Maybe the EU gets Twitter EU, and other parts of the world get a different Twitter.

I find this whole thing very interesting!

Having seen the outcome of more aggressive attempts to manage speech, I remain convinced we really do need to put more effort into teaching people how they can manage themselves and how they respond to expression they find objectionable.

We could expand what speech is criminal in some places, and we could roll it back in some others for what I believe would be a net benefit.

There are people out there trying to create what is essentially a right to not be offended. Growing up in the USA this troubles me deeply. As did gow our courts got after George Carlin and decency on TV.

Later, in a movie shortly before George died, I see Harrison Ford look at a satellite image and say, "tits" right on the same prime time Carlin was denied, but I also digress.

Consider a clown calling you an ass online.

The right to not be offended types are deeply moved. They find it a moral outrage or some grave insult to their honor.

Someone like me might chuckle, "Who are you kidding?" realizing they lack understanding of me and are barely relevant. Who cares what some rando thinks?

Then again, say that person is relevant?

A bazillion people know X thinks I am an ass, or at least said so.

Might change things. With more people better educated, with better, stronger norms, they might all laugh as the caller of asses is in truth, and deed, an ass themselves!

Hiding speech often drives people to seek it. Ideas do not die with men --"Planet of the Apes"

Shining bright daylight on speech can be ultra powerful too, a point Carlin often made. Calling someone impacted by war, "SHELL SHOCKED" vs. having "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome" has a thought provoking and profound impact on what people get out of a conversation.

This is why the ACLU would defend the likes of Fallwell, or the Nazis.

And misinformation?

Good grief, we all saw someone with a Doctorate go on about Russiagate for years only to see the whole thing turn up next to nothing, causing people (myself included) wondering why media we are supposed to trust, who has qualifications elevated published, and in one case color coded, properly labeled, speculation from our Intel agencies into FACT that anyone reading original documents could see.

Ask Colin Powell about all that and his role in the WMD discussion, or Bill Maher...

And cancelling, confronting people about racism, for example.

Directly judging them, "you are a racist" plays out very differently from, "some might take that as racist, is that what you meant?"

The former divides, shuts doors, causes people to own up to something they may not even understand. Makes it extremely hard to help one so judged too, especially once they are gone away, now in another club with a grudge.

The latter is a conversation, avoids judgement, help is possible, more possible, and here is the best part:

The former basically requires someone prove better intent to shake off a label they may or may not deserve.

The latter allows a person to evaluate it all and just start playing it differently, making better choices and the world is just better, no credit needed, none given, just less ugly than there was before.

And how does one even prove they are better now? Could be they are and still are critically looked over for the rest of their life.

Things done the other way just don't come with the ugly baggage.

Finally, we cannot control others, but we can control what we do say and think.

The First Amendment puts that burden onto people for good reason! It is where the necessary control is.

Putting that control over others into the hands of right to not be offended people is essentially promoting racism. They will gladly ban or cancel a ton of people and for what? For them to gather elsewhere with a grudge?

Seems as medieval as chopping hands off people so they can't do a given crime. Sadly, they can't work well anymore either and talk about grudges...

We have an amendment addressing that too. Cruel and unusual punishments.

On the other hand, putting that control into the hands of others on the other extremes means essentially amplifying ugly speech and making a lot of lives a lot more miserable than they need, should be.

Answers to these kinds of things have required process, like that th ACLU used and activists used to get people talking, force them to d a little self work and maybe get answers to the real important questions like, "what if it were me?"

We can respond to ugly, offensive speech with righteous indignation! That is the number one response. Trolls know it and go right for starting epic shit they find very entertaining! Everyone else pays hard.

Or, we can find that kind of expression laughable! Deny the troll that sweet gratification and build much stronger communities not so easily exploited and or see the exploiters question whether it was worth it.

We can ignore.

We can assume error and ask them for clarity, like the racism bit above. "Do you mean to be racist with that? Help a brother here to understand what you did mean"

Or maybe, "Ouch, how can I / we help you get past that?"

Way too many people somehow believe there should be or is some all seeing type referee who can protect them, or rule on objective right or wrong, or just be that parent they should not need, but somehow do anyway.

That does not exist. Our systems lack the ability to understand meaning and that leaves us with what are chisels and hammers to use on what are otherwise fairly complex, human type problems.

What happens when a profane word is filtered? We have seen it over and over. People express it anyway. China has indirect expression all over the place because people cannot have open discussions for fear of being denied agency in their lives!

We have a similar thing happening right now. People not reporting on things, until a heavy that is simply too strong or liked or authorities will not punish says it first.

Yeah, I am very interested to see what happens. I do not believe Musk has answers. I do believe he sees injustice and wants to see whether better is possible.

Lots of us do.

I also see humans managing this stuff with clear processes in place as our best option. That is how we have generally gotten some progress so far.

Will Musk embrace process? Will he make it his own clubhouse?

Won't be dull, that is for sure.

And please think about what you, any of us can control and perhaps give some more thought to exercising that control. You have many more options than you think and others will be better for you having done it. Same goes for me, any of us.