I'm about to commit one of the cardinal sins of column-writing. I am about to admit, in print, for anyone who cares to read, that I don't care about something.
Yeah, I know. It is possible, even preferable that most folks go through life without strong opinions about a whole range of topics. Those things they don't know anything about, for instance. I mean, it's never stopped me, but maybe it should have.
Technically, we columnists are supposed to develop, nurture and communicate out into the world our various thoughts and musings on a regular basis. Then, of course, we either completely abandon them or forget we had them in the first place. We call that "growing."
Having said all that, I probably ought to move things along and admit that I don't have an opinion about Elon Musk.
Now I doubt this will be particularly upsetting to Elon Musk. I mean, unless he, for some reason, aggregates lists of folks who like him vs. folks who don't like him vs. folks who don't really care. That could be a thing extremely rich people do. I definitely wouldn't know.
But I also don't know why an extremely rich person who has a lot on his plate already -- like flying electric cars to Mars or something like that (I may not be as clear on the overall goals of his various business ventures as I should be) -- would want to buy a social media platform like Twitter. I also don't understand why people buy yachts bigger than shopping malls. Or why "yacht" has a "c" in it. Some things are just a mystery.
However, apparently Musk wants to buy Twitter and the good folks who can allow such things seem inclined to sell it to him. I had a similar transaction at a coffee place this morning and it was greeted with significantly less fanfare. But it was big for me.
The thing is, Musk is one of those people who generates reaction somewhat disproportionate to actual impact. That may or may not be his fault, but it is, well, a thing.
So whatever he does is going to be loudly praised or condemned. At least until those praising or condemning move onto to something else. Which, potentially still involves Musk, since if there is one thing he generates more than kind of cool cars, it's praiseworthy/condemnable actions.
It seems Musk wants to buy Twitter in part because he wants to ensure its existence (at least in his mind) as a "public square" where folks are free to express their opinions and then have a lot of uninformed, mean-spirited people make fun of them. OK, perhaps I'm adding that last part on my own. That might not actually be what he had in mind.
And some people are opposed to that because, well, kind of hard to call something a "public" square when a private individual famous for sometimes odd actions and opinions owns it.
However, the thing about "the public square" is that, yes, we used to have them. At least so I'm told. People went out and loudly proclaimed their opinions and folks listened. However, they got crowded and noisy and apparently you couldn't find parking for your horse, so people quit going.
So my bet is, for good or bad, if Musk fundamentally changes the way Twitter operates, people will vote with their feet (or in this case, their thumbs) and quit using it. And even if he doesn't, chances are a lot of people will quit using it because tastes change. Again, that "public square" thing. You stand out screaming your opinion on most public spaces these days and people don't make eye contact and hurry by before calling the authorities.
What seems to be getting lost in all this is that we are all responsible for our own opinions, not the media or the medium or Musk or anyone else. OK, you can blame your parents but that only works for so long. We did the best we could and if you think your clothes look good even though you left them laying around, well, that's on you.
Want to believe the earth is flat, space aliens visit regularly and horse de-wormer accomplishes anything besides de-worming horses? Feel free. You can do that. You just can't blame Twitter or Musk for it.
I don't have an opinion about Elon Musk because I don't have to. And whatever he owns isn't going to change that. Only I get to do that.