by PAUL COLLITS – ELON Musk has been riding the climate lie wave all the way to the beach.
He is one of those “foreign billionaires” about whom mixed feelings are decidedly in order. What is to like about a rich greenie who has been aiding and abetting the march towards global economic catastrophe through his mass manufacture of questionable electric cars, aka Teslas?
- Why is the attack on a priest being censored?
- It’s because the alleged perpetrator is Muslim and being critical of Islam is forbidden in the woke world.
- This stinks to high heaven of a political class fix.
Or whose idea of a world-wide priority is to send billions of dollars off into outer space (Space X)?
Or who calls his children – he has eleven, with a variety of mothers – names like XAE A-XII, Nevada, Exa Dark Sideræl, Strider, Azure and Techno Mechanicus? He seems, on several measures, to be a sandwich or two short of a picnic, to put it politely.
LIBERTY
On the other hand, and unlike his apparent fellow Big Tech libertarians. Musk seems to have some sense of the importance of free speech and individual liberty generally.
Witness his freeing up of Twitter (now X, perhaps named after his son), admitted now a limited freedom hangout, and his provision of a new home to Tucker Carlson, one of world’s leading truth tellers and emerging enemies of globalism and the enveloping post-COVID gloom.
But, also, there is an old rule in politics – hate thy enemies’ enemies.
And, right now, we need to be cheering for Elon in his continuing battle with Australia’s eSafety (sic) Commissioner, the egregious Julie Inman Grant.
She, like Cannon-Brookes (another of Australia’s hyphenated ogre) is an emerging phenomenon – the non-elected, powerful policy-maker.
Inman Grant has been pursuing Musk with massive fines for allowing non-politically correct posts on X. Musk is fighting back, thankfully.
Two of Elon’s other current enemies are two of Australia’s political low-lifes, Airbus Albo, the visiting professor of populism, and the appalling Senator Jacqui Lambie.
They have a new weapon – the allowing of posts on X of footage of a recent knife attack on a Sydney bishop.
They claim it bolsters their case against Musk’s alleged, continued misinformation sins. And their case for online censorship that is driving a new legislative push for greater powers to shut down “hate speech”.
Here is Airbus: Albanese boldly claimed that “overwhelmingly Australians want misinformation and disinformation to stop”, in his justification for his censorship stance, which has relative bipartisan support in the nation.
In response, X vehemently opposed the directive, vowing to challenge it legally, labelling it as “unlawful and dangerous”.
Albanese, seizing the opportunity, blasted X for its refusal to comply with his censorship agenda, drawing Musk’s attention.
It is a curious word to use, “misinformation”, in relation to a truthful depiction of an event. Even more curious to conjure up mythical mass support for online censorship.
MANDATED
Albanese claims across-the-board support for his latest mission. Just because politicians agree on something doesn’t make it mandated.
Albanese has also focused attention on Musk’s wealth in a number of interviews. By mentioning the old-Left boo-word, “billionaire”, Albanese seems to be reaching back in time to the halcyon days of Leftist class hatred. Playing an old card.
He didn’t mind festy (foreign) billionaires, mind you, when he welcomed Bill Gates to Kirribilli with open arms a couple of years back, to discuss “pandemic planning” and, yes, climate change.
And Airbus doesn’t mind Aussie billionaires. He even gives them our money to build solar manufacturing plants. Yes, there is that hyphenated ogre again, Cannon-Brookes.
The ABC has weighed in, on the issue of X’s refusal to back down on the publication of footage of the knife attack on Australia’s stand-out bishop: “It takes a special kind of person to attract universal criticism across Australia’s federal political landscape.
“For Elon Musk, the controversial owner of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the backlash he’s facing is likely something he’ll wear as a badge of honour.
“He’s been called an ‘egotistical billionaire’ by cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek, a ‘narcissistic cowboy’ by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, an ‘absolute friggin disgrace’ by the Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie and an ‘arrogant billionaire who thinks he’s above the law’ by PM Albanese.
“The Coalition too wants in, putting aside its usual defense of free speech rights to suggest Musk is pursuing an ‘insulting and offensive argument’ in his refusal to remove graphic footage of a stabbing in a Sydney church last week.
Quite the collection of political non-entities, megaphoned by their ABC.
The Liberals, as usual, don’t quite know where to land. After all, online safety was their idea when in government.
Even Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has form, as it was his then portfolio, Home Affairs, that, working through spurious paid “fact checkers”, “persuaded” social media companies to shut down COVID’s dissident voices.
This was little short of disgraceful. And, instead of apologising abjectly for this, the Liberals are supporting this ghastly weaponising of an already tyrannical bureaucracy.
Musk should be in jail? This from a political class that itself should be had up for industrial scale manslaughter during the panic.
Don’t let a crisis go to waste, it has been said.
Well, Albanese swooped upon the bishop stabbing online affair to bolster his “case” for online censorship and his declared war on MDM (misinformation, disinformation malinformation).
IRRELEVANT
This is dishonest, clever, sleight of hand politics at its best, the introduction of an irrelevant canard to distract attention from the real threats posed by his Government’s repugnant legislation and to garner popular support for it. Clever, sleight-of-hand sleaze is about all they are now good for.
