As Elon Musk prepares to take over Twitter -- unless, that is, he's just trying to manipulate the
stock market or get more attention for himself or both, and he ends up sabotaging the deal -- many are celebrating, while many are warning that it's
the end of the world, or at least of Twitter. I'm more on the "end of Twitter" side, but
am not panicking because my life doesn't revolve around tweeting.
It's possible that even if Musk does assume control, not much will change on Twitter despite all of the sound and fury.
For now, I find Twitter to be a (mostly) pleasant diversion, and
I didn't join the stampede off of the platform when the news was
first announced of Musk's potential takeover. One of my favorite
writers that I follow on Twitter is Jared Yates
Sexton, self-described "Hoosier,
Political Analyst, Prof, Muckrake Podcast," and author of
the upcoming book, The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia,
and the Coming Crisis (to
be published in January 2023).
I'm always interested in what Sexton has to tweet, and a thread he initiated earlier today (April 30, 2022) caught my eye. It began:
Not going to lie, it’s been a great time watching all these mainstream commentators work themselves into believing Elon Musk might actually make Twitter better and then he immediately started posting troubling political takes and telling people to throw out their meds.
Sexton continued:
It’s been a good reminder that a lot of journalists and pundits the Right constantly attacks as being “Leftist” are just free-market worshipers who are as devoted to the myth of meritocracy as anybody.
For those who don’t get it, because Musk is rich it HAS to mean to these people that he’s uniquely talented and capable. They have a religious faith in the market that, despite all evidence to the contrary, cannot be shaken. The idea that privilege plays a role isn’t considered.
When considering media and politics, always remember these circles are populated by white people with money who believe they got there because they’re innately talented. That belief in the fraudulent meritocracy is necessary for their own identity and colors their worldview.
I think he's spot-on. Meritocracy is indeed
largely a myth, and a uniquely American one in many ways. It is
marginally less cruel than the traditional article of (bad) faith
that poverty is a moral failing and that the poor deserve their
horrid lives, while the wealthy are superior human beings whose
superiority has been rewarded by Providence -- but it is still a
myth, and cruel in its own ways. In any case Sexton is exactly
right: Privilege plays a much greater role in the making of your
average (or above-average) obscenely wealthy person than even
many non-right-wingers care to admit. Elon Musk himself is
nothing if not the product of privilege.
Privilege plays a big part in successful wealth hoarding, and so, for that matter, do sociopathy, ruthlessness, and an
unceasing determination to game the system in ways both legal and
illegal.
Nevertheless, the idea (or illusion or delusion) that every one
of us is a billionaire or at least a millionaire in the making
just won’t go away. As my friend Steve Salerno, author of the
mostly dormant but still relevant SHAMblog, has written, “Hope springs infernal.”
Steve's context, as you know if you're at all familiar with his work, was the world of
selfish-help/motivational/McSpirituality scammers, which were the
primary focus of his blog in its heyday. And in case it isn't
obvious, the selfish-help industry is relevant to Sexton's thread
because ever since its beginnings many, many decades ago, that
industry has played a major role in perpetuating the stubborn
American cultural myth that untold wealth is well within the
reach of the average person -- if only they're willing to work at
it, have something of value to offer, and believe in themselves
(and in more recent years, of course, are willing to follow the
advice of whichever inspirational guru happens to be on the talk
show or late-night infomercial they're watching).
It is that very illusion that spurs so many people who should
know better to cheerlead for Elon Musk and his ilk.
Contemporary Scamworld hucksters aggressively push the myth of
"easy" wealth, using their own success stories as an
example, whether or not those stories are entirely true, or even
a little bit true. As I have discussed numerous times on this
Whirled over the years, the most successful selfish-help
hucksters have made their fortunes by convincing folks that “I
did it, and you can, too!” Thirteen years ago, I wrote a little
song-in-search-of-a-tune called, "I've Gotta Find Me A Scam," and it still applies -- particularly the second verse:
They’re gonna make me a star
If I make ’em believe
That they’re more than they are
Make ’em believe that the world can be theirs
And that they’re all destined to be zillionaires.
One of this blog's favorite subjects, formerly
imprisoned serial scammer Kevin Trudeau, has made much
of his ill-gained gold flogging the "you can too"
theme. While his primary means of picking people's pockets has
been his pretense that he has seekrit information that
"They" don't want you to know, he also attracted
thousands, particularly in the glory daze of his mega-scam GIN (the
Global Information Network) by boasting about how healthy and
wealthy and successful he was. And he's far from the only one in
his scammy industry to use that hook.
Elon Musk, on the other hand, doesn't need to overtly boast about
his wealth under the pretext of offering your average mediocre
citizen a hand up to his lofty heights. This isn't to imply that
Musk doesn't flaunt his wealth and influence; of course he does
-- the potential Twitter takeover being but one example, and his
space-phallus fetish being another -- but he doesn't have any
need to overtly boast in the crass and relatively amateurish way
that lower-echelon hucksters must do in order to gain and
maintain a fan base whose pockets they can pick directly.
There are other differences between your average wealthy
Scamworld player and Elon Musk, of course -- not only in scale of
wealth and in the way that they flaunt their wealth, but, some
might argue, in the actual value they contribute to society and
the world at large. After all, his defenders say, Musk's company
makes electric cars, which however flawed do have a practical
value, and his forays into space might arguably benefit humanity,
somehow, someday. On the other hand, when it comes down to
tangible product, Kevin Trudeau and even the perennially
successful Tony Robbins fall short, primarily selling illusions
and false hope. To quote my song without a tune again:
All I’ll be selling is hope
Worth more by far
Than the best Maui dope
Granted, the high doesn’t last quite as long
And costs a lot more. But is that so wrong?
It’s what people want, after all:
Bright shiny visions
To keep them in thrall
It’s all in the packaging, all in the hype
Oh, I can make millions by marketing tripe!
The point is that whether we’re talking about
Scamworld hucksters or multi-billionaires such as Musk et al.,
their success often relies not chiefly on merit or on providing
value, but on privilege, as Sexton noted -- and also on a heapin'
helpin' of hustling and scamming. And if they're even marginally
successful, in the ways that our shallow culture defines success,
they will have their fan bois and girlz.
Even if the multi-billionaire or Scamworld huckster in question
spews misinformation or lies or hate speech, or behaves
atrociously, or in some other way makes it pretty obvious that he
or she is a horrible human being, all too many average folks will
continue to grovel, hoping that even if they can't succeed on
their own merits, perhaps some of that magic wealth fairy dust
will somehow, someday, rub off on them.
Spoiler: It won't.