The acceptance of violence against elected leaders on Twitter continues with the violent attack on Paul Pelosi last Thursday. Many on the right sent Tweets applauding the violence, just as many on the left did when Senator Rand Paul was assaulted by his neighbor in 2017. Although the Rand attack was not politically motivated and it appears Paul Pelosi’s attack was, excusing violence based on political beliefs is reprehensible. Expressing the source of disagreement on ideas or behavior by Paul or Speaker Pelosi is fair game.
On Sunday, Hillary Clinton sent a Tweet blaming one political party for inspiring the Paul Pelosi attack and included a link to an LA Times article she believed supported her accusation. Instead of refuting the validity of Clinton’s belief or the veracity of the LA Times, an Elon Musk Tweet in response to Clinton suggested there was more to the attack story and supplied a link to a notorious conspiracy-theory outlet parading as news, the Santa Monica Observer. Musk’s linked Observer article states Pelosi’s assault resulted from a voluntary homosexual encounter gone awry. Given the information reported by law enforcement the entire article is preposterous.
Musk added Tweets by Harmeet Dillon, a prominent California member of one political party to his Clinton response and suggests that Musk’s Tweet was intended to hurt Pelosi not report the attack. The inclusion of Dillon’s Tweet is a written non sequitur and suggests Musk’s motivation.
Separately, two videos exist on what happened at an Ohio rally on Saturday when former President Obama was heckled. The First Amendment and/or the “sticks and stones” adage should apply. Swearing is not a crime, but it is the job of the press to find out what actually happened and which video is correct.
The video the AP reports to be altered has people chanting an obscenity at Obama. News articles and Tweets regarding the video that the AP believes to be altered imply that one political party is weak. It is the job of Twitter to find out which video is correct, not help spread the message of any political group. Neither video should be allowed on Twitter until the correct one can be established.
On Friday, General Motors announced its pausing of advertising revenues on Twitter after Musk fired his content-monitoring chief with no replacement other than himself. Perhaps all advertisers should follow GM’s example until it can be established that Musk understands the difference between “free speech” and spreading lies.
Should we assume Musk cannot distinguish journalism from misinformation? Why did Musk later delete a Tweet with a link to conspiracy theory but make no retraction? Was Musk’s intention realized when the hashtags made a patently false version of the attack on Paul Pelosi go viral thus helping to spread the misinformation? Does anyone remain at Twitter that can identify falsified videos reported as fact used to discredit political opponents?
•Brazil’s Right-Wing Bolsonaro Loses Presidency to Left-Wing Former President Lula
On Sunday, Brazilian voters elected former President Luiz Lula da Silva (Lula) defeating current President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula had been arrested and jailed for involvement in scandals where officials took funds, property and services in exchange for government contracts. The Supreme Court threw out Lula’s convictions after corruption was discovered in the investigation itself as well as a bias in the presiding judge. With the Brazilian Congress controlled by centrists it is unclear how much legislation Lula can pass.
Some feel questions linger on Lula’s actions as President. Bolsonaro may face a variety of investigations for corruption himself, from misuse of pandemic funds to attacks on the media, the left and the courts. The left expressed fear of the total erosion of democratic institution if Bolsonaro won a second term, but the right charges that former union-leader Lula will try to implement a socialist agenda that will kill an already-fledging economy.
Will Brazil end up like the current United States, a country divided resulting in vicious acrimony and heightened rhetoric and violence between those with opposing political views continuing in what seems like perpetuity?