In modern politics, there is no room for nuance. Everything has to be either all good or all bad.
It’s understandable, I suppose, and even helpful when you’re trying to draw a contrast between yourself and an opponent in an election. But that black-and-white electoral mentality has moved into every aspect of politics, with the parties elevating or demonizing people for the most superficial reasons. Usually, the truth is somewhere in between.
The most stark and recent example is Elon Musk. Depending on where you get your news, odds are high you either think he’s the greatest champion for conservatives online or the greatest evil currently in the world. The truth, as it always the case, lies somewhere between those two extremes.
The progressive left used to love Musk. No one has done more to advance the idea of electric vehicles and even solar power. The Tesla Powerwall was created to make homes more like his cars, and to take them off the coal-fired power grid.
Musk is also a man of the left, having voted for and donated to Democrats his whole life.
However, on the issue of freedom of free speech, Musk differs from modern leftist orthodoxy. He actually supports freedom of speech for everyone, including those who would and do say controversial or even horrible things. As he told Don Lemon, that’s precisely the speech that needs protecting.
Musk also sees the dangers in having open borders, and has been vocal about that as well. For those reasons, even though he is a liberal, liberals portray him as history’s greatest monster.
On the other side, conservatives have cannonballed into the deep end of the Musk pool, raising the billionaire up on their shoulders as a champion of free speech who can do no wrong. Part of this is because Elon has actually done more for the cause of free speech than almost anyone else alive currently. This is especially true since the old guard of groups like the ACLU no longer support civil liberties. They now condition their legal support for such things on the politics of those involved.
A free-speech absolutist is certainly welcome, especially when conservatives are routinely being silenced by liberal social media companies and their employees. Remember the Google all-staff meeting after Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election? If it wasn’t already obvious, that primal-scream therapy session demonstrates that the most powerful and influential people in our politically divided country are progressive extremists with little tolerance for other views.
When Musk announced he was buying Twitter to restore free speech, the left became apoplectic. Social media was supposed to be their domain to police and cleanse of other perspectives. They immediately hated Musk for it. Their hatred doubled when it turned out he was serious about the concept of free speech, then doubled yet again when he restored banned accounts, especially that of former President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, conservatives wiped away all the complaints they once had against Musk previously. They memory-holed the subsidies he had received, his liberal positions on issues such as abortion, and the like. They preferred to focus exclusively on the areas of agreement.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with focusing on where you agree with someone, there is always a risk of getting the false impression that Musk is somehow conservative.
The conservative movement does this often, latching onto anything conservative that a celebrity or media personality says and heaping praise upon the person that is often quite overboard. Whenever Joe Rogan, for example, says something negative about President Joe Biden or his policies, conservative media plugs it as if he were not a left-leaning libertarian whom most conservatives would disagree with on 90 percent of issues.
Elon Musk, like Joe Rogan, is no conservative hero. He’s just a guy who supports the concept of free speech. He’s no monster either, Democrats, for the same reason. People are much more complex than inside-the-Beltway politics publicly allows. Life is a series of dimmers, not toggle switches.
Far be it from me to lecture anyone about partisanship, as I am as partisan as they come. But I feel compelled to point this out. Someone’s usefulness to your political vision does not necessarily make him a close friend or a reliable ally. It is a mistake to elevate famous people, even someone like Musk, without appreciating their complexity, as it leaves you on the hook to defend their incorrect opinions. You also risk demoralizing those for whom you have held these people up as an example.
Look no farther than the situation with Candace Owens, and all of her current and past issues, for why this is a bad idea.
Derek Hunter is host of the Derek Hunter Podcast and a former staffer for the late Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).
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