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I don’t have to like Elon Musk to recognize that he’s on my side today. And yes, you don’t have to like him either.
Musk didn’t become a hero overnight, and neither is he a saint nor the devil. He’s simply the richest man in the world, where he got to thanks to his impressive talent and genius, and an extraordinary entrepreneur, with the ability to turn what he touches into gold. For me, that’s enough.
But in addition, it turns out that Musk is against Woke Culture. And this doesn’t make him right-wing or conservative. No. It just makes him someone who is reasonable. Musk is not against left-wing ideas, but against the progressive hysteria that seeks to turn absolutely every cultural product into a piece of activism.
Musk is for free speech—he has called himself a free speech absolutist—and is willing to annoy everyone with it. Those on the left, of course, but also on the right, as he claimed he was going to do.
Some conservatives are surprised and outraged because, after celebrating Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter, they discovered just this week that the entrepreneur supports left-wing ideas. They mistakenly believed, and so did the left and the Democratic Party, that because he supports free speech, then Elon Musk is a right-wing conservative. Wrong. Freedom of speech should not be a value inherent to an ideological tendency.
Musk has always called himself a liberal leftist and supported Barack Obama and Andew Yang. But none of that matters. Musk is not a candidate for anything and can think however he wants. I’m sure I differ from him on a thousand issues. But as long as his money is a product of his talent and his will is to make Twitter a freer space, I’m happy and I support him. Besides, he will take the company away from a group of censoring and woke employees who were holding it captive.
He has insisted that this is his intention with the purchase of Twitter. That everyone will be able to speak, with full freedom. He also promised to improve the user experience and exploit the potential of the platform. If Twitter does well, he does well. And if it does well for him, it does well for all of us Twitter users. Otherwise, alternatives to the platform will continue to be born and the market will do its thing. For now, we can keep celebrating.
This article originally appeared in El American’s newsletter on May 9, 2022. Subscribe for free here!
Orlando Avendaño is the co-editor-in-chief of El American. He is a Venezuelan journalist and has studies in the History of Venezuela. He is the author of the book Days of submission // Orlando Avendaño es el co-editor en Jefe de El American. Es periodista venezolano y cuenta con estudios en Historia de Venezuela. Es autor del libro Días de sumisión.