X by Al Sikes

What do you think this is, “f…ing Masterpiece Theater?”

This was the reaction to a recent impulsive post of mine on the free-for-all “social media” exchange once known as Twitter but rebranded by Elon Musk and called X. The verbal combatant I engaged had posted a particularly crude rant and my post suggested he enlarge his vocabulary.  The F word was noun and adjective. His response echoed his staunch avoidance of a more civil opportunity. He wanted his thoughts packed in explosives.

But, let me note my appreciation for his summing up the question. No, X is not Masterpiece Theater nor was it ever intended to be. It was meant to be an open exchange of news, opinion, reflections, performance art, etc. A neutral platform if you will and for the most part Twitter was. And today on X that continues to be the case. But, Musk in his insistence on a no-holds-barred version of free exchange, has perhaps unwittingly, invited the incendiary.

Back in the day as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) I was confronted by complaints about Howard Stern’s radio show. It was broadcast across the nation through an affiliate network. The law prohibited “indecent broadcasting” when children were likely in the audience. It was left up to the FCC to define “indecent” and to the courts to determine whether our definition went too far and thus was a violation of the constitutional privilege of free speech. The right to censor speech had earlier yielded to Justice Potter Stewart’s recallable comment about obscenity—“I can’t describe it but I know it when I see it.”

On X that decision is mostly left up to Elon Musk. As I type X is either pulling out of Brazil or being pushed out. Brazil has accused X of propagating hate and misinformation speech. Now, to state the obvious, I am not a student of Brazil’s societal standards or how those standards are being used or abused in the case of X. What I do know is that internationally Brazil is a quite consequential market. A Wall Street Journal writer in noting this development said of Musk he has, “already driven advertisers away, is struggling financially and ranks as the worse buyout for banks since the financial crisis.” The buyout comment relates to his purchase of Twitter for 44 billion dollars. Bloomberg reports that its value today is $19 billion.

Musk is an exceedingly rich man whose genius in scientific possibilities, entrepreneurship and sailing his startups in a sea of adversaries is now legend. He is also a self-proclaimed libertarian who has decided to become active on Donald Trump’s behalf. My own take, and I am a fan of some of his breakthroughs (achieved with other geniuses), is that his ingenuity is breathtaking while his insights about humanity are, well certainly not at the genius level. At times, they seem moronic.

We all know that on balance the ugly crowds out the good. Neighborhoods confronted by congestion and noise decline. Neighborhoods confronted by racism likewise. While ugly is to some degree in the eyes of the beholder we can probably all agree that there is a line, an invisible threshold, if you will, of civility. And we can also mostly agree that there are uncivil people, often malcontents whose self-regard requires them to trash the civil.

What about “free speech”? It’s constitutional protection gives it a very good name. And, as a fundamental protection from various kinds of tyranny, it was a glorious addition to our Constitution. Its back story is sterling.

But does this enshrinement constitute a safe-house for anything an aggressive malcontent wants to say? Or a proven Russian or Chinese or Iranian hacker whose goal is destruction?

Relatedly I was struck by a story about drugs in The Netherlands. I suspect the Dutch when they legalized the use and sale of narcotics, sometimes called “recreational drugs”, thought this might protect them from organized crime elements that were moving in across the wealthiest countries. The drug kingpins are constantly on the prowl for lucrative markets. Now, news accounts report that the most viscous criminal elements have moved into The Netherlands with murder its weapon of choice. Ugly by any definition.  But I digress.

Back in the day the FCC took on Stern and his show eventually moved behind a paywall to limit the number of children in the audience. Perhaps Musk should offer paywall options to those who want no restrictions.

My guess is that it wouldn’t work as haters don’t want to talk to haters.They are haters not dissenters and there is a big difference. They hate society because, for whatever reason, they feel left out, are angry, and aim their urine at the civil.

When Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter he put his reputation of infallibility on the line. Regardless of how much psychic pleasure he gets from X I must believe he now understands that even the great Elon Musk is fallible. In the case of being kicked out of Brazil don’t count on that being the last card in the game unless X becomes truly a neutral platform for the exchange of ideas, and restricts people who want to burn the house down.

So here is my afterthought. Our society is fragile. It used to be framed by the values expressed in our Judeo-Christian traditions mostly inspired by biblical verse. In much of America that foundation is not only questioned it has largely collapsed. Sunday is now a travel sports day. Church structures are being converted to secular uses while new sporting venues are being built.

As those biblically informed standards decline it will be interesting to see if wholly civil standards count for much. In the meantime one can at least hope that hate and its propagation are held at bay.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.