The one about Elon

Reader kbrown2017 left this comment to my previous post about Twitter.

I’m sure you worked hard at promoting your lifestyle, but name calling and unsupported rant undermines your entire argument, you know Einstein was hated, and Tesla way ahead of his time and hated, now the accomplishments of Elon dwarfs anything you or I have done, or most of us free men have been able to accomplish, leaves them open for criticism. If Elon eliminates liberal bias and restricts free expression good for him. Even Trump has had his ups and downs and in spite of the hate being generated towards him he still sticks to his same principles, I guess wishy washy non producers will always be jealous the producers and their accomplishments. Is there a hotel Thumper?

I feel like I could just drop this meme and move along…

…but I won’t.

I’m not sure how my post about Twitter could be called a “rant.” I have seen rants. I have, indeed, ranted. What I posted the other day didn’t even qualify as a screed, imo. And also, the charge of “name calling” wrt to Elon is pretty hilarious considering he quite regularly calls people names on Twitter. This is the same guy who called a diver trying to rescue children trapped in a cave a pedophile.

I will establish my bonafides regarding Elon. I have been a fan of the guy in the past. Back when he seemed more a Steve Jobs-like figure who wasn’t ever going to win a congeniality contest but was nonetheless inspiring teams to do incredible things. Space X, in particular, is probably the most exciting American company of its generation. You have to go back to the founding of Google to find one as interesting and innovative. It’s a small list, for sure. This is compounded by the fact that most normal people don’t even realize how profoundly Space X is going to impact for the better life on this planet in the next handful of years.

I have a more realistic view of Tesla. They’ve clearly done a lot to advance the acceptability of electric vehicles, have made advancements in things like battery technology, and have an impressive charging network, but the reality is their core product sucks. It’s a company that’s had the field quite literally to themselves and they’ve capitalized on it, but the landscape is changing. There are a lot of really good EVs being made by companies who know how to manufacture a quality product. And, of course, Elon is out there destroying his personal brand among consumers on a daily basis which is traded on a 1:1 basis with Tesla’s. Every person he turns off by his wasteful destruction of Twitter or his infantile shitposting on that platform is one less person who will ever buy one of his products.

The Jobs comparison I think is really interesting. I have often thought that Elon is like Steve but without the NeXT life lesson. For those who don’t know, Jobs was chucked out of Apple, the company he cofounded in a garage, because he was such a know-it-all insufferable dick. He went on to found a computer company called NeXT which made an incredible, beautiful, technologically advanced product that was a near total failure. It taught Steve the lesson of hubris and humility. So, when he came back to Apple, he was a significantly more effective and productive leader. He got a second chance to change the world and he did not waste it.

Elon has not had that lesson taught to him yet. I’m not 100% sure it can be taught to him. Tesla could be to Elon what Apple was to Steve when he left in 1985. His destructive and rash impulses could lead to a destruction of Tesla’s market value which, in turn, could lead to the unthinkable concept of a Tesla without Elon. That’s as unthinkable today as an Apple without Jobs was back in the 80s. And, in both cases, it would be entirely their own faults.

I don’t think Twitter will be Elon’s NeXT. He and too many people around him are already blaming literally anyone else for its issues: the woke mob, insufficiently hardcore engineers, meddling libtard senators. When Twitter crashes and burns and takes a giant chunk of Elon’s fortunes with it, he will simply be unable to see his role in the debacle. He will see it as something the world did to him rather than the obvious truth of it being the other way around.

It is perplexing to me that no matter how many times Elon does or says something totally wrong, foolish, mean, or simply stupid how vociferously his weird fanboys defend him. Even in the few days since I wrote that last post, Twitter has continued to crumble, as a service and a company, but clearly the issue is those of us who criticize him being blinded by our jealousy of his genius and success to see the brilliance of his ways.

I am not jealous of his success. I saw him speak at SXSW several years ago and he related, almost with pride, how little time he spent with his children because of how much he worked. I simply would never choose to make that trade. Even if it could make me 1,000 times richer than I am today, I would not. If anything, I pity him. His life is so clearly devoid of love and empathy and kindness. He is more “successful” because of it, but his priorities are twisted. He’s not a person to look up to. Not in his current form. Neither was Steve in 1984. But he was in 2004. Maybe Elon will be in 2042.

But I doubt it.

Kbrown2017 could have left well enough alone with commenting on Elon. But they had to say this, too.

Even Trump has had his ups and downs and in spite of the hate being generated towards him he still sticks to his same principles, I guess wishy washy non producers will always be jealous the producers and their accomplishments.

Donald Trump is a grifter and a conman who’s cheated and lied and defrauded his way to a fortune that’s smaller than the one he inherited had he simply stuck it into S&P 500 index funds when his dad died. He’s a multiple-time loser and a traitor to his country and oath who tried to overthrow the government of the United States. A violent coup attempt that led to the deaths of five Americans. He energizes and inspires racists and Christian nationalists to action, openly and enthusiastically. His only principles are to himself. To his own aggrandizement. To his motherfucking ego. There is no “accomplishment” there. He is not the creator of anything worthy of preservation. He is a monster who would burn the world if he thought it’d make him a buck or keep his sorry orange ass out of jail for a month longer.

I am happy to have a debate about the relative value of Elon Musk to the human race with someone who thinks he’s great. It’s a nuanced and interesting topic. But Donald Trump? No. Indefensible. On any objective level. Anyone who would defend both these men in the same breath is not a person who’s comfortable with commonly accepted concepts of right and wrong.