Goodbye Twitter
I’ve removed all Twitter links from my site.
I spent quite a bit of time integrating this site with Twitter. I tried working with Bridgy to handle backlinks, and set up Jekyll plugins to automate the POSSE process so it would post links to my Twitter account. But I’ve taken all that down now. The reason, of course, is Elon Musk.
The Enshittification of Twitter
There have been so many articles written on Twitter’s decline. I don’t feel I need to recap them all here. But aside from all the hate speech, anti-semitic remarks, and garbage posts, the sheer fact that Elon is now running things is enough to make me want to quit.
I’m not under any delusion that my quitting Twitter will somehow be the spark that turns things around. Elon Musk is not going to browse this site and have some sort of revelation that he either needs to vacate the site, or turn things over to someone who knows how to run it. And my leaving Twitter is not going to engender some sort of mass exodus (not that that isn’t happening already).
(As an aside, I find it amusing how every news article that mentions Twitter is still calling it “X, formerly known as Twitter”. This has to be the worst corporate renaming ever. How long is it going to be referred to as the social media site “formerly known as Twitter”? Every day that continues get a chuckle out of me. I’m just going to call it Twitter.)
Mastodon
I’ve linked this account to Mastodon. I made a Jekyll plugin that handles posting for me, so everything is as automated as it was before with Twitter. It’s even better, in fact, since I’m calling the Mastodon APIs directly and I don’t have to go through a third party site like Bridgy.
It looks like Bridgy no longer works with Twitter anyway.
Dump Elon
As I said, I’m not leaving Twitter to start some kind of movement. I’m leaving Twitter for myself. I don’t want to be associated with anything to do with Elon Musk, and now that includes Twitter.
I’ll never by a Tesla, either. I don’t think you can separate Telsa from Elon Musk. If you own a Tesla, you’re basically saying, “I agree with everything Elon Musk says, and I support him.”
Elon Musk is a bigot, a racist, a homophobe, and an anti-Semite.
I don’t think he’s that smart, either. Some people believe he’s some sort of suer-genius, but that doesn’t square with all the stories showing him to be a grade-A moron.
He’s not even a good businessman. He’s made some of the worst business decisions in the history of capitalism.
Elon Musk seems to be good at one thing: he works hard, and he has the ability to drive the people who work under him to commit to insane work schedules. That’s it. He’s basically a slave driver.
Narcissist
Have you heard of Impostor Syndrome? That’s when people think they’re not as good as they actually are, and they don’t deserve the praise they get for the work they do. Musk is basically the opposite of that. He’s a narcissist. He believes he’s the center of everything, that he can do and understand everything, and he deserves recognition for everything he does.
| Officers | Industrious | Lazy |
|---|---|---|
| Clever | Appoint to General Staff |
Appoint to Highest Leadership |
| Stupid | DANGER | Good for Simple Tasks |
This chart comes from German General Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord.
I divide my officers into four classes as follows: the clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can, under certain circumstances, be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous. (Von Hammerstein, 1933)
You can use the brilliant but lazy man as a strategist, a brilliant but energetic man as a Chief of Staff, but God help you with a dumb but energetic man. (Douglas MacArthur)
Musk clearly belongs to the “Stupid but Industrious” category. The fact that he has a lot of money means he’s a danger to society. Our best hope is that he someday attempts something so stupid that he kills himself. He’s come close already, but he didn’t get called out (unlike how he was forced to go through on his purchase with Twitter).
Anyway, that’s enough armchair psychology on Elon Musk. I don’t think I’ve said anything that hasn’t already been said about him, but it feels good to get off my chest.
