Apparently attempting to promote free speech on a Big Tech platform is now “right wing.” At least, that’s what The Atlantic is suggesting in its latest conniption over Twitter 2.0 under owner Elon Musk.
Atlantic Staff Writer Charlie Warzel bemoaned in his whiny May 23 piece how “Twitter has evolved into a platform that is indistinguishable from the wastelands of alternative social-media sites such as Truth Social and Parler. It is now a right-wing social network.” Warzel — apparently disturbed that Twitter 2.0 isn’t the Orwellian censorship cesspool it once was — laced his headline with nutty agitprop: “Twitter Is a Far-Right Social Network.” In Warzel’s view, “It can no longer be denied.” Apparently more people being allowed to speak freely is the bogeyman The Atlantic sees in its nightmares. The Atlantic’s tweet of Warzel’s story tried to smear Musk’s Twitter as a “right-wing, alt-tech” platform.
Warzel doubled down on his December 2022 assertion that Musk was some kind of a “far right activist” simply because he decried the “woke mind virus” and allowed conservatives more ground to express opinions on hot button issues:
As a public figure, [Musk] has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the right’s culture war against progressivism—which he refers to as ‘the woke mind virus’—and his $44 billion Twitter purchase can easily be seen as an explicitly political act to advance this specific ideology. Now the site itself has unquestionably transformed under his leadership into an alternative social-media platform—one that offers a haven to far-right influencers and advances the interests, prejudices, and conspiracy theories of the right wing of American politics.
“Liberals used to claim to stand staunchly in favor of promoting free speech,” said MRC Free Speech America & MRC Business Director Michael Morris. “But apparently that speech only extends to the ignorant spewing of expletives and denigrating the American flag and Constitution, not to conservatives in the new digital town square of the internet. Shame on The Atlantic for not rallying behind free speech online.”
The Atlantic was heavily ratioed ironically on Twitter for peddling Warzel’s nonsense with over 5,500 comments and just 2,200 likes. Fox News contributor Joe Concha blasted the outlet for using Twitter to complain about Twitter: “The Atlantic still uses the ‘right-wing, alt-tech’ (whatever the F that means) to push its content on, however.” Concha continued: “All of the ‘journalists’ who use this platform follow the same pattern: ‘Elon is dangerous. Twitter is Q!’... and proceed to post 15-30 per day. Take a stand or zip it.”
The Atlantic still uses the "right-wing, alt-tech" (whatever the F that means) to push its content on, however. All of the "journalists" who use this platform follow the same pattern: "Elon is dangerous. Twitter is Q!"... and proceed to post 15-30 per day. Take a stand or zip it. https://t.co/IAWdxZBHK5
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 24, 2023
Renowned psychologist Jordan Peterson skewered The Atlantic for effectively becoming a foghorn for Marxist politics: “The woke mob has transformed the once-great @TheAtlantic into a cowardly purveyor of second rate hyper-Marxist propaganda.”
The woke mob has transformed the once-great @TheAtlantic into a cowardly purveyor of second rate hyper-Marxist propaganda. https://t.co/Ol43dIihqv
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) May 24, 2023
MRC Free Speech America contributing writer David Marcus called out that The Atlantic’s propaganda was a “full court press to convince mainstream news outlets to abandon Twitter.”
This is a full court press to convince mainstream news outlets to abandon Twitter. https://t.co/p8tmwY6Zf0
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) May 24, 2023
Twitter personality @ALX put the leftist rag on notice for its apparent double-standard.. “Did you consider Twitter 1.0, which almost exclusively banned Right Wing accounts, including a sitting President, to be a neutral platform or a Far-Left’? Who on the Left has been censored for their political beliefs on Twitter 2.0?”
Questions for you, @cwarzel & @TheAtlantic:
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) May 23, 2023
Did you consider Twitter 1.0, which almost exclusively banned Right Wing accounts, including a sitting President, to be a neutral platform or a “Far-Left”?
Who on the Left has been censored for their political beliefs on Twitter 2.0?
But completely lost on The Atlantic is the fact that Twitter 2.0 is not yet the free speech haven Musk has voiced support for. MRC Free Speech America released a study March 30 showing that censorship in Twitter 2.0 actually spiked during the period between Nov. 4, 2022 through Mar. 4, 2023, which suggests an internal revolt amongst staff holdovers from the old regime against Musk’s free speech vision.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact The Atlantic at (202) 266-6000 and call it out for hypocritically bashing Musk’s attempts at providing free speech on Twitter.
