Even given Musk's opinions, he clearly understands that the general public doesn't want kids getting hurt, he demonstrated this by saying Trump was in the Epstein files and by repeatedly saying the UK government isn't doing enough to stop child abuse and opining about a UK civil war.
His hypocrisy, his position on the main-character-syndrome-to-narcissism spectrum, him getting a kick out of trolling everyone, or him having straight up psychopathy: whatever it is, I find I no longer care.
> he clearly understands that the general public doesn't want kids getting hurt
This may be giving him too much credit, the only thing we actually know is he thinks being accused of being a pedophile is bad. We know this because he's done it to several people, and flips his shit when it happens to him or his platform. He doesn't actually seem to care about pedophiles or pedophilia given his on going relationships with people he's accused.
Mm. Took me a moment to see your point there, but I think you're right.
If he's only operating on the impact of the words, and ignoring the existence of an observable testable shared reality behind the words, then yes, accusations (either direction) are more damaging in his mind than being seen to support or oppose whatever.
Which is, ironically, a reason to *oppose* absolute freedom of speech, when words have power beyond their connection to reality the justifications fall short. But like I said, I don't care if his inconsistency is simple hypocrisy or something more complex, not any more.
Please elaborate, especially note that people on the internet loudly disagree if Musk's behaviour is supporting or suppressing freedom of expression and I have no way to guess what your position is without spending a lot of time diving into your comment history (a superficial glance didn't disambiguate).
Y'see, this is why I asked you note that people disagree if Musk's behaviour is supporting or suppressing freedom of expression.
First: Musk says he is a "free speech absolutist", his behaviour is incongruent with what he says, he does in fact ban people (and file lawsuits, and fire people) for expression of things not forbidden by law.
Second: Your second quotation of my words, these words:
> Which is, ironically, a reason to oppose absolute freedom of speech...
With these words I am not saying anything about if Musk does or does not support free speech (that's an independent statement which I also believe yields "does not"), I'm saying that the existence of people who operate on the basis of words having power beyond their connection to reality is a reason for any random person or group of people to have limits on free speech, and that my reasons why are summarised by the words after the end of your quotation: the justifications (for absolute freedom of expression) fall short (when such people operate).
Has Musk developed a more nuanced understanding of freedom of expression since claiming to be a "free speech absolutist"? If he has, he's evil rather than simply a hypocrite. But I don't care which.
His hypocrisy, his position on the main-character-syndrome-to-narcissism spectrum, him getting a kick out of trolling everyone, or him having straight up psychopathy: whatever it is, I find I no longer care.