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Vivek Ramaswamy: Elon Musk won’t save us
The Woke Inc. author on why Musk's Twitter takeover is not all it seems
Elon Musk’s month or so in charge of Twitter has been rather eventful. From banning parody accounts to reinstating former President Donald Trump, there has rarely been a day in which the new CEO and his new platform have not made the news. While some worry that Musk will turn Twitter into a free speech hellscape, others have lauded the Tesla founder for attempting to reduce the platform’s systemic Left-leaning bias. But the question remains: should we be troubled or encouraged by the concentration of all this power in one man’s hands?
Vivek Ramaswamy, political commentator and author of Woke Inc., sat down with Freddie Sayers to explain why he doesn’t see Musk as a saviour. According to Ramaswamy, the problem of censorship on social media platforms is a tangled web, the threads of which lead us back to the Wall Street Crash in 2008. Back then, capitalists were seen as the “bad guys by the old Left” until they realised that being a bad guy was bad for business:
When Silicon Valley caught on, this ‘mutual prostitution’, as Ramaswamy calls it, created a loophole for the US Government where the First Amendment needn’t apply:
Censorship as a company policy soon mutated into an opportunity for poorly disguised state censorship, most notably in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ramaswamy uses lockdown sceptic and former New York Times journalist, Alex Berenson as an example:
Elon Musk’s ongoing release of the ‘Twitter Files’ arguably demonstrates more than a fair-weather commitment to, if not ending, then certainly denouncing censorship as well as government collusion with Big Tech. Be that as it may, in Ramaswamy’s opinion, the need for deeper institutional change remains. In his view, Musk will still have to play by the rules if he wants Twitter to survive. And there is one ‘master’ he will always have to appease:
Thanks to Vivek Ramaswamy for joining us at UnHerd TV.
Vivek , there was nothing I could argue with what you said . True honesty is incredibly elusive especially in recent times. I rather respect honest organisations that go for their openly spoken goals even if they are not very noble. At least I can avoid them if they are not to my taste. It’s the ones that pretend and lie and deceive people about their beliefs and intentions and cloak themselves as do-gooders and charmers & distract you with one hand while robbing you with the other.
I liked your point about new age saviours too. We do need to be wary of these false prophets.
Covid has taught me a very valuable lesson. No one knows very much and there is no one to guide us but we are all desperately looking for answers & someone (who knows) to follow. Easy pickings for a crafty pretender. There is no shortage of those nowadays.
If covid taught anything it is that a vast alternate network of information streaming and sharing sites exist outside the Monopoly – and they need to be aided by the system to breake the monololies. Try Rumble, Oracle, Getter, Substack….. Truth is out there now – just repressed in the MSM totally – but it is creeping out.
Great interview. As Vivek R said, when some people first pointed out the tacit bargain between corporate America and the woke movement they were generally derided as conspiracy theorists. But now the evidence is overwhelming–and still there is little pushback from society in general.
I feel Freddie could have provided more of Vivek R’s background so we all understand who he is and his own motivations in speaking out. I read Vivek’s book, Woke Inc, where he recounts how he was basically pushed out of the successful health care company he founded by his board when he refused to promote the woke agenda in his business. He resurfaced about a year later doing the talk show circuit and apparently positioning himself for a future run for the US congress. My guess is he’ll be a player in US politics in the coming years.
Great guest, the problem is he hit a dozen huge issues, issues that are of pith and moment of 1932 Germany, so it was too scattered and shotgun like to take in properly. But points:
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google have been tainted – and some say, created by, the USA (and 5-eyes) Security Services and MOD. If you listen to people, like say Dr Malone when he talks of the Bio-Medical Industrial Complex, you will hear of this deep penetration into everything. How they are institutionalized in all, how they are embedded from the first moment. They are tails wagging the dog.
