Peter Berggren

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

https://t.co/4YOia4SuTZ

[Morgan J. Freeman @mjfree]

I'm going to post this video every day so we never forget what Donald Fucking Trump did on J6!

[ShanghaiPanda （ Account deactivation） @thinking_panda]

Funny fact:
Most of the "Trump products" in the Trump Store in Trump Hotel are made in China.😂
#MAGA

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@Acyn He didn't explain it ...

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@TheFl0orIsLaVa its a feat, not a bug, in the wh

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@MerruX @Sec_Noem @DHSgov Democratic government is characterised by the separation of powers. This system divides the state into three branches – the legislative, executive and judicial branch – and gives each the power to fulfil different tasks.

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@robertkovacevi3 @MaileOnX @elonmusk But that's the whole point of X ...

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@elonmusk Just take away the "don't drink" warning signs from bleach and scramble a cat safety task force and all our problems are solved ...

[Bill Madden @maddenifico]

Irish politician Aodhán Ó Ríordáin speaks for all of us. 🙌🙏👏👇

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@WintersPolitics Slightly more christian to care for the poor and weak, or would Jesus rather have deported them and done the nazi-heil?

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@BryantEtch https://t.co/JX5LuNpOEv

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

I attended Trump’s inauguration yesterday.

Here are my thoughts:

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@RpsAgainstTrump Patriots taking a dump in the capitol to honor the constitution ...

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

I attended Trump’s inauguration yesterday.

Here are my thoughts:

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@ZaleskiLuke Outrageous - a true christian mock and deport the weak and lick orange buttocks.

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@unifilvet @CalltoActivism There will be a special cats safety task force. Elon will ensure the efficacy of it.

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@CalltoActivism https://t.co/z6EdD1C0jt

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

Donald let them free.
Is that a precedent?

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@pmalcor @TEDchris @elonmusk But almost no one reads or answers my posts. So it isn't equal rights. If you have the money for a troll-factory or have millions of followers, don't you think you have a greater possibility to participate in discussions or manipulations then?

[Chris Anderson @TEDchris]

With a certain amount of trepidation, I'm posting this open letter to @elonmusk, someone I have admired, but who, right now, is causing me concern. I know I'm not alone in thinking these thoughts. Please like or repost if you're willing... And Elon, if you're listening, please know this is offered in a constructive spirit.

-----

Dear Elon,

A thought hit me this morning.

On top of all your achievements in technology and entrepreneurship, you have become this century's single most influential writer.  You have more than 200 million followers on a powerful platform that you yourself control. And the words that you write flow well beyond just those followers into almost every user of X and far beyond courtesy of extensive media coverage.   This makes Rupert Murdoch at his prime seem inconsequential.

It must feel exhilarating. You made a huge gamble buying Twitter and it seems to have paid off spectacularly to the point that you can use it to massively impact the world, including changing governments.  You believe that X can largely replace most mainstream media. It is the new platform for citizen journalism, and you are citizen number 1.  You don’t need the hassle of editors and fact-checkers. Every single thing you post garners millions of likes and reposts. In a heartbeat you can change the global conversation.  No one in history has had this much power.

So there’s a lot at stake here, and, as it happens, journalism is something I care deeply about. I began my career as a journalist because I believed that good journalism was essential for the healthy functioning of democracy. Today I am worried — quite deeply worried, actually — that in your triumphant seizing of the global conversation, some of the core tenets of journalism are being forgotten. Without them, I think your efforts to make X the respected home of citizen journalism will fail.

There are numerous journalistic principles that matter — Grok can summarize them quite nicely. But there’s one in particular that’s been troubling me. It’s the fairness doctrine. The one that says that before you publish savagely critical claims about an individual, or an institution, you reach out to them for their side of the story. After all, just possibly, you may have missed a key fact or two that would change how people assess what has happened. Just possibly your sources were motivated to cause damage to that individual. Just possibly there’s an alternative explanation of what happened.

So, for example, when you tell hundreds of millions of people that someone should be hanged or jailed for outrageous crimes against humanity, just possibly you should first sound out what those who know those people really well would say about them. Some of your recent posts could literally get someone killed. Do you really want to risk that? How is it possible that you can do this at the very same time that you’re calling on people to make X more positive, more beautiful?  You say you want to maximize un-regretted user-seconds on X.  By far the simplest way you could do this, Elon, is simply to thoughtfully edit what you yourself post.

I get that from your eyes the issues you are championing are unbelievably important and worthy of extreme efforts. But the way you are presenting them is not citizen journalism. It's playground bullying. It’s crass and it’s cruel, and it’s therefore not nearly as effective as it could be.  You’re hearing the cheers of your most loyal followers, but missing the fact you’re making yourself a laughing stock among many who you really want on your side. Long-term that’s going to damage X, your other businesses, and indeed your long-term dreams for humanity.  No one wants to follow a playground bully to Mars.

I miss the old Elon. You can be funny, interesting, insightful and inspiring. You've fought incredibly hard for what you've built. And you may feel you're entitled to do whatever the hell you want with it. But I also know that you understand the danger of holding too tightly to the ring of power, how it can distort someone's judgement and turn them ugly.

I’m hoping you can loosen that ring just a little. For the love of humanity that you profess, I really urge you to embrace the fairness doctrine and showcase a better face of X.

Thanks for listening.

Chris

[Peter Berggren @Peter_Berggren]

@ArmandDoma @AOC U should ban all grabbers in the white building from getting in girlproximity …