# 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:** 193
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3844 "2023-03-15T04:45:01Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > fund public libraries, public museums, or orchestras How woke. /s/ > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > the abuses that occurred in them in the past are largely regulated away now For the time being. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3845 "2023-03-15T05:55:46Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > But company towns are not always bad. And they still exist. Even if they aren’t always bad, they definitely have been the vast majority of the time. It would be up to you to argue why this particular one wouldn’t be bad. Everything I see says that Musk does not care about the wellbeing of his employees, and has no problem with exploiting them. He’s already been caught ignoring legal requirements to save costs. He has no problem stiffing people to save costs. There just isn’t any reason to look at the guy who has said and done all of these things and think he might be some highly moral owner who could resist exploiting having that much control over his workers. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2023, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3846 "2023-03-15T08:39:50Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > There just isn’t any reason to look at the guy who has said and done all of these things and think he might be some highly moral owner who could resist exploiting having that much control over his workers. I mean, say what you want about the “classic” billionaires, at least some of them have a rudimentary sense of _noblesse oblige_. Not Elon. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3847 "2023-03-15T08:47:36Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Have you looked at a map for places people could live other than that? You mean, like, the city of Brownsville, all of 20 km away? Oh, noes, a 12-mile commute! The humanity! > [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > the nearest place they could be housed would be a daily four hour commute In what universe does it take 4 hours to travel 20-30 km, depending where in Brownsville one is coming from? Down a single, dedicated road with no cross traffic? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3848 "2023-03-15T08:55:13Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > In what universe does it take 4 hours to travel 20-30 km, depending where in Brownsville one is coming from? Down a single, dedicated road with no cross traffic? Possibly one where the only available transportation is by Hyperloop. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3849 "2023-03-15T11:01:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > In what universe does it take 4 hours to travel 20-30 km, depending where in Brownsville one is coming from? Down a single, dedicated road with no cross traffic? Depends. How many Teslas have caught fire on the road? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3850 "2023-03-15T11:39:30Z")
It’s not about the drive.\* It’s just that the big iron ball shackled to your ankle makes it take a lot longer to get ready for work in the morning. You guys really don’t get the tech industry. \*40 minutes according to Google maps. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3851 "2023-03-15T11:53:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > \*40 minutes according to Google maps. Geez, is the speed limit 30kph on Boca Chica Boulevard? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3852 "2023-03-15T12:17:31Z")
My daily commute (albeit from the suburbs of Houston, which is considerably more populated) is about 40 minutes one way in normal traffic over a distance of just under 30 km. Traffic gets bad. Some of my co-workers in a different suburb drive just over half that distance but still take 30-40 minutes. And that’s mostly well developed highway except the bits at either end. Highway 4 isn’t exactly a huge multi-lane expressway, so I could see that taking the better part of an hour each way even without a lot of traffic. There’s going to be speed zones, stop signs, signals, etc along the way. Just over 20 miles in 40 minutes sounds reasonable for that stretch of road. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3853 "2023-03-15T14:02:22Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I mean, say what you want about the “classic” billionaires, at least some of them have a rudimentary sense of _noblesse oblige_. Not Elon. In theory that **might** be done via Starlink, providing low cost or even free internet service to the poor and underserved, but I’m not holding my breath. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3854 "2023-03-15T14:46:01Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [Early 20th century _rubber_ barons, OTOH](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_Akron,_Ohio#Firestone_Park) – those gentlemen created nice neighborhoods next to an established city. Only if you look at the US, if you include outside the US, they range from Extremely dysfunctional: > **[Ford Rubber Plantations in Brazil - The Henry Ford](https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/brazilian-rubber-plantations)** > > Discover the history of Ford Motor Company's attempts at establishing a permanent rubber plantation in Brazil between 1928 and 1945. To horrific: > **[The horrific consequences of rubber's toxic past](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48533964)** > > The appalling treatment of Congo's rubber workers led to the world's first photographic human rights campaign. > **[Death in the Devil’s Paradise - Survival International](https://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3282-rubber-boom)** > > The Amazon rubber boom ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3855 "2023-03-15T14:47:47Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Boca Chica Boulevard “Boca Chica” sounds like a porn movie soundtrack ---
**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:** [March 15, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3856 "2023-03-15T14:48:35Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > “Boca Chica” sounds like a porn movie soundtrack That’s exactly what I thought! _Boca chica BOW wow…_ ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3857 "2023-03-15T15:09:34Z")
The French rubber plantations in Indochina fall on the horrific side as well. > **[The Harrowing History of Vietnam's Rubber Plantations | Saigoneer](https://saigoneer.com/saigon-culture/17206-the-harrowing-history-of-vietnam-s-rubber-plantations)** > > "Oh it’s easy to go to the rubber and hard to return, / Men leave their corpses, women depart as ghosts." > ... ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3858 "2023-03-15T15:11:17Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > There’s nothing wrong with them in the abstract, and the abuses that occurred in them in the past are largely regulated away now. Ah yes, nothing to worry about since we will be protected from abuse by regulations. Those same regulations that Republicans have been fighting tooth and nail to get rid of , and have gutted any enforcement of? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3859 "2023-03-15T15:11:33Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Only if you look at the US Should be obvious that I was only referring to Messrs. Firestone & Seiberling and their housing around Akron. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3860 "2023-03-15T15:15:12Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Those same regulations that Republicans have been fighting tooth and nail to get rid of , and have gutted any enforcement of? And which [Elmo despises.](https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/17/business/elon-musk-rules/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3861 "2023-03-15T15:49:31Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > My daily commute (albeit from the suburbs of Houston I will say, Houston has some of the shittiest freeway traffic I’ve ever seen in a Western country. > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > There’s going to be speed zones, stop signs, signals, etc along the way. Not seeing it on the map, once you’re outside of the city itself. I mean, I don’t foresee massive traffic merging in from the Palmito Ranch Battlefield or the bustling Raptor Roost… so when you say “traffic gets bad”, in this case, my question remains “_what_ traffic?” I know it’s not a multi-lane expressway, but it’s not a dirt road, either. I’d expect the speed limit to be 80km/hr for a road like that, here. All of which is leaving aside the obvious case for a damn bus or six, on that route. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3862 "2023-03-15T15:52:30Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > In theory that **might** be done via Starlink, providing low cost or even free internet service to the poor and underserved Starlink isn’t doing jack for free outside publicity-hogging “pilots”, and for the rest, “affordable” is in the privileged Western eyes of the beholder (so-called because they expect the Global South to be eternally _beholden_ for their “generosity”, no doubt ) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/3863 "2023-03-15T15:52:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > All of which is leaving aside the obvious case for a damn bus or six, on that route. Socialism! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=192) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442.md?page=194)