Marjorie Taylor Green
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), having already lost her personal Twitter account for promoting COVID misinformation, is now attacking noted historian, author, and conservative columnist Max Boot for expressing concern about billionaire Elon Musk’s attempt to take over Twitter.
Musk, not only currently the richest person on the planet, but the richest person in history, was sanctioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission and ordered to pay Tesla shareholders $40 million over his Twitter posts in 2018 ($20 million from Musk, $20 million from Tesla.) He was also ordered to have his tweets vetted before posting, which he is now fighting.
Friday morning Musk officially attempted to buy the social media platform, after almost joining the company’s board earlier in the week, which came after a late disclosure he had purchased more than nine percent of the company’s stock.
“I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter,” Boot, a former Republican, said on Twitter. “He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.”
Rep. Greene went ballistic, calling Boot a “communist.”
Kill freedom of speech to save democracy?\n\nSay you\u2019re a communist.\nJust say it.\n\nYou\u2019re actually scared of people freely discussing ideas and saying words.\n\nYou\u2019re terrified of the impact on politics when truth isn\u2019t censored. \n\nI\u2019m offended by your weakness.https://twitter.com/maxboot/status/1514570168730636290\u00a0\u2026— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene) 1649941564
She was quickly mocked, including by Boot himself.
Jewish space laser lady thinks I\u2019m a Communist. https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1514590815431106563\u00a0\u2026— Max Boot \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Max Boot \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1649941629
But Boot also made a serious observation about the response to his original tweet:
“All the hyperventilating from Trumpist trolls in response to this post (claiming that content moderation=fascism) is a good example of the worst of social media. It’s corrosive tendencies should be curbed not amplified. Trump must never be allowed on Twitter again.”
Others chimed in too:
She ran to the police to file a report against Jimmy Kimmel for telling a joke about her.pic.twitter.com/vPIvAMANjE— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1649941700
This from a person that called police to report an innocuous joke by a comedian. You people never, ever value \u201cfree speech\u201d the way you claim.— Brian Normoyle (@Brian Normoyle) 1649942777
Tell me you don't understand freedom of speech, democracy or communism....— Our Government is broken. \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Our Government is broken. \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1649941974
MTG's last tweet prior to this one was a defense for banning books from libraries. You really can't make it up.https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1514590815431106563\u00a0\u2026— Morten \u00d8verbye (@Morten \u00d8verbye) 1649942085
pic.twitter.com/oPU2l1gSM6— Justin Norvell \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf3b (@Justin Norvell \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf3b) 1649942046
Sorry Marjorie, if you break a platform\u2018s rules you get banned. That is not taking away your freedom of speech that\u2019s taking someone who can\u2019t follow the rules off of a platform of people who do follow rules.— Lara reads banned books in Florida (@Lara reads banned books in Florida) 1649941602
YOU ARE SUING JIMMY KIMMEL FOR TELLING A JOKE ABOUT YOU. \n\nYOU WANT TO BAN BOOKS.\n\nI wanted to say it loud so you wouldn't miss it.— BlueBellBetty (@BlueBellBetty) 1649942370
Published by permission of Alternet
