The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X • Hacker News Board

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#21

Post by LargeWu » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 4:51 PM UTC

bootlooped wrote: post #14

hypeit wrote: post #12

I stopped using Twitter as soon as Musk bought it precisely for moral reasons. I'm not going to help someone who wrongly accuses people of being pedophiles make more money. There are of course many, many, many other moral reasons to not support Musk but the pedophile incident is so cut and dry that there was moral (non-partisan) reason to bail on day 1 of Musk ownership.

An argument that someone could make, although maybe it's a bit logically suspect, is that Twitter is losing money for every user, and using Twitter is costing Musk more money than it's generating for him.

There's competing losses happening here: Marginal operating losses per user which would be realized if I use the app, and "market cap" loss as a result of aggregate loss of users. If substantially fewer people use the app, the company is worth less. ("Market cap" in quotes because it's privately held).

If I were acting in order to maximize losses, I think the latter would be more substantial. It also has the added benefit of not being exposed to the musings of Musk himself and the fascist crowd his reign has attracted to Twitter.

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#22

Post by aaron695 » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 4:53 PM UTC

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Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#23

Post by masukomi » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

zolbrek wrote: post #2

https://archive.ph/E2ago

thanks.

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#24

Post by grecy » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

I am confused why people care so much, and spend so much time convicing others of their position about Twitter/X

It's just a private company running a website. They come and go like myspace, tumblr and whatever else. One day nobody will use Facebook or Reddit.

Why are people so caught up personally and emotionally about a single one going to crap?

Use it if you like it, and stop using it if you don't. It seems extremely simple to me.

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#25

Post by kelseyfrog » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 5:01 PM UTC

pizzaknife wrote: post #3

Having worked in newspaper (yes! actual paper!) space for several years, my perspective on this is : Everything is gray. For those living around mid 20th century : pot calling the kettle black. For the 00s : EverythingIsTerrible

A lot of people, myself included, actively choose to reject this version of nihilism. It castrates the will to power.

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#26

Post by amanaplanacanal » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #24

I am confused why people care so much, and spend so much time convicing others of their position about Twitter/X It's just a private company running a website. They come and go like myspace, tumblr and whatever else. One day nobody will use Facebook or Reddit. Why are people so caught up personally and emotionally about a single one going to crap? Use it if you like it, and stop using it if you don't. It seems extrem…

Politics is surely part of it. If someone is convinced that a company is spreading terrible ideology, they might try to make them fail.

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#27

Post by dragontamer » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 5:16 PM UTC

kelseyfrog wrote: post #25

pizzaknife wrote: post #3

Having worked in newspaper (yes! actual paper!) space for several years, my perspective on this is : Everything is gray. For those living around mid 20th century : pot calling the kettle black. For the 00s : EverythingIsTerrible

A lot of people, myself included, actively choose to reject this version of nihilism. It castrates the will to power.

Everything sucks is a fine viewpoint, as long as you remember that some things suck less.

Criticism is perfectly fine. But we should still seek improvement in light of it.

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#28

Post by jszymborski » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 5:29 PM UTC

pizzaknife wrote: post #3

Having worked in newspaper (yes! actual paper!) space for several years, my perspective on this is : Everything is gray. For those living around mid 20th century : pot calling the kettle black. For the 00s : EverythingIsTerrible

That sort of black pilled nihilism is how the terrible win. Plenty is good, plenty is worth fighting for.

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#29

Post by worksonmine » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 5:40 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #24

I am confused why people care so much, and spend so much time convicing others of their position about Twitter/X It's just a private company running a website. They come and go like myspace, tumblr and whatever else. One day nobody will use Facebook or Reddit. Why are people so caught up personally and emotionally about a single one going to crap? Use it if you like it, and stop using it if you don't. It seems extrem…

I think people are just disappointed that their beloved bubble is now controlled by the opposition. Musk went from god to devil in these circles in a very short time. Meanwhile I've never cared about either and am just trying to understand the mass hysteria. Twitter was a cesspool a decade ago, just that they didn't notice because they agreed with the bullshit.

Re: The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging with Elon Musk’s X

#30

Post by keernan » Thu, Oct 05, 2023, 5:42 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #24

I am confused why people care so much, and spend so much time convicing others of their position about Twitter/X It's just a private company running a website. They come and go like myspace, tumblr and whatever else. One day nobody will use Facebook or Reddit. Why are people so caught up personally and emotionally about a single one going to crap? Use it if you like it, and stop using it if you don't. It seems extrem…

I'm confused by your confusion. Your statement means that if a private company was owned by the most horrific person in human history {take your pick}, you wouldn't care one bit and would continue doing business with him; and would go so far as to question why everyone was making such a big deal about {take your pick}.

To be clear, my post isn't about Musk per se. I am simply pointing out that your attempt to claim morality doesn't matter is indefensible (unless you quibble with my first paragraph).