Elon Musk's Twitter grab is making academics angry, nervous
Twitter's board agreed to Musk's buyout offer on Monday.
After the tech mogul purchased Twitter for $44 billion, professors took to the platform to criticize Musk.
Liberal academics are fretting about Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media company Twitter.
After the tech mogul purchased Twitter for $44 billion, professors including Columbia Journalism School Professor Alexander Stille took to the platform to criticize Musk.
Does anyone think that giving more power to the world’s richest man is a good idea? How about we all get off Twitter? https://t.co/nLIcC7Mpw6
— Alexander Stille (@a_stille) April 25, 2022
University of Virginia PhD candidate and self-described “newbie professor at a SLAC” Stephanie K. Lawson sought alternatives to Twitter after new broke of Musk’s purchase.
what are the best alternatives to Twitter, especially if I’m wanting to take part in a vibrant history/professional community?
— Stephanie Lawton (@SKayLawton) April 25, 2022
Nina Turner, a former Cuyahoga Community College professor, attributed Musk’s success to a “rigged system” of “unfettered capitalism.”
.@elonmusk is the prime example of why unfettered capitalism is a danger to this country and the planet as a whole. He’s not a genius, he’s the product of generational wealth and a rigged system that sees billionaires as somehow more important than the average person—they aren’t.
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) April 25, 2022
She further called him an “oligarch” drawing a contemporary parallel to Russian oligarchs and their connection to an authoritarian regime.
Yes, Elon Musk is an American oligarch.
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) April 25, 2022
Jennifer Ortiz, an assistant professor at Indiana University Southeast, criticized Musk for spending billions to buy the company instead of giving away his money for charitable purposes.
You know what I would do if I was a billionaire? I’d lift as many people out of poverty as I could until I exhausted all the funds. But I guess thats why I’ll never be a billionaire because I have a heart and a soul.
— Dr. Jennifer Ortiz (she/her) (@Ortiz_PhD) April 25, 2022
Musk has previously donated $5.7 billion to charity.
Joshua B. Grubbs, a psychology professor at Bowling Green State University, admitted that “most academics hate Elon” and called the decision to purchase Twitter “petty.”
So what’s the academic version of being so petty that you would drop $45 billion just to buy something that made you angry?
— josh grubbs (@JoshuaGrubbsPhD) April 25, 2022
folks, I understand the most academics hate Elon, and for good reason, but everyone of us should acknowledge that we’re probably every bit that petty
— josh grubbs (@JoshuaGrubbsPhD) April 25, 2022
Other liberal college professors took issue with Musk’s use of the word “freedom,” including Robert Reich from the University of California Berkeley.
When billionaires like Elon Musk justify their motives by using “freedom,” beware. What they actually seek is freedom from accountability.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) April 24, 2022
The Berkeley professor and former labor secretary wrote a piece for the Guardian further criticizing Musk’s push for free speech.
Elon Musk’s real goal has nothing to do with the freedom of others. His goal is his own unconstrained freedom – the freedom to wield enormous power without having to be accountable to laws and regulations, to shareholders, or to market competition. https://t.co/EYtkaMcH2d
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) April 24, 2022
Author of How to be Anti-Racist and Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi tweeted out the article in agreement.
”When billionaires like Musk justify their motives by using ‘freedom,’ beware,” @RBReich writes. “They want to use their vast fortunes to do whatever they please – unconstrained by laws or regulations, shareholders, or even consumers.”https://t.co/jPPp6XXDFC
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) April 25, 2022
San Diego State University Professor Jaclyn A. Siegel mulled leaving the platform as well. She declined to comment on the matter.
So Academic Twitter community, are we staying here or...
— Jaclyn A. Siegel, PhD (@jacasiegel) April 25, 2022
Siegel’s tweet prompted another Twitter user describing himself as a professor to question why other academics are characterizing the purchase of Twitter as a “calamity,” asking “Can’t we fight bad ideas with better ideas?”
I’m a professor.
Can you explain why @elonmusk buying Twitter is a calamity? I don’t get it. I get dog piled by the right already. It’s already an open platform. What is everyone afraid of? Can’t we fight bad ideas with better ideas? Isn’t that our job? Genuinely not trolling— Andrew Walsh (@WalshHistory) April 26, 2022
Walsh told Campus Reform that his question was never answered and that he “faced great resistance for even asking the question.”
Musk previously stated his reasoning for investing in the social media platform.
”I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” he said according to CNBC reporting.
Musk explained what free speech means to him in a Tweet.
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
Campus Reform reached out to all professors mentioned in this article except for Stephanie Lawson who could not be reached. This article will be updated accordingly.
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