It is clear, even to Elon Musk (one has to think), that Musk's acquisition of Twitter has been a disaster.
It is equally clear that Musk is far too much of a narcissistic egomaniac to ever admit it.
And while it would be nice to leave Twitter outright and hit greener pastures, the current main alternatives to Twitter -- sites like Mastodon or Post -- are not even close to primetime ready. The ideal outcome is Twitter being put back in the hands of the at least semi-reasonable before the site detonates outright.
What Musk needs is an off-ramp -- some way for him to get out of Twitter while still claiming it as a victory.
To be clear: No reasonable observer has to actually think Musk has accomplished anything or that this excuse be anything but a flimsy façade. Much like the US and Vietnam, every rational human will understand it as pure political dissembling -- "saving face" here means only an excuse that will satisfy Musk's most sycophantic fanboys. Fortunately, that cadre is the only group Musk seems to listen to anyway.
He's never going to be able to unload it for a profit -- that's out. But is there some other narrative he could spin ("It was never about the money!") where he retroactively will have "accomplished what he set out to accomplish" and can leave while saving face? Maybe he can say the "Twitter Files" exposed the dirty heart of old Twitter but now he's successfully cleaned house. Maybe he can triple down on the random staffers he's thrown under the bus as the "real problem" and now that they're gone, all is well (none of us have to believe it; again, this is all about spinning a yarn that will successfully soothe a narcissistic manchild who can't possibly admit he screwed everything up).
I don't know. It's weird to try to come up with "pathetic lie for Elon Musk to tell himself so he leaves the rest of us alone." But that's the best exit strategy we have right now, I think. Suggestions welcome.
Not to be that guy who's always comparing Musk and Putin, but I am reminded of Snyder's article on the futility of off-ramp discourse w/r/t Putin's war, and I think the parallels are robust. (https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-folly-of-off-ramps)
ReplyDeleteMusk's core skill is a facility at telling self-aggrandizing lies. He is so good at it that he has become the richest man on Earth. When he decides he's done with twitter, he will invent a self-aggrandizing lie about that decision that's better and more effective than any you or I could come up with. We can't help him toward that decision by suggesting a useful framing; we are not his communications interns or his therapists. The only thing we can do is make twitter less attractive.
This means, of course, that we must never tweet.