Over my first cup of coffee this morning I considered two similar words — idolize and idealize. In simple terms, idolize means to worship, while idealize means to view as perfect. Implicit in both is unhealthy excess.
Though the words have different meanings and aren’t quite interchangeable, often they’re are applied to the same object. The best example is Trump, who inspires both cult-like devotion and, from the same quarter, is viewed as ideal. Though I support the man and admire what America accomplished during his tenure, I’m pretty he deserves to be neither idolized nor idealized.
Many of my fellow right-thinking Americans were duped into idealizing the new mayor of NYC. During the campaign and immediately after his election he said all the right things. Less than six months later, however, judged by his actions on crime, identity politics, gun control and more, it’s clear that he’s just another woke Democrat.
Now we have Elon Musk. He’s made a $43 billion offer to buy demon Twitter and take it private. He’s saying all the right things about free speech. Liberty-loving Americans, weary of anti-American propaganda and censorship by the Left, quickly have elevated him to constitutional-hero status.
With all due respect to The World’s Richest Man and what he’s accomplished by the age of 50, he doesn’t deserve to be idolized or idealized — not yet, probably not ever. There’s a difference between venerating the man and admiring his actions. The latter is principled; the former is shallow.
Musk, like all humans, eventually will disappoint. He’ll do something we’ll be compelled to oppose. We need to keep his Twitter play (and everything else) in a proper, healthy perspective.
As for what he proposes to do — yank the Twitter toy from the sticky mitts of The Woke Mob and transform it into a public-square medium — I salute the expressed intent. If he succeeds, it has the potential to change social media for the better.
That’s a big if.
Since I have no way to predict how this’ll all turn out, for now I find it illuminating to check the reactions of those with the most to lose if Elon Musk ends up owning Twitter. As you can imagine (or perhaps you already know), the bleating from the Left is deafening. I hate to quote an irredeemably moronic wokester like Max Boot, but here’s the punch line of something he tweeted yesterday:
“For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.”
I mean, what else do you need to know?
First, defending “democracy” by silencing dissent is perhaps the ultimate contradiction.
Second, it’s the typical leftist reaction to the threat (as they perceive it) of expanding Liberty. We hear the same response to unmasking (more mandates), constitutional carry (more “gun control”), individual sovereignty (go chip yourself) and countless other assaults on essential Liberty.
Third, it mistakenly assigns primacy to “democracy.” The Founders established certain democratic mechanisms as means to the end of preserving Liberty, which is government’s prime directive. A majority never was intended to resolve all matters of public interest, and in fact was recognized as an enemy of the People when The Mob attempts to squash Liberty.
That’s why we have a Constitution — “democracy” is subordinate to Liberty. Founding Principles always will be superior to anti-American progressive ideology.
At the moment it looks like Elon Musk knows that. We’ll have to wait and see if he sticks with it.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB