The way the worker handled musk's response with such poise is unbelievable.
This tweet did it for me. I lost all respect for Elon. How can someone make fun of someone with a disability, especially with a 130m Twitter following? Is he doing this intentionally for engagement?
Whether the person wasn't working up to the full standards that Elon wanted or not, you shouldn't have a public exchange about somebody's health issues. As smart as he is, he's really showing that people that are viewed as idols/heroes are humans as well and are capable of evil/stupidity.
For me an apology (regardless of who makes it, this is not a special standard I hold just for Elon Musk) is taking responsibility both for the action and then taking steps to help address the consequences. Pointing to how it was someone else's fault is at best a deflection, it doesn't take any responsibility nor try to adress the harm.
"Turns out the disabled Twitter employee who Elon publicly ridiculed for asking about the status of his employment sold his company to Twitter for ~$100 million, and the deal was structured in a way which requires payment for the entire deal upon his termination—whoops"
That is something he has openly stated that he is worried about. His disease is progressing and the aquihire was his retirement fund.
Haraldur's public persona (I know of him in no other capacity) can sometimes rub people the wrong way, but I believe his heart is wholeheartedly in the right place.
He moved to Iceland after Twitter aquired his design company specifically to be able to pay the maximum amount of taxes. In his own words, it was to pay his fair share to the system that helped his poor family when growing up, as well as had helped him medically.
And since he has also driven an initiative to have wheelchair ramps built at various buildings in Reykjavík, making accessibility for those who are wheelchair bound much better.
Neither he nor any other current or past employee of this dead husk of a company deserves to be stuck in the chaotic death spiral that surrounds Elmo.
His ramp initiative is very cool, he’s also setting up a cafe the past few months, but none of this is actually part of his work he’s paid for at Twitter.
If Twitter was his retirement fund then I don’t know what to say really, you bet on an unknown, needlessly burned money on taxes to feel good in the short term and then treated Twitter like a side gig.
I wish the guy well but just because his actions outside of Twitter were noble doesn’t mean Twitter should finance it just because he joins a few meetings a week. Should have been No.1 priority to keep that paying out, the cafe can wait till actual retirement.
Twitter was not some sort of rest and vest retirement scheme — he worked as a design director there for years. You should read his followup thread for more context. You should also be aware that you can't just fire someone because of their disability getting worse.
It's also worth noting that the design studio he founded, Ueno, was one of the dynamic, talented and in-demand agencies in the world pre-acquisition.
>You should also be aware that you can't just fire someone because of their disability getting worse.
Never said that, don’t put words in my mouth. Just said if Twitter was essential to his retirement he should have had it as his main focus not tweeting about choosing tiles for his cafe in the same timeline he’s asking his boss if he has a job.
>he worked as a design director there for years.
What new design has Twitter shipped in 3 years? Sorry this all just looks like classic corporate complacency.
Twitter could both be essential to his retirement and also that he is fully fulfilling his job description while also choosing tiles for his new cafe. Part of acquihire is to make sure the people you just bought don't leave to start a competing company. Moreover, frankly, it doesn't occur to me that checked-out Jack or the chaotic Musk would even have the organizational capacity to ensure efficient use of the acquired resources, leaving the founder with free time. No doubt there's a significant clause in the acquihire that he can't leave for X time, and if his employment is terminated then he is owed Y money. That's just up to the buyers to ensure they know how to use their investment wisely, and I don't think they did, through no fault of the founder who made the excellent sale.
Feels more like to gut Musk. Dude had a firm aquired to Twitter in '21. and is 2nd largest tax entity in Iceland. He got Musk saying he's terminated due to disability[1] and deliberately asked HR repeatly that his JD is correct while he was employed[2].
Dude is out for blood and Musk falls for it. It's going to be a very expensive tweet for Musk.
I might have been right. There is a $100 million contract payable upon Halli termination. Musk already started backpaddling, deleting tweets and I cant believe Im writing this - apologizing!
I know a lot of people like Elon in real life. Not nearly as successful. But the traits are similar:
- Disorganized
- Takes a lot of risks
- Flexible in decisions
- Makes decisions on a whim without thinking through consequences
- Makes bold plans without knowing exactly how to do it
- Analytical
- Loves science, history, tech, memes
The same traits that allow him to be so successful are also traits that make him chaotic.
If anyone subscribes to Myers Briggs, then Elon is a classic INTP. Some of my good friends are also INTP. I enjoy working with them a lot. But if they ever do the leading, expect chaos but you'll be working on something cool.
Elon is only INTP if INTP means "horrible person" (I'd use much stronger words if I thought it wouldn't get me blocked).
Someone who has worked hard is just trying to find out if they are employed. There is a massive power imbalance -- probably one of the largest power embalances two people on Earth can have, and all Elon can do is answer with memes, emojis and slander (Elon's latest tweet on the issue is "The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm. "). Given Elon's previous experiences with insulting people he doesn't like, I'm not going to believe that without some independant evidence.
Bloody hell, even by Magic Car Man standards, this isn't great.
I'm not sure what he's actually going for here? He's clearly desperate for people to like his (fairly miserable) Twitter output, but who does he think _this_ is going to appeal to?
Musk fell in with the alt-right MAGA types, where cruelty is the point. Look at it from Musk's perspective: he pulls a stunt like this, and people rush to his defense, he gets more followers, his impression count goes up, the world starts talking about him, media publishes papers about him, and at the end of the day he's getting richer while doing it. We've created a world where such people can be as awful as they want, and they can insulate themselves from any negative feedback whatsoever. Not only that, they cultivate a following of people who crave their awfulness.
Go read the Twitter comments of people defending Musk. Actually, save yourself the trouble -- they're disgusting. Musk is never going to be the one to tell them they're taking things too far. Instead, Musk is the one who will take it further the next go around, because he knows what they want to hear. There's nothing to rein him in.
Musk has created a vicious cycle for himself that he cannot recognize, and the only way he'll ever break out is if he actually suffers some semblance of negative consequences.
What is more disappointing to me is the amount of general unpleasant comments under this tweet. I know there will be a bias in that this will be mostly those that follow him but even still, it doesn't give me much hope.
Mentioned it before, but I think that to a lot of his fans Musk has become a sort of L Ron Hubbard figure; they see him as literally infallible, so they shoulder through the cognitive dissonance and go along with this stuff. If Dear Leader says it, it must be so.
It’s pretty remarkable, really. Even the Jobs people were able to acknowledge that Apple was not perfect, generally.
- Firing long term loyal assistant of 12 years, for daring to ask for a raise.
- Comparing Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler.
- In reply to a tax the rich” tweet by Bernie Sander’s official Twitter account, replying with a “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” in reference to Sanders advanced age.
- Reopening Tesla's Bay Area factory against local Covid rules, causing 450 workers to get COVID-19 on their return. In the meanwhile, claimed COVID contagion risk a few months later not to attend a court hearing on the Twitter acquisition.
- Threatening workers with the loss of their stock options if they unionized. A direct threat to workers against California labor laws and the right to organize.
This tweet did it for me. I lost all respect for Elon. How can someone make fun of someone with a disability, especially with a 130m Twitter following? Is he doing this intentionally for engagement?
Whether the person wasn't working up to the full standards that Elon wanted or not, you shouldn't have a public exchange about somebody's health issues. As smart as he is, he's really showing that people that are viewed as idols/heroes are humans as well and are capable of evil/stupidity.
This is the latest Twitter thread
https://twitter.com/iamharaldur/status/1633082707835080705?t...