Nicholas Grossman: Oh, NYT. Elon Musk does NOT “think a free market of ideas will self-correct.” He thinks he can manipulate the market of ideas, relying on major players in that market—like you!—to uncritically repeat his transparent BS about in free speech. Do you want it to work, or are you just that easy a mark?

Oh, NYT. Elon Musk does NOT “think a free market of ideas will self-correct.” He thinks he can manipulate the market of ideas, relying on major players in that market—like you!—to uncritically repeat his transparent BS about in free speech. Do you want it to work, or are you just that easy a mark?

Becoming a guileless credulous stenographer stenographer of billionaires will be the only real media job left when the nyt replaces the whole company with ai.

We used to just called them sycophants.

Elon Musk believes the free market means that he can buy assent for his bad ideas. That's what the marketplace of ideas means to that billionaire.

We’ve understood that concentrations of private power distort markets to the point they’re no longer free for nearly 150 years. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed in 1890. Except it seems some are determined to forget it.

The free market of ideas does mean people can curate the ideas they receive to their liking. But billionaires can use their resources to force their curation on everybody else.

And the “ideas” he wants to market are racism

It does mean that in practice. People can buy all the influence they can afford. That's a bad thing. But it still happens.

It really doesn’t. Monopolies, cartels, antitrust, market failure, etc. The fact that “free market” does not mean “anyone can do anything they want and everyone else has to suck it up” is very well established.

Then how come he gets to do pretty much whatever he wants and everyone else has to suck it up? There are limited protections. They're clearly insufficient.

The idea was created as part of the justification for colonialism. And people are still being told they just have to suck that up.

Because it’s not a free market of ideas. That’s his slogan. Not his aim or practice.

I'm saying that he has an accurate perception of what the marketplace of ideas means in practice (which is not the same as idealised theoretical version). He didn't come up with the concept.

"that billionaire" ....

Lately NYT is full of shit way above their regular level.

They have a vested interest in promoting bullshit so they can remark on it passing by, rather do any real reporting

To want it to work you would have to be thoughtful enough to consider that Musk might not accurately say what he wants

“It’s hard to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

That's the messed up thing: Elon attacked their company, the one that pays their salary.

Also, which liberals want to regulate it exactly? Literally nobody is demanding that any government stop Substack from profiting off Nazis.

Regulation doesn't mean "writers demand Substack stop profiting off Nazis or they threaten to use a different platform". That's literally the free market at work.

The NYT is that easy of a mark and constantly tells itself “We must not get played” while getting bowed like a cello

And sometimes it's not even being a mark: sometimes they agree with the proposition wholeheartedly.

Myriad examples but the one that always springs to mind for me is the NYT editorial board piece about how we queers are being Mean to cops for not letting them be in Pride parades

The NYT is a billionaire-facilitator machine and I wonder how they still attract so many young, gullible and impressionnable writers that truly, genuinely think they will be able to reform what has been going wrong for what... three decades at least now ???

In journalism circles the NYT is generally considered the best paper in the US, so getting that on your resume is a big deal from a career-development standpoint. The NYT is also relatively stable financially at a time when many papers are struggling -- and often dying. US journalism is in crisis.

Which is a main point: the death of local journalism is a real downer for a democracy.

Yup. And as long as the US is just content to please a few billionaires that can alter the discourse of hundreds of TV stations this will not change. Deadspin (RIP) made that video 5 years ago, still as relevant www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHf...

Sinclair's Soldiers in Trump's War on Mediawww.youtube.com Anchors at Sinclair-owned local news station parrot a script pushing Trump talking points and “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories p...

Not just US journalism. Everywhere. Was in that industry (for ~7 years) in several countries in Europe. Had to leave and get another job, paid 3 times what I was earning before, when employed and not freelancing that is. So yea, I get the career move. But it's not the best and been a while.

Although to criticize just for a while: Even as a non-US, I think I have quite an understanding of the media landscape there and if I was in a position to get a job at the NYT but wanted to do actual journalism, I'd go where there is actual journalism done. Like www.propublica.org

Investigative Journalism and News in the Public Interestwww.propublica.org ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

So I think there is also an element of young people of a certain social status wanting to be seen as doing journalism and going to the NYT (or the WaPo, or others on that level) But not doing the actual work, you know... journalism. But hey, they get the cushy job, and they can be socialites...

I'm a retired journalist who tries to keep track of the field. I don't think it is easy to break into. Yes, there is nepotism and classism, but the competition is typically so fierce for limited jobs that I would not recommend trying to enter the field unless one has exceptional drive and talent.

"We'll change the rotting institution from the inside!" A classic for a reason.

Ideas are not goods for sale. The free market doesn’t exist. Elon is a clown. Just some free ideas of mine.

Once again, NYT confuses what someone says with what they believe. In fact, we can't know what Musk, believes, but it's clear from his actions that it's not this.

They do this wot Republicans all the time.

That any writer & editor of a major publication is still falling for/amplifying Musk bullshit, is ridiculous at this point.

the invisible hands are quite rarely invisible

The NYT continuing to normalize this guy is right on schedule.

NYT has gone all the way up their own asses and transcended all criticism and parody. It’s dialoguing with itself and its vision of itself and what the NYT thinks the NYT is. The reader, citizen, critic is utterly immaterial to the NYT at this point.

Elon and his followers just want freedom from consequences for being an anti social ass. Nothing more. Progressives want to limit disinformation and base policy on facts, proven science, accepted medicine, personal responsibility and standard psychological practices. We aren't nearly the same. Lol

I am so very glad I finally got off my ass to cancel that subscription. A subscription I never wanted, but was pressed upon me by my parents and carried along via inertia (and automatic billing). No more.

number of times in history that the "marketplace of ideas" has corrected itself for the better: zero

Her piece is more sophisticated than you credit her. End: <>

It’s a fair criticism of the editor who put that dumb and misleading sub-heading above the article, but not of the article itself. A few careless words from an editor in a headline can drown out the good work of the person who wrote the piece.

Neither. The NYT is a willing and eager conspirator.

It just seems that a journalist at the NYT should know that Elon throttled the NYT. www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/t...

Anything with ‘Elon thinks’ in it should be taken with an extreme amount of doubt. 😂

Elon Musk also got suckers like this author to breathlessly hype the hyperloop for ten goddamn years, a lie that he came up with because the idea of high speed rail made him feel threatened.

#ElonMuskIsAConman

Post