Not only is he lying about the dangers of online freedom of speech, but he is playing a card that isn’t even in his hand. And his ALP and other travelling cheer squad have been ready to join the Musk pile-on.
It is we-the-people, who may or may not have fully formed views about the particular social media film posted on the bishop’s stabbing, who will ultimately suffer through the broader attack on social media as a mechanism for free expression and, more importantly, as a platform for push-back against enforced government and corporate narratives.
The internet 1.0, long ago, once held the promise of civil democracy in action. Internet 2.0, not so much. What with Inman Grant’s and Albanese’s attacks on fundamental rights.
I just hope someone in the legacy media sees what they are up to, and calls them out. My hopes are not high.
Cory Bernardi provides a succinct summary: “The Australian Internet policeman, known as the e-Safety Commissioner doesn’t want you to see some of the content it contains.
“The footage in question captures an attack by a Muslim zealot on a Sydney Bishop during his religious service.
“It’s far less graphic than other videos available in Australian social media circles which leads me to thinking it’s not the content but something else that’s driving the censorship push.
“Consider how widespread the video of the drug-addled George Floyd being arrested did the rounds. He died during an arrest, not because the policeman was restraining him but because he’d taken a fatal dose of fentanyl.
LOOTING
“That video was used to justify global protests against the police, widespread looting and riots by lawless racists and a plethora of virtue-signalling by politicians.
“Then there’s the Bondi murders. Multiple fatalities all captured in graphic detail but no demands to remove those from social media.
“So why is the attack on the priest different? I suspect it’s because the alleged perpetrator is a Muslim and being critical of Islam or the behaviour of its adherents is verboten in the woke world.
Indeed. All those Muslim dominated electorates to be held!
Draw your own conclusions.
Bernardi makes a number of great points, in particular relating to the selectivity of the current crusade against footage on Musk’s platform.
This stinks to high heaven of a political class fix, reinforced by sickening grandstanding and moralising by random bogan senators and others of equal distinction.
There are two simple questions to be put to all those, from Albanese to Inman Grant to Lambie to NSW Premier Chris Minns (who has also joined the crusade) to Plibersek to Dutton, who all support the rapid march to online tyranny.
One, who gets to decide what is misinformation? Two, why them?
Jacinda Ardern’s answer – we (the Government) are your only source of information – is far from reassuring.PC
Is Lambi advertising blow jobs? If she is, NO THANKS.
Australians, to their credit, have not let the crisis around Albo’s meme-threatened ego go to waste.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1784170025647292470
I’m not a fan of electric cars in general. Around town short range runabouts is their place. However those who own or have driven Teslas, reckon as cars they are pretty good. Tesla has also developed manufacturing concepts and techniques that put them far ahead of the legacy car makers.
That said, if rich, woke fools want to have their money taken off them to buy virtue signaling electrics, good on Elon for doing it.
“Or whose idea of a world-wide priority is to send billions of dollars off into outer space (Space X)?”
Strange ideas you have. Where do you think this money is going? It isn’t being shoveled into rockets and blasted into space. The money is being spent with parts suppliers and SpaceX plant, equipment and employee salaries. SpaceX is largely vertically integrated as much as possible but there is obviously lots of outside civil and mechanical engineering help being hired. Take a look at what Musk’s operations at Boca Chica Texas have done for Brownsville, the nearby town.
SpaceX just about owns the entire satellite launch business. By being more efficient and re-using rockets they can undercut everybody on costs. Even the Chinese reckon they can’t beat them on costs.
Besides it’s Elon’s money to do with as he pleases, not yours. He’s also providing internet to far flung places with Starlink which is so far ahead of alternatives that it isn’t funny. Not super cheap but worthwhile according to the users I’ve spoken with. I’ve even installed one for friends.
Meanwhile Elon is fighting the good fight for free speech and deserves the highest praise for that.
* EV for city and suburban/town driving but inconvenient for country travelling.
* Premium retail price pay back period before any running cost fuel savings can be considered.
* High insurance premium.
* Depreciation rate, trade-in value, far worse than internal combustion engine vehicles because of battery system loss of range and remaining operating life as the system display reveals. Very expensive to replace.
* Recharging is not only a locating issue but also phone reception and app to operate charger.
* Fire risk is real, exothermic reaction in Lithium ion battery pack, a relatively low level bump can set that off, a serious accident and the risk is high, and also recharging as the many reports of e-bike and other battery operated equipment has revealed, and EV fires.
Nothing wrong with the vehicle or the electric motors but the electric battery system needs much more development to become competitive as an affordable and practical alternative.
And don’t ignore that the electricity grid is supplied mostly by coal fired power stations, some gas and some hydro, wind-solar hybrid when available a wide range of electricity supply timing and output.
First they come for the Saturday people, and next they go after the Sunday people.
Israel is the front line.
The Iran octopus terrorist arms are determined to wipe out all infidels.
Please. No more photos of Jacqui Lambie. She looks like a poised Tiger snake.
If Albanese recognises that “ Australians want misinformation and disinformation to stop”, he could help us out by keeping his own mouth shut; that’s where a lot of the misinformation/disinformation comes from.
The former Military Police Officer and earlier transport unit soldier who hit a senior officer while under the influence, and was later discharged.