Laurie Garrett Profile picture
Member @CFR_org. Recipient of Pulitzer Prize, Polk (3Xs) and Peabody Awards. Author: I Heard theSirensScream, TheComingPlague, Ebola & BetrayalofTrust.

Dec 12, 2022, 12 tweets

Dear Mr. Musk (@elonmusk );
You are destroying @Twitter in countless ways. The most egregious are your calls for Star Chamber prosecution of #TonyFauci . But you have done so much more damage -- enough, that @Tesla is suffering as its stock drops & EV buyers turn elsewhere.
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2/ Despite the snarky & sometimes cruel comments levied against me @Twitter (including more than one death threat) I have usually found it a terrific platform. It's like a great newspaper: you have a window into everything from pop music to astrophysics, kittens to kinases.
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3/ @Twitter has been a place for all sorts of perspectives -- you never know what comment or video might blow your mind, taking your day on an unexpected tangent. Most Twitterati strived to be smart, funny, maybe snarky -- not pernicious, deliberately false or threatening.
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4/ For scientists - especially in #COVID19 #SARSCoV2 work - @Twitter has been a hot place for swiftly-shared data & insights in a manner never seen in any prior #epidemic. Links to scientific papers have been a constant, & some long interpretive threads are game-changing.
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5/ Leaving @Twitter -- as millions have already done -- means going to more focused platforms, where the marvelous randomness of thoughts & insights is absent. Whether at #Mastadon or #hivesocialapp or #Instagram -- the scope narrows.
We talk among ourselves...
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6/ I love seeing multiple Tweeted languages, reading the WORLD -- not just some narrow group of Americans or English-speakers. @Twitter wasn't perfect, but it was a door to a large, complex universe.

Now, Mr. Musk, we have a dilemma: Fight to save our whacky Twitterverse...
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7/ Or jump ship, abandon all hope, find a smaller, more claustrophobic, yet safer haven.
And let's be clear, Mr. Musk -- millions of us are staring at this dilemma because of YOU @elonmusk . You are pushing a far-right agenda, says @washingtonpost MORE washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…

8/ The @washingtonpost says, "#ElonMusk is right wing. He has tried hard to make that very clear."
Mr. Musk, you have always been a contrarian. Like many #SiliconValley gazillionaires, you get nerdy pleasure out of putting people off balance with weird comments.
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9/ But here's the thing: Being a weird, strange, goofy smart-ass is harmless if said nerd is toiling in a lab, or on one of your assembly lines. But the same traits are dangerous when it's @elonmusk, son of super-rich Errol, & Elon: multi-billionaire. scmp.com/magazines/styl…
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10/ I've perused the alternatives & found them wanting. I'll stay here @Twitter & fight for it as long as I can stand it.
But you, Mr. Musk, are toxic.
Strangely, you're willing to take down not only #Twitter but @Tesla & other companies, just so you can air jerk-speak.
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11/ Finally, @elonmusk -- thank God you were born in South Africa and therefore can't follow in #DonaldTrump footsteps, sweeping you, and your mammoth ego, into the Oval Office.

Just shut up and get back to building cars, batteries, spaceships and giant holes in the ground.

And stay off @DaveChappelle shows

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