Take the 230, where the social media are not Publishers so not held to the Constitution Or to Liability, not ‘Town Squares’ as they so much are, but private entertainment companies, and so may manipulate anything they wish by censoring or shadow promoting/banning, yet not responsible for anything they do let the people say on their platform. This is insane and is completely a tool to allow them to violate the constitution. This is the Black and Brown shirt thugs of history terrorizing and driving politics.
Also – I must point out – this exact same violation of all which is decent and constitutional is done with the Vaccine freedom of Liability. Mandated to take this untested and deadly genetic manipulation – but the ones making it, and forcing it, and working behind the scenes to violate EVERY rule of separation of industry and Government, are also given freedom from any Liability! WOW. They have caused so much more harm than the virus, but are free to do anything to anyone. Now they push it on children that if it gets taken up as a regular childhood vaccine it is forever free of liability!
How about FTX? Are the theories they are CIA dep infiltrated as so many say, so they can watch all the dirty money moved around the world – as that is the main use of Crypto – And naturally so they may move their very dodgy money in and out as well. Are they a tool of the Democrat party? Musk says FTX gave $1 Billion to the democrats – and we know they were a huge conduit back from Ukraine of the $91 Billion given to them with NO accounting – and the dreaded 10%, that is always out there, as we know from the suppressed Laptop…haha, FBI Suppressed at the least….
And about ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’ – this is the backbone of the WEF plan to rule the world. Where all social and NGO and other money which citizens would pay from dividends they receive, as they wished – will now be done from Corporate HQ. This is 100% Mussolini stuff – and the goal is the same. Why did the guest not address that in his time on the subject – it is a base tenant of WEF.
Good guest, but slow down and fewer topics, more proper links and references to points made, and more depth. This was too much all mixed up.
Yes, there are certain similarities with the beginnings of Nazi Germany. Corporations promised to work together with the regime for a “better good” and Hitler becoming involved in the foundation of Volkswagen. At the same time the entire press being “gleichgeschaltet” (falling in line …)
That’s a thought. As YouTube etc is publicly available THEY could be taking names. The FBI,MI5 etc. They could be logging all us who put our anti this and that comments. For future reference. They probably are. But what will be,will be so I’m not going to worry about it
Interesting chap and illustrating his “Woke Inc” cynical corporate virtue signalling premise with examples such as Sam Bankman Fried/ FTX and the emissions fiddling CEO of Volkswagen makes the trend very clear.
Reminded me of some years back when consumer driven ethical shopping choices first became a real thing but of course this is where it can end up. The market has taken over.
I don’t think he has quite got the complete solution in companies pursuing their “individual corporate agendas” but maybe combined with separating “Church (namely the woke religion and messianic drive) & State” by not allowing corporations to do what Govts cannot, so they cannot be used as an arm of state censorship etc would be an important start as Vivek says. It would bring back free speech so that woke agendas cannot just bulldozer over logic, facts and sound public opinion.
Don’t expect any one person to save us. What Musk can do, and is doing, is expose and prove the corruption. The rest is up to us. Sadly, at least we will now know whose boot is on our neck. No more CCP denial.
Back in the 1950s,1960s,1970s,even into the 1980s the Green Movement was a good voice and did good in pointing out bad practice and got a lot of good teforms. We did need that warning and a lessening of over reliance on chemicals etc. All this time Big Business and Money was definitely oppositional to Green issues but then sometime in the 1990s the Green Movement got infiltrated and taken over from the inside. The original founder of Greenpeace has done a YouTube video about the takeover of his organization. No it’s not a fake as some dickhead rebuked me.
But we didn’t really notice or feel it until,I estimate,about 2010. Seems to be that a lot of the changes kicked in about then. Now THEY are Green,they are CARING,so if you don’t like it that makes YOU the bad one. Ha Ha clever move.
awaiting for approval – few posts recover from that pitfall….but may I suppose, later…
P.S. saw the ad for the restaurant – do subscribers get a 10% discount on coffee?
I don’t know about the 10% discount, but it’s clear Unherd is now pushing advertisements on paying subscribers. Count me unimpressed.
Wow. Great interview, I’m going out to buy Vivek’s book.
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