Twitter owner Elon Musk has taken to his platform to talk about the importance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in a most unusual way.
On Saturday, Musk posted a picture captioned “Explaining Constitutional Amendments,” which highlighted the First and Second Amendments by depicting them as memes.
The memes featured the iconic Pepe the Frog, which became a favorite of right-wing influencers on the internet, as well as a symbol of Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election.
The first picture shows Pepe sitting with a laptop open. The caption reads, “The First Amendment is for sharing memes with frens [friends].”
The second picture shows Pepe in tactical gear with a firearm in hand with the caption, “The Second Amendment is for when they try and stop me from sharing memes with frens.”
Explaining Constitutional Amendments pic.twitter.com/oYkMPBe9Zi
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2023
In short, Musk is trying to communicate that the First Amendment guarantees basic freedoms to the American people, particularly freedom of speech, and the Second Amendment allows Americans to defend those rights when they are violated.
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This is not the first time that Musk has shown his support for traditional American liberties. In November, Musk posted a picture on Twitter of his “bedside table”, which included a flintlock pistol in a case decorated with a famous painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River.
My bedside table pic.twitter.com/sIdRYJcLTK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
A strong show of support for America and the ideals of the Founding Fathers, if there ever was one.
Obviously, Musk’s tweet is very humorous, but it has the potential to be very impactful. Musk is one of the most famous people in the world, and certainly on Twitter. So far, Twitter analytics indicate that over 20 million people have seen the post.
Many of those people are younger people, who are more likely to respond to a meme about the Constitution than they would be to a journalist or a politician going into a lengthy explanation about it.
Imagine if just one percent of the 20 million people who saw the post had a change of heart because of it. That could really impact our political discourse.
This also illustrates the massive difference between the way the right and the left communicate their message. The right is much more effective at using humor than the left is, because humor is rooted in truth, and leftist politics are often rooted in lies.
Because of this, right-wing memes are more simple and more effective than left-wing ones, which often require layers upon layers of explanation in order to get people to not believe their lying eyes.
This also may be Musk’s way of offering an olive branch and a reassurance to conservatives on Twitter who are unhappy about his new choice of CEO. Many have expressed the fear that she will take the company back to the dark days of censorship.
It may be that Musk, who is staying on in an executive capacity, may be trying to let conservatives know that as long as he is involved with and owns Twitter, it will continue to be a haven for free speech.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
