Nomasila

Innovate. Ideate. Iterate.

[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.

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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

[Nomasila @nomasila]

#LeadershipMatters
#whatelonwants

https://t.co/CJNFonOvjG

[Nomasila @nomasila]

@AvantiWestCoast Dear Avanti team, you seem to have gone silent on Twitter as well. Disappointed in the way customer care is being handled. Outages, stoppages or critical disruptions are par course for all companies… but how they respond and manage the situation makes all the difference.

[Nomasila @nomasila]

@AvantiWestCoast hi, our train to Glasgow got terminated at Preston. Am an international traveller who has very little idea of what to do next. Am advised that waiting at Preston station for the next train to Glasgow would work … is that correct? Will our tickets work?

[Nomasila @nomasila]

@AvantiWestCoast Sure, but tell me what to expect? Edinburgh also shows cancelled now.

[Nomasila @nomasila]

@AvantiWestCoast See that’s the problem, Pete and @AvantiWestCoast — no one seems to be sure. And you guys run this transport service. How do you expect an international tourist to go figure? How do I head off to Edinburgh without knowing how or when I will get to Glasgow?

[Nomasila @nomasila]

@AvantiWestCoast How much time to Edinburgh and then Glasgow? What is the total journey time ?

[Nomasila @nomasila]

@AvantiWestCoast Thanks, Pete for the response. Station staff is quite clueless and your website has little guidance. Quite a sorry state of affairs. Can the local staff at the least brief us ?

[Prannoy Roy @PrannoyRoy7749]

Tina Turner - yes, simply the best

[Dalai Lama @DalaiLama]

As soon as I wake every morning, I remind myself that all human beings are the same as me—we all want to be happy. I resolve to use my life to ensure that other beings are happy. It’s compassion that brings about peace of mind, not anger and hatred.

[Dalai Lama @DalaiLama]

Despite different cultures and different political and economic systems, we’re all basically the same. The more people I meet, the stronger my conviction becomes that the oneness of humanity, founded on understanding and respect, is a realistic and viable basis for our conduct.

[Dalai Lama @DalaiLama]

Scientists have found evidence that those who cultivate love and compassion have greater peace of mind, while constant anger and fear make us uneasy and are bad for health. Common sense too tells us that people who are moved by love and compassion are peaceful and happy.

[Nomasila @nomasila]

#RIP. A person I never met, but was responsible an early career lesson. “Check your spellings/facts & if you don’t know, ASK someone who does! It’s OKAY to not know, but NOT OKAY to pass on passive ignorance!!” ⁦⁦⁦⁦@sourishb1963⁩ #flashback https://t.co/G6sYgDqJRF

[Bar and Bench @barandbench]

Nupur Sharma single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country: Supreme Court

#SupremeCourt #NupurSharma

[The Cultural Tutor @culturaltutor]

The Danger of Minimalist Design

(& the death of detail)

A short thread...

[Nomasila @nomasila]

What’s in a name, they say. Right @ChefsHat_ ?

[Norman Sequeira @LordOfTheGrins]

The inability to have a space in a domain name does result in some funny ones!
#ChefsHat or #ChefShat !

[Ajay Kamath @ajay43]

Swords, shotguns, pistols and baseball bats in a so called “Shobha” Yatra. How can any Hindu worth her name tolerate this nonsense? This in the national capital. The utter shamelessness of this and a govt both central and state which enables this….

[Kateryna Yushchenko 🌻 🇺🇦 @KatyaYushchenko]

Watch, just watch. 22 days ago all these people had normal lives.

[Nomasila @nomasila]

Beware of the Avalanche of Stupidity Threatening to Bury Us All https://t.co/TOQN1pjpTI

[Palki Sharma @palkisu]

It’s embarrassing to see how so many people are at pains to prove this war is not Russia’s fault.
Some of America’s military interventions/invasions in the name of bringing democracy were criminal. So is Russia’s attack on a sovereign Ukraine. Two wrongs don’t make a right.