A few years ago, Howard Stern used to do interviews with a pathetic doofus who was an avowed officer of the Ku Klux Klan. Stern was on broadcast radio at the time, and no one thought he should be booted off the airwaves for “platforming” evil. The Klansman was so awful and ridiculous that interviewing him amounted to a public-service announcement: this is your brain on white supremacy. You could almost hear the Klan shriveling up and dissolving every time this redneck spoke.

Musk understands that we need more, not less, engagement with disagreeable ideas. Remember when everyone agreed sunlight is the best disinfectant? Adherents of the world’s worst idea (communism) are allowed on Twitter. A great start! So should those who vouch for every other idiotic ideology.

Twitter should be like a soapbox: it’s there for anyone to stand on and shout from. If you don’t like something, the mute button’s right there, folks. Vehement disputation is the American way. Apparently we need a South African to make that the Twitter way.