TL;DR: It has some.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

You’re sick of reading about Elon Musk and the App Formerly Known As Twitter. I know this through observation and extrapolation. If it’s not true of you, you’re an exception; congratulations on being thus exceptional.

Either way though, I won’t take up much of your valuable time.

Memes have been telling you this for years, so doubtless you’ve developed brain calluses over the receptive areas by now. Nevertheless: The First Amendment, like most of the others, restricts Congress and advises the several states about the natural rights of citizens. Our Constitution doesn’t grant rights; it enumerates and enshrines them as and when the people decide it ought to.

For those of you who don’t believe in natural, or God-given, rights, just remember that American courts do. It’s a convention in the common law, which is far older than our nation and recognized as an authority on these matters. Your belief, or lack thereof, is thus inconsequential save perhaps as a hazard for yourself.

People have the right to express themselves. That right, like all human rights, extends up to that point where it infringes on another’s rights and no further. There exists also a hierarchy of rights; one person’s right to live is more important than another’s right to freedom or yet another’s to speak — roughly speaking. You should know all this already; it’s fundamental, basic stuff.

When Elon Musk calls himself a “champion of free speech” and a “free speech absolutist”, this is him exercising his right to free expression. It’s also him engaging in a practice known as advertising, which has been described by the cynical as lying for money. It’s common to most businesses. You should be used to it by now.

The reality of affairs on TwiX is a bit different. Rather than freedom of speech, its highest ideal could be said to be the Golden Rule, thus: He who has the gold, makes the rules. Community Notes is a marvelous invention of self-policing, a brilliant engine that crowdsources fact-checking… but only, as it happens, for people other than Musk. Musk is frequently wrong but never Community Noted. Presumably, there might well exist others than he who are accorded this privilege.

Does this conflict with your rights? No.
Is it immoral? Yes.
Is it unethical or illegal? No.
Is it disappointing? Absolutely.

That’s what’s so infuriating about Elon Musk: He had so much potential to be a force for good in this world, yet he keeps on disappointing us. Free speech on the internet is just the most recent of his fauxs pas. He’s taken mass-market electric cars from ideal to reality, helping to save the environment AND selling Republicans on the idea — something that a decade ago might have been thought impossible — while simultaneously alienating the American Left.

Mind you, I blame Joe Biden for that, not Musk. Biden was militantly pro-union, a True Believer rather than a corrupt corporate acolyte, so when he abused the power of the presidency to snub Tesla, he thought he was doing so on morally proper grounds — not merely justifiable actions, but something he thought was his ideological duty. Elon’s an opportunist and a pragmatist, so his response was entirely predictable. (I know this because I predicted it, which you’d know too if you’ve read my stuff.)

Now Tesla is being boycotted because “Elon Musk is a Fascist”.

Spoiler alert: He’s not. He’s an amoral, venal, and arguably sociopathic idealist bent inexorably on the goal of making humanity multiplanetary, but that’s a different brand of dangerous. “Fascist” is a flavor of evil, like licorice; “Naziism” is similar, say candy corn. Trump’s form of authoritarianism is circus peanuts; Putin’s is circus peanuts without the sugar; Xi’s is blood sausage mixed with sawdust. Elon, meanwhile, is a mix of yogurt-covered raisins with chocolate-covered espresso beans — not bad in small amounts, but unpleasant when ubiquitous.

The Democratic Party is someone mixing M&Ms with Skittles and Reese’s Pieces, then doxxing anyone with a peanut allergy.

What, me? I love vanilla in my ice cream, good chocolate, lemon drops, butterscotches, and caramel. Incidentally, it’s possible to stretch a metaphor too far, ye ken.

Anyway — the bottom line: Elon Musk is no hero. He’s merely human, with enough money to make his myriad failings extremely painful to a lot of people.

And you? You’ve got freedom of speech. Complain about it. Write articles and publish them. Peaceably assemble to petition your government for redress of grievances.

Be the change you want to see. They can’t stop you.

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