We're rapidly coming up on the two-year anniversary of Elon Musk's initiating his bid to buy out Twitter's shares on April 14th, 2022, but today marks something of a hallmark moment in Twitter history as well. As of today it's been two years to the day since the Babylon Bee Twitter account publicly refused to take down a story congratulating Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Rachel Levine their title of 'Man of the Year' which would lead to the satirical conservative Christian site being suspended on March 21, 2022.
While the permanent suspension of the Bee wasn't the only factor that fed into Elon Musk's decision to purchase Twitter it's generally understood to have been a contributing factor, as he considered the move by Twitter to be emblematic of a culture that reflexively suppressed free speech. So it seems fair to say that while not the anniversary of the entire reason we've entered into the online world we now inhabit, today is certainly an important anniversary for one of the major contributing factors that led to it.
To mark the occasion Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon shared screenshots of the internal group conversation at the Bee, as they decided to tell the censorious nags that ran Twitter at the time to take a hike, a move they knew would cause trouble: iacta alea est.
Two years ago today we declined to censor ourselves. pic.twitter.com/yS8bZoN15K
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 20, 2024
Dillon went on to thank the others who had contributed to the decision at The Babylon Bee:
Thanks to @Adam4d, @The_Kyle_Mann, and @dandillondev for making it an easy decision.
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 20, 2024
As you might expect, the reviews are in and most everyone agrees that they made the right call.
This is why we love y'all.
— BuffaloGuyRon (@BuffaloRon) March 20, 2024
Comedy with consciousness and integrity
This is the origin story of why I’m here: freedom of speech.
— Ryan (@HawkeyeRye) March 20, 2024
Legendary moment and decision. Big thanks to @elonmusk for bringing the Bee back.
— Austin Rief ☕️ (@austin_rief) March 20, 2024
Musk, it should be noted, was so intent on bringing the Babylon Bee back to Twitter that it was reportedly one of the first items he brought up when he walked in the door, wanting to bring them back day one. The man loves comedy!
Men with principles. Shame it's such a rarity. Good work, gents.
— Slobarini (@USlob) March 20, 2024
How the entire course of civilization turned on this singular willingness to stand your ground. You have our sincere gratitude.
— Martian Surveyor (@MartianSurveyor) March 20, 2024
Courage is rare.
— The Yootopian (@TheYootopian) March 20, 2024
Thank you for showing everyone the way.
It does indeed seem to be a rare commodity these days.
A genuine catalyst for Musk buying Twitter and all the good that has flowed from that. Sometimes you take a stand where you could lose badly (by Earthly success anyway) and instead you win big. https://t.co/ziqLiVP3gH
— David Shane (@david_shane) March 20, 2024
This moment of courage on a Babylon Bee group chat
— Lois McLatchie Miller (@LoisMcLatch) March 20, 2024
Led to Elon taking Twitter
Which in many respects
May have changed the world https://t.co/u56eq9MenC
Dignity still intact. Incredibly based, gentleman. Well done 👏 https://t.co/UT32rXxRZa
— JM (@vorpalj) March 20, 2024
Now clearly refusing to take down a tweet isn't Leonidas and the Spartans standing their ground against the Persians at the pass at Thermopylae, but given how much of the traffic that the Babylon Bee was dependent on its social media presence there's no doubt that all of these men faced the prospect of financial ruin from this decision. Instead they stood their ground and, if you're like us you may agree, made the world all the better as the fruits of their courage.
So hats off to the Babylon Bee!
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