Mark Zuckerberg sent a friend request to conservatives; we must accept

And I say: let him come to our basement.

The man seems tired. That’s reasonable. He finally sees the horrible face of the media. His company played a role in America’s current disruption.

Sure, Zuck may be a member of the $200 billion club, an informal designation for the four richest men in the world, but he recently claimed to be one of us.

First came the physical transformation – the Everyman persona, the haircut, the kickboxing. Then there were whispers of a phone call with Trump, whom he has publicly admired and privately prayed for.

Then there was his letter to Congress, which contained what could almost pass for an apology to Republican voters for Meta’s anti-conservative bias during the 2020 election.

Request accepted?

In public, “neutrality” is his mantra. But privately, according to the New York Times, he leans toward free markets, globalism and individual freedom, and rejects far-left progressivism. He even hired Republican strategist Brian Baker to help him repair relations with right-wing media and high-profile Republicans, including Trump.

And we should take him at his word and embrace him with open arms.

Even if only as an act of self-preservation. Conservatives must engage with new technology on all fronts and not shy away. Big Tech’s bias is real, and while censorship-free apps may be a fantasy, its commitment to freedom is not.

Awareness and participation in social media can help prevent America from falling into totalitarianism.

What happens if the third richest man and the richest man, Elon, who both own social media platforms, are red pilled? While Zuck’s shift isn’t as grounded as Elon’s, it could spark a reorientation within a culture hungry for change.

Zuckerberg’s former political peers tend to monopolize this transformation process. But in the name of America, they should never be given full control.

Conservatives are, after all need to advance the culture, as long as the path is stable and the duty remains sacred.

Certainly, for about a decade, Zuck’s activist politics often scapegoated anyone politically to the right of Obama. And some of his actions have reshaped the ideological landscape and clouded the “free and fair” part of the election. He was believed to have played a major role in the spread of mass surveillance and the public’s large-scale addiction to the slot machine gameplay embedded in social media platforms.

But even if he is fully responsible for all these violations, his transformation should cheer us up.

First, Elon bought Twitter. Now Zuck is channeling Ron Paul? In the fight against digital totalitarianism, this is a victory. It’s a sign that the machinery of social networking could be dismantled – or at least exposed.

Another concern: He might be faking it. But I think it’s legit. Here’s why: Leftist apostasy comes at a cost. When someone like Zuck criticizes Democrats, it’s both risky and embarrassing. If he does it, he probably means it. He hasn’t shouted his new identity from the rooftops yet, but give him time.

Maybe he’ll pull an Elon.

In his letter to Congress, he pledged not to repeat his 2020 election donations, which would jeopardize his claim to neutrality. As he put it, “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role in any way—or even appear to.”

CNN mocked this as an “election gift to Republicans.”

The New York Times report claimed that Zuckerberg has become cynical about politics. But it seems to be much more than that. At first glance it looks like a burnout.

The man seems tired. That’s reasonable. He finally sees the horrible face of the media. His company played a role in America’s current disruption. Right now, both parties hate Big Tech, and its political commitments have only brought more attention to Meta.

So he has retreated from partisan philanthropy and scaled back Meta’s internal activism. His biggest problem seems to be with the activist class – those who attacked his philanthropic efforts for being “bipartisan” rather than sufficiently left-wing. Like many millennials, his shift to the right is a response to the megalomania that has overtaken the left.

Conservatives cannot tolerate the rabid attacks from the activist class. So why respond to a political refugee with the same vitriol?

According to the New York Times article, Zuckerberg’s shift reflects a larger trend in Silicon Valley, where executives are retreating from divisive social issues and focusing on business.

As Business Insider put it, Silicon Valley’s political divide is now out in the open. Largely because activists have blurred the lines between public and private life – a distinction that has been fundamental to Western politics since the Greeks.

It was perhaps Peter Thiel’s appearance at Gawker that led to his eventual public embrace of conservatism. Now he’s joined by a group of wealthy tech elites, including David Sacks, the founder of PayPal. And Elon Musk has put on the MAGA hat.

Of course, the backlash against Zuck has already begun. Mother Jones went full NPR cat lady: “There is no such thing as an apolitical oligarch.” Because, they add, dissent from Big Tech orthodoxy is practically treason.” The author goes on to claim that Zuckerberg’s fortune is “thanks to a monopolistic corporation used to foment ethnic cleansing and collectively unlearn a century and a half of germ theory.”

Meanwhile, brother is just trying to get new ideas and hopefully throw off some toxic, well-funded political movements along the way.

The New Left, obsessed with control, has twisted libertarianism into something more sinister. Former CIA director John Brennan even lumped libertarians in with fascists and fanatics simply because he rejected state supremacy. But the libertarians I know are too busy bickering about the role of the police and the availability of hard drugs.

In reality, libertarianism – fundamental to the internet itself – defends individual rights and minimal state interference.

Donald Trump saw the threat Big Tech posed when he pushed for reform of Section 230. He lost that battle, but the rise of Big Tech libertarians like Zuckerberg signals a rematch. And this time, conservatives may not be fighting alone.