George Monbiot

The bride at every funeral, the corpse at every wedding.

This account is now closed. Find me on Bluesky:

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

This is my farewell post. I am not deleting this account, as I don’t want to lose the archive, and I don’t want my name taken by imposters. But, for as long as Musk owns the platform, I’ll no longer use it. I’m now posting at https://t.co/0iVBaQEKGy.

Since Elon Musk bought this site, he has transformed it from one on which millions could converse as equals into his personal megaphone. Now the world’s richest man uses it to wage his class war, transferring blame for the ills of capitalism onto vulnerable minorities, boosting the grimmest and most antisocial accounts while suppressing the humane voices with whom he disagrees.

He has used X not only to subvert the election for the US presidency, but to create a role for himself in US politics which, though he has never stood for election and would not be eligible, grants him immense power over the citizens of that nation. This site has been used as a tool to help replace democracy with oligarchy.

Musk claimed, on purchasing the platform, to be a “free speech absolutist”. He is in fact a prolific censor, suspending dissenting accounts and using lawsuits to shut down free speech, while employing an algorithm to increase the reach of his own posts 1,000-fold. He cannot abide a level playing field.

He has permitted or encouraged the growth of a ghost army of bots and trolls to degrade the experience of all who disagree with him. Their task is not just to abuse opponents but, perhaps more importantly, to drown intelligent conversation with a tsunami of stupidity. They respond to data with denial, expertise with execration, insight with insult, humour with hatred and thinking with thuggery. They suck the meaning out of everything. The stupidity trends in one direction: in the service of economic power. It is a weapon used to suppress the possibility of a better world.

Many years ago, when I lived in Brazil, I learnt that the military dictatorship had actively sought to suppress educational levels in schools, as it saw a well-informed population as a political threat. A confused, distracted and ignorant population is easy to manipulate. Now this counter-educational model is being rolled out worldwide, and Elon Musk is its primary sponsor.

I stayed here long after I first considered leaving, as I believed it was wrong to cede the ground to an oligarch and his minions. But I came to see that those of us who do not subscribe to Musk’s grim project are being used as groundbait: stimulating the feeding frenzy of 15-minute, 24-hour hate that now powers this platform. We can no longer build anything of value here. Brute force – the unmediated power of money – has beaten humanity, intelligence, humour and democracy.

On Bluesky I can be the person I want to be, a better person than I am on X, where it is almost impossible not to get dragged into the mud. I feel I can be understood because I am not confronting a deliberate effort to misunderstand me. So I can speak more quietly.

There is no guarantee that Bluesky will not also one day be monetised by its owners or captured by self-serving billionaires. But for now it remains a place in which interesting and enjoyable conversations can be had, kindness can be shown to strangers and a better world can be imagined. I hope to see you there.

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

@PenAHay Noon.

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

11. Our task is to revitalise democratic politics, by imagining a genuinely democratic dispensation, and by building support around those who are prepared to fight the rising tide of economic power.

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

1. There have been plenty of debates about whether or not Trump and his circle are fascists. In this column, I argue that the debate solves nothing. We’re seeing a reversion to the default state of politics in centralised societies: autocratic tyranny. https://t.co/Lhov0g3wxs 🧵

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

10. The likes of Starmer, Macron, Scholz, Albanese, Trudeau look like little more than placeholders, waiting for the inevitable.

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

Maga fanatics, whipped up by the frenzy of hatred on X and other media, might gain nothing from Trump’s presidency except the satisfaction of inflicting pain. But this is sufficient to ensure their absolute loyalty. It will induce them to commit any atrocity Trump demands.

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

"This is the great discovery of the conflict entrepreneurs: what counts in politics is not how well people are doing, but how well they're doing in relation to designated out-groups." So people support a class war against themselves.
My column this week. https://t.co/Lhov0g3wxs

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

One day to go before the #Xodus. Tomorrow afternoon, UK time, January 20, join me in leaving this platform for Bluesky.

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

Tiktok has been banned in the US on the grounds that China could use it "to manipulate and control Americans by spreading propaganda and misinformation." In other words, China *might do* exactly what Elon Musk *has done* with X.
It's a blatant double standard.

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

Vaccines are among the best of inventions. There's a high chance that without them, and the herd immunity they can deliver, you'd either not be here or would face a lifelong disability: *whether or not you had them yourself*. It's obvious, but many are determined to forget it.

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

On CBC last night, I spelt out the moral case to keep on trying, however hard it might be. Defending the living planet is not an option we can abandon. Ultimately, it is all that counts.
https://t.co/g7YLWn7s2l

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

@alastairmci I think when she started charging $40,000 per lecture, with business-class flights, there were indications that things were not right. https://t.co/5GrkWrNER7

[George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot]

I remember when @drvandanashiva was a scientist who cared about humanity. Now it's wall-to-wall this. Disappointing doesn't begin to cover it.