Musk’s Twitter changes may irritate some, but here’s why it’s the most American thing going

Granted, only a small percentage of Americans have an active Twitter account, but the way Elon Musk is spearheading the company that he now owns is an incredible thing to watch — and it could be a good example to the rest of us.

For those who don’t spend their days on Twitter, a short primer: Twitter is influential in media and political circles, and it’s especially useful for real-time, breaking news. But it had become known for some leftist political bias, even accused of squelching conservative users’ viewpoints. That bias seemed highly problematic given how influential Twitter is in the realm of politics and news and what is deemed newsworthy.

For example, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has had an active Twitter account, but when Jack Dorsey was CEO of Twitter, former President Donald Trump was permanently suspended over his tweets about the Jan. 6 riot. Twitter often suspended or banned people whose main fault seemed to be that they were politically conservative, or perhaps that their tweets went against government mandates when it came to issues such as the COVID pandemic and vaccines.

After several back and forths, Musk decided to buy the company, much to the chagrin of employees who openly expressed disdain that he equally entertains political arguments from both the right and the left. Musk promptly fired thousands of Twitter staff, deeming their duties useless.

One former Twitter employee took to the site to bash her new job and found herself looking for another. Several days ago, Musk gave some employees the option to resign by a certain deadline — one that has now passed — if they didn’t commit to Musk’s new mantra and work harder than ever. So far, he’s let almost half of Twitter’s workforce, nearly 3,700 workers, go.

For all the chaos and hubbub about whether Twitter will thrive or even exist next year, Musk has simply vowed to make his version “far more effective, transparent and even-handed” than it was before. The backlash has been interesting. Apple has stopped advertising on the service almost altogether. What’s wrong with an even-handed Twitter?

Musk continues to engage with prominent and regular Twitter users, asking all kinds of questions about who needs to be reinstated — accounts such as Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and even Trump’s were —for a purposeful and important aim: To let Twitter be a bastion for free speech.

It sounds a bit dramatic, but I tend to think he’s right — and this is why Musk’s takeover of Twitter is the most American thing going right now.

In addition to embracing innovation (revolutionizing electric cars) and adventure (trying to get to Mars, championing free speech is one of the most vital American characteristics. Without it, we’re just like other countries with a muzzle, parroting our government, echoing our moral betters, with no mind or will of our own.

Free speech is imperative to the American way, even — some would say especially — when applied to speech with which you don’t agree. Of course, Twitter has always been a private company, and it always was Dorsey’s right to banish whomever he wanted, for any reason. But once it became so powerful, his decisions were amplified and the political bias was obvious.

Why not let everyone tweet and let people decide if they want to agree or disagree, follow advice or not. Some will argue Musk’s new “live and let live” policy is too relaxed, but from his timeline, it sounds like Twitter may still police direct threats of violence, just not gray areas like “hate speech” or “misinformation.”

It’s this “we the people” attitude that led to a never-tried experimental form of government that, for all the grief it gets, has paved the way for the kind of free enterprise system that has accomplished some pretty cool things in the last 250 years like win some important wars and clear the way for world-changing innovations. American ingenuity and dominance could not have happened without our free-market economy and First Amendment.

I’m sure Musk will do some dumb things with Twitter; he’s an imperfect human being. But his attitude is unique, his goal is noble and refreshing, and his disruptor spirit is reminiscent of those British dissidents we now call some of our favorite Americans.