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In July, Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. Cause for termination: a series of offensive tweets, in most cases about a decade old, that were circulated by a right-wing media personality. Gunn’s tweets, many of which were about molestation or pedophilia, were indefensible. But the method in which they were dug up, as well as the people who circulated them — bad-faith conspiracy theorists who used old jokes made in poor taste to brand Gunn as a pedophile — are part of a larger trend in which problematic or out-of-context tweets are being ripped from the past to ruin their author in the present.
Trial by online fire isn’t new. Milkshake Duck, a term coined by Twitter user @pixelatedboat in 2016, gave a name to a cultural internet phenomenon. It goes like this: someone gains online fame for something innocuous, only for it to come out shortly after that the person holds repugnant or problematic views. After a presidential election debate in 2016, for example, the internet became obsessed with a sweater-clad man named Ken Bone. His reign as a viral darling quickly came to an end after people discovered that his Reddit history included comments about stolen celebrity nudes and the “justified” killing of Trayvon Martin.
In 2018, however, the concept of Milkshake Ducking became far more convoluted. Now it’s not just about present problematic views, but holding people responsible for comments they’ve made previously, in some cases years ago. Call it Gunn’s Law: everyone has a past.
[...] Tweet deletion is no longer a matter of curation, but a necessity. Our lives are lived online more each year. We shouldn’t excuse people who spout racist, misogynist, damaging views online in present day. But as we confront our younger, more problematic past selves preserved online, the line between personal growth and punishment deserves breathing room. Until we can accept that, deleting tweets is all we have.
[This concept goes way back in time. Let the one among you who has no sin, cast the first stone. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Is it just that things are more visible, findable and more easily promulgated, now? --Ed.]
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Friday December 28 2018, @04:51AM (6 children)
L Lin Wood, a lawyer for Unsworth, rejected Musk’s defense, saying it would effectively doom all lawsuits over alleged false and defamatory attacks on reputation published online.
“Mr Musk does not let the facts or well-established law get in the way of his novel but inaccurate contentions in his motion to dismiss,” Wood said on Thursday. “I am confident the trial court will likewise reject this fanciful position.“
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Musk has, after deleting his offensive tweets (why - if he thinks he's done nothing wrong?) effectively said in his own defence in no unclear terms "I'm a shitlord who spouts crap - 1st!". Alas it might take a while to resolve.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 28 2018, @05:21AM (3 children)
Musk is a goddamn idiot. Think Ethanol-fueled but a billionaire and stupid enough to shitpost into the sphere of the public-at-large.
If I were a billionaire entrepreneur, I'd keep my fucking mouth shut and get my shitposting out on Soylentnews, but with an extra 10 abstraction layers between my terminal and theirs.
Musk is truly a bad stereotype of a Californian entrepreneur.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday December 28 2018, @05:33AM (1 child)
If Musk can deliver BFR (aka Starship Super Heavy) and Starlink, then all's good. Once BFR is up and running, the cost of building moon bases, space stations, gigantic telescopes, etc. will plummet. Starlink ensures a big revenue stream. Musk could step away from the company and it could still duke it out with the beltway bandits since they will be 5-15 years behind on fully reusable rockets.
Tesla could help brute force the cost of batteries down, which is nice. His company managed to turn itself around this year, but it faces tweet-based peril [sfgate.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday December 28 2018, @04:09PM
Tesla, no. The Chinese, yes. [reportlinker.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Informative) by nitehawk214 on Friday December 28 2018, @12:47PM
I wonder how much of his Tesla and SpaceX success is based on him being a highly visible social media darling. Media hype drives stock prices and gets government contracts these days.
There are plenty of people that have built empires on hype alone.
You live by the sword...
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @05:40AM (1 child)
Musk's self-proclaimed "defense" is the uneducated clueless raving of a narcissistic egomaniac.
Musk obviously has a profound ignorance of the law, and the court will give Musk an education which Musk could have had for far less money if he had used those mood stabilizers his friends told him he needed.
Musk is a raging prick who has milked the system for all it's worth ( tax breaks for Tesla, evasion of banking regs for Paypal ). Musk has produced little or nothing of value, and this will become increasingly apparent over time. Sorry, but a Tesla is not something of value, it is merely an artifact of Musk's Federal rebate scam.
Personally I hope Musk gets some godawful disease which kills him but causes him to suffer the tortures of the damned first. He's a piece of human garbage
the world would be better off without.
Did you read that, Elon ? KILL YOURSELF NOW AND AVOID THE RUSH.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @04:28PM
The irony is strong with you.