Rael Awards Honorary Guide Title to Elon Musk

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May 03, 2022, 08:45 ET

LAS VEGAS, May 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "I have decided to award the title of Honorary Guide of Humanity to Elon Musk," said Rael, spiritual leader of the International Raelian Movement (IRM), in a statement released this week by the IRM.

"Musk, who recently called himself a free speech absolutist, will, through his purchase of Twitter, hopefully bring about a renewed era of social media," said Thomas Kaenzig, Raelian Guide and leader of the U.S. Raelian Movement. "After years of increased content moderation by all the major platforms, which are in the hands of very few companies, the fundamental human right of free speech had been more and more stifled," Kaenzig explained. "Hopefully, Musk's acquisition of Twitter means the tide is turning."

He said Rael's own social media accounts have been restricted several times over the past few years, and that he has been pointing out the dangers of big tech tyranny at various occasions.

A few years ago, when Facebook lifted its ban on photos of women in the act of breastfeeding, Rael commented: "It's time for Facebook to also lift its ban on photos of topless women. That ban is a very stupid and sexist policy, since men can show their torsos freely in their Facebook photos."

Following YouTube's deletion of videos claiming election fraud in 2020, Rael said, "With more and more censorship, YouTube is no longer the symbol of freedom. It's time to find replacements."

And when the price of Twitter's stock crashed last year following its ban of former President Donald Trump's account, Rael called that decline "the best possible punishment for censors."

Kaenzig explained that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, as long as that expression is nonviolent. "As Raelians, we are first and foremost freedom lovers, and as Voltaire once said, 'I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,'" Kaenzig concluded.

SOURCE Raelian Movement