bully
1 of 4
noun (1)
bul·ly ˈbu̇-lē ˈbə-
plural bullies
1a: a blustering, browbeating person especially: one who is habitually cruel, insulting, or threatening to others who are weaker, smaller, or in some way vulnerable — Merriam-Webster Dictionary
I like the dictionary because it tells us where we can begin and it helps us to ensure that we are all discussing the same thing. If we are to discuss bullies then we should all know what one is. This definition pretty well covers the water but it leaves out one large group of people whom bullies constantly underestimate as soft targets — those who ignore them until they can no longer be ignored.
Enter Elon Musk
Several days ago two events happened that caused the new Tweeter in Chief to temporarily suspend (7 days) the accounts of six reporters from the main stream media: former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar, CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan, New York Times reporter Ryan Mac, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, The Intercept journalist Micah Lee, and Keith Olbermann.
They were suspended because they reported a link to a web page that gave the real time location of Elon Musk’s private aircraft. This is an inherently dangerous situation if there are people who would do him harm IF they only knew where and when he would be in a particular location. In the social media world it is called doxing. Time for another definition:
”dox
verb
ˈdäks
variants or doxx
doxed or doxxed; doxing or doxxing; doxes or doxxes
transitive verb
informal
: to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge” — Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The six reporters in question doxxed Elon Musk by sharing real time information on the location of his private jet.
That was bad enough but then this happened.
“Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood, …. Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.” — Elon Musk
”lil X” is Elon Musk’s two year old son.
The six were suspended and Twitter now has this clearly articulated policy which more importantly is being applied to EVERYONE on the platform. Reporters can no longer justify doxing by calling the information an important element of a story.
The outrage and shouts of “CENSORSHIP!!!” from the main stream media were immediate. He was accused of being a “hypocrite”, “in over his head”, a “dictator” and more. Loud and prominent objection to Musk’s actions were posted by Bari Weiss, a journalist to whom Musk had been given the charge of presenting a portion of the so-called “Twitter Files” which reveal the illegal working relationship between the federal government and the “old Twitter” run by Jack Dorsey.
Why does Ms. Weiss believe that the real time location of Elon Musk’s private jet is a “of public importance”? According to Merriam-Webster this is a clear example of bullying — “threatening to others who are … in some way vulnerable” . I would also suggest that Ms. Weiss has a short term memory problem and an inability to be objective about what constitutes bullying.
You see, Ms. Weiss was tasked by Mr. Musk with reporting on Twitter employees who blacklisted account holders simply because of their political opinions or because the FBI asked them to do so — a clear violation of the account holder’s first Amendment rights and an action that should make everyone question what has been going between our social media giants and the FBI (see A Theory).
I will note the obvious. None of the six temporarily suspended reporters or their media and political allies objected when these people had their accounts banned for life: Mike Lindell, epidemiologist Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Dr. Joseph Mercola, virologist Dr. Robert Malone, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, journalist James O’keffe, Michael Flynn, Majorie Taylor Greene, and, of course, President Donald J. Trump.
Nor did any of them call for the suspension of the account of Maxine Waters when she famously stated:
”Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere. We’ve got to get the children connected to their parents….”
And about whom was Ms. Waters railing? Members of the Trump administration because of the president's immigration policy which in part was a policy she had supported when Barack Obama was president.
The real problem for Ms. Weiss and her colleagues in the media who are screaming foul is this: Elon Musk just punched the bully in the nose and has promised to do it again if it is warranted and he has clearly stated what will warrant that punch.
Union, Kentucky
17 December 2022