I kept my Twitter blue tick, not because I wanted to but because it was the least bad option before me.

I don't know the minds of my neighbours, let alone billionaires. But Elon Musk is not much of a mystery to me. I've worked for enough rich people, mind you, not billionaires, to know they are a breed set apart by their wealth because democracies, instead of taxing them fairly- defer to the riches they possess. They are like the gods of ancient Greece, filled with endless appetites to create havoc on the lives of those with fewer coins in their hands than them. Our billionaires- like those gods of old- bring us mayhem, and we accepted it as an "ever thus", law of nature. It's not, of course, but that's what happens when the majority who aren't well-paid look for guidance from those better paid than them.

It's why; the news media owned by a handful of corporations is so dangerous to a free society because reporting the news should be primarily about presenting facts and exposing lies. But instead, its prime function is to keep the status quo or even shift the balance more in the favour of the 1% than it already is. Living wages, affordable housing, public health care and making refugees welcome seem commonsensical because it is commonsensical. But you won't find that clarity of opinion in our corporate news media. We are told it's complicated, that there are many factors at play and that we must balance equally the needs of the majority with the needs of the few to profit excessively. Collectively, our society bought shares in the 1%'s grift that wealth is wisdom and like the people who once invested heavily with Bernie Madoff on the promise of 18% returns, we are finding ourselves flat broke intellectually and politically as a species.

This Ponzi scheme will never end with a perp walk because society keeps doubling down in their faith that most Billionaires and oligarchs believe in liberté, égalité, and fraternité. 

We pretend that, like there were good Germans during the Hitler years, there are good billionaires. That's not the case because a billionaire is just a warlord who doesn't need to use a gun to first destroy society and then run it. Sure, when they get older and worry about their legacy of disruption to democracy for loot. Some become benefactors. The Rockefellers, Carnegies, Mellons, Rothschilds, Gates, and Soros' were brutal to democracy and fair societies in their salad years of making money but munificent in creating foundations in their golden years to make the world they wrecked havoc on a better place. It, however, never could amend the damage done by their robber baron capitalism.

Musk will probably be no different than those "great benefactors", in his old age if society is still around. But until then, he is going to treat Twitter and the world like the character George Hearst in the series Deadwood. 

Yesterday maybe because his Tesla stock plunged and his Space X rocket turned into a 3 billion dollar D Minus high school science project, Elon decided to kick a cat with the petulance of a man that knows wealth forgives all transgressions, except the loss of wealth. 

The cat he kicked was Twitter's legacy blue ticks. They may hiss and show their claws and teeth to him, but for now, he is still their master. I belong to that social media breed. But, I never thought my legacy blue tick bestowed: status, credibility or respectability to its owner like many others did. 

Over the years, I observed many blue ticks who treated their blue checkmark as; if it was a heraldry chart of their family bloodline to William the Conqueror or Shakespeare. My blue tick, obtained when my dad was alive, was got because it provided a certain amount of safety from trolls, malcontents, Nazis and hackers rather than to distinguish him from the Hoi Polli because he much preferred to be among the wait staff than the waited.

However, when Musk bought the Twitter shop, he revealed to all its users something its last owners hid so well, we were the battery hens, and our tweets were like eggs that had value not to us but to the shareholders. What we had thought of as a modern-day agora where we debated, argued, yelled, laughed, reasoned, and memed was, in fact, a farm factory; where everything was monetised. We were products being fattened for slaughter. 

When Musk announced that blue ticks were for sale and that legacy blue tick holders would have to pay a monthly fee to maintain their status, there was outrage from this community. Primarily, outrage came from people who could afford outrage against Musk and his monetising of blue ticks because they make six-figure salaries from legacy media outlets, NGOs, the government, or publishing. But their outrage over corporate overreach and subversion of democracy will never extend to their employers because to make a six-figure salary, own a house, put your kids through school, and have nice vacations, you have an honours degree in "never bite the hand that feeds you." Now me? I can't help but do that, and it doesn't make me a better person than them; just who I am.

 I am a good worker, but any time I saw injustice at school, among my peer group, or in my workplace I fought against it, sometimes vocally and other times, surreptitiously. Dissent is in my DNA, and I hate joining any crowd because I know corruption, even for the noblest ideas, is just around the corner; once people who are successful in walking the tightrope of professional compromise become involved. 

They generally get a glass half full because they pour everyone else's half-empty cup into theirs. 

Proof of that is those who are now crowing on Twitter about their loss of a legacy blue tick as if it were an arm they lost blowing up a Nazi munition train while working for the Maquis in occupied France rather than a check mark. Soon enough those pretenders of dissent will call any anyone with a blue tick collaborators with Musk.

I kept my Twitter blue tick, not because I wanted to but because it was the least bad option before me. My health is as bad as my finances, and I am alone. I don't say that for pity, but for accuracy. I write long pieces on Substack that are read by a thousand or more people on a regular basis. But Twitter is my bullhorn, and if it becomes hacked or compromised, I am dead in the water because I am not salaried by a giant corporate media giant that gives me the ability to pretend to fight fascism whilst keeping the accoutrements of collaborating with it. The blue tick, for me, is nothing more than insurance. It may not even save me and probably won't. But I know for certain neither will legacy news media. 

As always, thank you for reading because I really need your help this month. Your subscriptions to Harry’s Last Stand keep the legacy of Harry Leslie Smith alive and me housed. This month is proving to be real scramble to get next months together. So if you can join with a paid subscription which is just 3.50 a month or a yearly subscription or a gift subscription. I promise the content is good, relevant and thoughtful. Take Care, John

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash