Even further down the drain
When last I wrote to you, brothers and sisters, Twitter’s new Fuhrer had tweeted, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci.” Not only did he not delete that unbelievably hateful and stupid tweet, he heaped more shame on it, and proved beyond doubt that he, Elon Musk, is a dangerous lunatic. In his very next tweet, written a mere 16 hours ago (as I write this), Musk said, “The woke mind virus is either defeated or nothing else matters.”
If you’re wondering what a “woke mind” is, let me help you out. It’s Republican code for people who care about the suffering, injustice and poverty of people other than themselves. Elon Musk just said that defeating such people is so important that failure to do so means “nothing else matters.” But then, it’s hardly surprising that a billionaire would not only be indifferent to the suffering of others but would loudly and insistently proclaim indifference to suffering as a thing to be “defeated.” We are not surprised when people like Musk employ martial terms in decrying their enemies. We are not surprised that compassion is his enemy. But we are and should be surprised when millions of people agree with them,
Republicans like to speak in code because if they spell it out their actual message doesn’t sound so good. That’s why they’ve turned the word “woke” into a single word flashpoint of invective. Most of them don’t know exactly what “woke” means but they all agree that it’s horrible and evil and descriptive of Democrats. Just as they don’t know what the word “socialism” means or what’s really on “Hunter Biden’s laptop” or that “Antifa” means “anti-fascist.” These have all nevertheless become rallying slogans calculated to invoke instant hatred.
As you may also recall, after writing the first horrible tweet using Dr. Fauci’s name suggesting that Fauci should be prosecuted (for what Musk does not say, of course), Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote that she “affirmed” Musk’s pronouns. Now, in a separate incident over the weekend, Greene told a group of New York Republicans “I want to tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organised [the January 6 insurrection], we would have won. Not to mention, we would’ve been armed.” Greene later said she was being “sarcastic” when she said that. Sorry, but I cannot imagine any tone of voice anyone could possibly use that would render that unequivocal statement as sarcasm.
But it’s clear that Musk is in lockstep with someone like Greene, so much so that she supports him every chance she gets. In other words, the man who’s in charge of the world’s most instantaneous social media platform has the kind of politics someone the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene applauds. Musk has turned Twitter into social media’s incarnation of Fox News. Twitter has overnight become Elon Musk’s Völkischer Beobachter. Musk is quickly becoming fascisms new voice.
As an advocate of free speech I wouldn’t stand in his way. But as an American living abroad I am horrified by what I see happening in my native country. That fascism could take so popular a foothold in the public imagination of so many Americans is horrifying to me. It’s a small comfort that most Americans are against it. But then, most Germans were against Hitler when he first rose to prominence.
These are dark days and will be darker still if we don’t all become activists against this horrific trend. All of us must join in the struggle against fascism because none of us are safe from it. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.