > [@am77494](#): > > India has a right to defend its sovereignty. I don’t believe that suppressing a documentary is a legitimate way to “defend sovereignty” and there is no government that has the right to do that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=140) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=142)