Elon Musk needs to take a course in media literacy along with the bulk of the waking world. Too bad there are no media literacy classes and people will continue to fall for fake news stories and conspiracies.
The story of Elon Musk and Paul Pelosi tells a tale of the lack of media literacy in the modern era.
Here’s what happened:
Democrats were sounding the alarm bells about more violence against politicians and that is what led to the horrific act against Paul Pelosi. Threats of violence made against members of Congress have exponentially increased since Donald J. Trump arrived in Washington. In 2016, there were 902 threats made against members of Congress. In 2022, there have already been 9,625 threats made against members of Congress. Republican commentators like Dinesh D’Souza and Jack Posobiec took the stance that Paul Pelosi was drunk again, and in a dispute with a male prostitute early Friday Morning and assumed Paul being attacked was all a conspiracy by the Democrats. Kinda like Antifa storming the Capitol on Jan 6th or Pizza Gate.
This is nothing new. What is new is the new owner of Twitter chiming in and sharing misinformation himself. Within days of Musk firing Twitter CEOs and employees, he is on his own platform maybe sharing a tiny bit of misinformation.
The original Tweet:
The deleted Tweet:
The follow-up Tweet:
What used to be the Tweet embedded before Elon deleted it:
There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye https://t.co/HCaF5DrRjP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 30, 2022
Elon’s stance on a “tiny possibility” is amplifying another baseless conspiracy theory and pitting rational people against insane people. This hearsay trickles out into the mainstream public for all of time. One again proving a lie can travel for miles before the truth gets it’s shoes on.
. The Santa Monica Observer article Elon used to respond to Hillary Clinton (the Santa Monica Observer told us she died six years ago)
1. Assailant in his underpants 2. Paul Pelosi knows his name and tells police he’s a “friend.” 3. Assailant asks “where’s Nancy?” to make sure she’s not home. 4. Pelosi takes bathroom break from spat and makes 911 call
Conclusion: This guy was a sex partner or male prostitute!
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) October 30, 2022
In the hours immediately after the Paul Pelosi event, there is misinformation flying around:
1. The “underpants” part came from one initial report which has now been retracted
2. The “friend” part comes from the 911 call where the assailant claimed to be a friend, not Pelosi stating
3. The assailant was asking where Nancy was because she was his actual target.
4. Paul Pelosi managed to get to the bathroom and lock himself in for protection from the radicalized conservative terrorist attacking him.
These Republican Commentators actually want you to believe that a drunk Paul Pelosi just happened to be in a clandestine gay hookup with a violent right-wing conspiracy theorist who broke into the house for sex and Elon Musk is amplifying that. Congrats to Elon Musk for replacing the Koch brothers as the go-to example of why billionaires shouldn’t be in charge of public policy.
We will say at least Elon deleted the tweet. He can still redeem himself here. Keeping our fingers crossed.
But Wait! There’s More!
Elon decided to run with comedy is not back on Twitter. Well, comedy is back unless it makes fun of him. Billionaires are sensitive people.
