"It was time to exercise my freedom of speech to say goodbye and good riddance (to Twitter.") - Roxanne Jones at CNN
That was one of the first lines in her latest article "Why I Freed Myself From the Hater-Verse that is Twitter."
Editor's Note: Let's clarify something right from the rip. I've never been on Twitter and Beacon of Speech has never been on Twitter. Twitter is fine for others, but I've always kind of thought of it as a pyramid scheme for celebrities.
Ms. Jones' take coincides with dozens of other Left Wing Celebrities dumping Twitter since its official purchase was completed by Elon Musk last week.
It is her right to be, or not to be, on Twitter, but please don't cite "free speech" as the reason you're fleeing the platform. She prattled on and on about the rise of right wing trolls and not feeling like Twitter was a safe space for a Black Woman.....
We are going to end her argument, right here, right now.
Twitter is a corporation, it is not a country.
Roxanne Jones has Free Speech and I, Fred Hunt, have free speech.
If a person wants to go to a local council meeting and be heard, they have that resource.
If a person wants to stand at the street corner, flip over a soapbox, and scream into a megaphone, they have that resource, also.
But at all times, Twitter has had corporate overlords. When right wing voices were being culled and Parler exploded, Ms. Jones didn't defend free speech, she wanted Twitter to become a beautiful left wing echo chamber. Elon Musk comes in and all of a sudden she stands in solidarity with her rich friends and bolts.
Roxanne Jones has spent her adult life suckling from the corporate tit, first at ESPN, and now at CNN. She has been well compensated monetarily for her views by multinational corporations. Her compensation ran parallel with her left wing views within the left wing media conglomerates that she worked for.
If Jones was a Free Speech Champion, she would have stayed on Twitter and fought for her beliefs in a more de-regulated marketplace. But her departure simply reinforces my original perspective on the platform.
Let me cut and paste it for the lazy:
"Twitter is fine for others, but I've always kind of thought of it as a pyramid scheme for celebrities." - Fred Hunt
If Jones doesn't like Twitter anymore. Fine.
If Jones doesn't like Elon Musk. Fine.
If Jones cherishes her mental health. Fine.
If Jones wants to make a statement on her departure. Fine
Jones can't just say that she's leaving to protect free speech. That's the last thing she's doing. Now if she's leaving Twitter, ESPN, AND CNN and starting her own website, that could be a valid argument, but that's not what's happening, she doesn't have that gumption.
She is leaving a billion dollar corporation that she perceives to be less friendly to liberal voices to focus on her work inside of billion dollar corporations that coddle liberal voices.
Uh, that's not the definition of free speech.