I'm in my mid-20s and I cringe at the thought of how much I looked up to Musk as a teenager. I was so impressed by his success and ideas and felt I aligned with his values (evolving the world into a green, multi-planetary society). I put him on the same level as Steve Jobs, which is silly now looking back.
Largely, my shift in perspective has been from Elon Musk's incessant meme-lord publicity style. Another factor is seeing the people that stand behind Musk no matter what he says, and refuse to consider other ideas. This is really crazy with things like the hyperloop, which ended up being a pathetic manually-operated mini loop under Vegas with little use.
The nail in the coffin for me has been Elon attaching himself to conspiracy theories about Covid and Fauci, and asking for people to vote for Republicans in the midterms. I think many people are starting to see Elon for who he truly is, which is very apparent in videos like this.
> I think many people are starting to see Elon for who he truly is, which is very apparent in videos like this.
I'm not sure if he was always this way; I think he used to be a lot less nuts. Sure, he was a bit of a jerk before, but it seems like overuse of Twitter (and maximizing eNgAgEmEnT) pushed him on a one way train to crazytown. Owning Twitter (and thereby becoming more involved with it) is probably the single worst move he could have made.
I'm fairly certain afluenza is a thing, and instead of allowing it to run roughshod over society, it should be a tax.
Almost every in modern America is designed increase the rate of influenza in a minority of wealthy people through lack of anticollusiin law enforcement.
I don't see it as an extreme perspective, but one that goes completely against Musk's claims that he is trying to make life better for humans. Republicans largely vote against efforts to fight climate change. Wasn't the whole point of Tesla to help climate change? Silly us for believing that.
Musk has strong opinions about the ongoing culture war. It’s probably a big reason he’s interested in Twitter. And the Republicans are largely aligned with him on many issues.
I personally think that the culture war is a more pressing threat than climate change, though I’m still concerned about how we treat the environment. I know many people with similar views. Perhaps Elon has similar views too.
This "culture war" is a very pressing threat, because a more united population can come together to demand change. Divided, they can not. Obviously this is by design. Not that the culture war does not include legitimate and important issues, but if you think for one second the ruling class who orchestrate wars and interventions that kill millions of people care even in the slightest bit about whether commoners can have abortions or what bathrooms they can use, I have a bridge to sell you.
Nobody has profiteered more from petroleum extraction and other environmental destruction over the centuries than this same ruling class. And despite a large majority of voters even in the US wanting more action on climate change, somehow very little meaningful is actually done about it. That must be all just a coincidence though, the actual people blocking climate action are a shadowy cabal of unemployed coal miner rednecks in West Virginia who actually run the world.
The loop under Vegas has nothing to do with the hyperloop or vacuum travel. Both Fauci and Elon have been out to lunch on COVID at various times. The CDC and WHO have not exactly covered themselves with glory.
I find it hilarious that Elon would actually go on stage in SFO after all the shenanigans of the past couple months - he is hated at the moment in the Bay area. His audience now is the extreme-right QANON nutjobs!
No one asked about your identity though, you'd think given your affiliation here you might be sensitive to the difference.
Musk is increasingly aligning himself with far-right extremists and invoking their conspiracy theories. "People fear change" is a thought-terminating cliche here; sure they may in general but it's not relevant. What people fear about musk is his power and the specific vision of change presented by the forces he's aligning with. You can't handwave that away with jedi-ass platitudes.
It seems that everything right of the woke orthodoxy is considered far right, extreme, and conspiratorial by leftists. That doesn’t sound reasonable.
So far we’ve discovered that tech companies did indeed manipulate public opinion in favor of the leftist government. We also found out that leftist forces successfully censored critique of their response to the pandemic. These were considered extreme conspiracy theories by the left until recently, and now we know they’re true. It seems the left went to great lengths to convince the public that any dissenters were crazy.
I don’t know about Elon’s specific vision for the future, and I don’t know if he should have as much power as he has. But I do know that we need a counter force to leftist censorship and it seems that Elon is committed to that. Even if he’s playing his own game, I still support the direction he’s taking.
Don’t attack my character or the language I use, attack my points.
I genuinely can't tell what "leftist forces" or specific events you're talking about here, which is why it sounds like conspiracy theories.
And like, get some perspective. Twitter isn't leftist, democrats aren't leftist, no american government has ever been leftist. I am leftist. I would free all prisoners and ban all police, seize property from landlords and give it to the homeless. That is a leftist position. If a neoliberal democratic executive branch seems ridiculously far to your left it is because you are very far to the right. The government is not the one on the extreme here.
Thinking "the culture war" is the most pressing concern we face, thinking there is a "leftist conspiracy" against you when there hasn't been a meaningfully powerful leftist movement in the US in generations, these are extreme right positions. The right is ginning up a harassment campaign against queer people using something almost exactly like the blood libel that has concretely caused violent deaths in the last year. The far right local governments of florida and other southern states are actually using the state apparatus to censor books and behavior. The call is coming from inside the house my man.
Normal people do not care about "the culture wars" like this. You are part of a far right movement. And that is part of your character. You can't participate in it then claim distance. I do not accept your moral self-infantilization; you are responsible for the consequences of the positions and people you support.
I understand that what I’m referring to as “left” is something that you don’t consider “left” because you’re left of that. I think this is semantics.
However I’m not sure how you’ve figured I’m far right since the only thing I’ve said is that I’m generally supportive of Elon, who is the most prominent businessman of the decade. “Far right” to me implies a fringe perspective, but I know that my views are shared by people from all walks of life, from tradesman to immigrants to high tech workers, men and women alike. This makes me think my views aren’t extreme.
I’ve lived in cities that do more of what you’re suggesting with the homeless and the incarcerated and I’ve only seen things get worse. I know self-proclaimed communists who live in safe cities and carry guns because they’re so paranoid. That sounds extreme to me. I’ve also lived in more socialist countries that provide for the poor so no one is homeless and it’s a terrible situation for anyone unfortunate enough to have to live in the community. They also have to strip citizens of freedoms in order to maintain order, which is unacceptable to me. Money and policy don’t go deep enough to solve these problems. For these reasons I don’t think the left that I’m describing or the left that you’re describing are going to lead us to a stronger future.
I hope you see that I have a reasoned perspective and I’m not invoking conspiracy theories. I always try to be balanced in my outlook.
i never thought tech-type sites would rag on musk so hard:
Musk, who used to have a rather bipartisan appeal in the U.S., has outed himself as an entitled right-wing prick in the short span that he’s owned Twitter. Musk bought Twitter, along with a number of investors, for $44 billion at the end of October when he almost immediately instigated brutal layoffs.
Musk has also been trying to court some of the worst people on the internet lately, tweeting over the weekend that his “pronouns” are “Prosecute/Fauci.” The tweet is apparently both a “joke” about people who are trans, and a reference to the far-right belief that Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, was somehow responsible for the covid-19 pandemic that struck the entire world.
Elon says it was mostly cheers, not boos - but that the clip was taken from a moment when the cheers were quiet. I wasn't there, so I can't tell ya, but apparently journalists from every major outlet were, and can (ha).
Largely, my shift in perspective has been from Elon Musk's incessant meme-lord publicity style. Another factor is seeing the people that stand behind Musk no matter what he says, and refuse to consider other ideas. This is really crazy with things like the hyperloop, which ended up being a pathetic manually-operated mini loop under Vegas with little use.
The nail in the coffin for me has been Elon attaching himself to conspiracy theories about Covid and Fauci, and asking for people to vote for Republicans in the midterms. I think many people are starting to see Elon for who he truly is, which is very apparent in videos like this.