The “Bite Me!” Award that Ethics Alarms hereby bestows on Elon Musk is the honorable and admirable version of the schizophrenic designation as opposed to the alternative handed to Ann Althouse in this recent post. To alleviate confusion, I will henceforth describe what Musk has earned with his tweet above as The Golden “Bite Me!,” which will be awarded here when an individual displays an inspiring level of defiance“in response to being bullied, pressured and threatened into submissiveness” by sending the unambiguous and fearless message, “Do your worst. I believe in what I am doing, and I don’t grovel to mobs.”
Yes, Musk’s tweet was vulgar, uncivil, and juvenile. It is also true that saying you aren’t doing what you are doing while you are doing it is technically dishonest, as in “I would never insult you, but…” Nonetheless, the Musk tweet’s extreme nature, in addition to being very funny (I laughed out loud), was more than justified by its provocation. The European Union, via Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for Internal Market, had the audacity to warn Musk that he must avoid “hate speech” during his interview with former President Donald Trump yesterday, lest he run afoul the organization’s Digital Services Act. Here is the letter:
I know the type is small and it’s hard to read, but the details of the nauseatingly presumptuous letter don’t matter. Neither the European Union, not its executives, nor any denizen of the nations around the world that do not respect freedom of speech and democratic institutions as we do (that is, all of them) have standing to tell Musk or anyone what they can discuss with a Presidential candidate, or, again, anyone else. In this case, “Bite me!” would not have been a sufficient response, because even that retort does not quite convey the required level of contempt. I’m not even sure “Take a big step back and literally fuck your own face!” does either, but it certainly comes close.
Bravo to Elon Musk for making it so unambiguous exactly what he thinks of those domestically and abroad who want to constrain free speech, expression and thought on his platform, in the United States of America.
Ethics Alarms 
The USDOJ should write Commissioner Breton a nice letter explaining that US law includes offenses such as “conspiracy against civil rights under color of law”, and that should the EU attempt to apply its laws to conduct occurring outside its borders, two can play at that game.
Remember, Great Britain says they are going to extradite Americans for violating their speech codes. In the latest sentencing, the judge stated
“You went on to say that you did not want your money going to immigrants who, quote, rape our kids and get priority, end quote. This offense is so serious that an immediate custodial sentence is unavoidable. The sentence that I pass has been reduced by one-third to reflect your guilty plea. The sentence is one of 20 months in prison.”
Musk has been much more entertaining lately. I think he realizes that he has nothing left to lose. He says there have been at least three assassination attempts on him lately. He knows that if Trump doesn’t win, eventually, he will be killed to stop him from undermining the monopoly on ‘truth’.
Yes, indeed. If the US ever were to actually receive a request for such an extradition, the denial should be sent back with a cover letter along the lines of Mr. Musk’s response.
If they arrest US citizens visiting the UK, or when they pass through more censorship-friendly countries, for conduct on US soil, the US should begin arresting or extraditing any official participating in such actions.
I am afraid a Harris/Walz admistration would honor the extraditions, citing some ‘international agreement’ like the one Biden tried to push through giving the WHO the ability to run US pandemic responses.
Jack: you should fix your outgoing Twitter links so they include your current account. As present, they say “via @CaptCompliance.
Our House of Representives should be telling the EU that if any action is taken against a US citizen while exercising his or her Constitutional rights in the United States will result in an immediate suspension of US taxpayer funded costs for NATO.
If the Eu wants to squelch the opportunity of its subjects to hear or read opinions that run counter to your draconian speech codes we recommend that you pursue legal action against your own subjects or citizens who violate your rules in your countries. Please bear in mind that any regulation that bans US traffic on your part will result in a suspension of transmission of EU based urls through US digital assets.