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Also the fanboyism behind Musk is a bit unsettling. I made the mistake of viewing the replies to various tweets surrounding this controversy and there's a worry

by smcl 8y ago

Also the fanboyism behind Musk is a bit unsettling. I made the mistake of viewing the replies to various tweets surrounding this controversy and there's a worrything amount of enthusiastic fans ready to jump in and defend him by sniping at anyone talking negatively about him. Why anyone would feel the need to "white knight" a billionaire is beyond me.

Brotkrumen 8y ago
Also the hate for Musk is a bit unsettling. I made the mistake of viewing the replies to various tweets surrounding this controversy and there's a worrything amount of unreasonable haters ready to jump in and attack him by sniping at anyone talking positively about him. Why anyone would feel the need to attack a helpful narcissist is beyond me.
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sergiosgc 8y ago
> Why anyone would feel the need to "white knight" a billionaire is beyond me. Being a billionaire shouldn't be a negative trait. Yet, it is, because so many of the 1% show lack of empathy and disregard for the common man and a single focus on generating wealth for wealth's sake. Musk does not seem to be in it for the cash, and thus looks different. Musk is, very transparently, an engineer at heart. He tinkers and creates and takes absolute joy in the creation process and in the result. It just so happens he's also a billionaire. Combine the hacker mentality with lots of cash and you get crazy creations like SpaceX, Tesla or The Boring Company. Musk's tweets about the sub, if viewed from the perspective of a hacker bragging about a hack, are perfectly natural. As is throwing a car up into orbit. That the Internet at large jumps to reading these fun, creative actions as "marketing" or "self-promotion" or "billionaire arrogance" is a sign that we, as a collective, lost our innocence long ago, and are unable to take pleasure in creating stuff. It is a shame.
- smcl 8y ago
  I got a kick out of him sending a car into space, I'm impressed by SpaceX, Tesla and I'm at least curious about the Boring Company. But what people are annoyed about here is that a very influential person is directing the internet hate machine at someone who he didn't like. Calling someone a paedophile is not a fun creative action in my book. Any defence of this as some kind of engineer-specific personality quirk we can all identify with isn't something I'm going to agree with
  - sergiosgc 8y ago
    For the record: I strongly criticize the pedophile slur. It's infantile, inconsiderate and entirely non-productive. In my comment, I was trying to explain why people admire Musk, but he is full of flaws. The world, in general, isn't black and white. One must exercise critical judgment.
    - luord 8y ago
      > It's infantile, inconsiderate and entirely non-productive. A false accusation of that caliber can destroy an innocent person's life and it cheapens the value of real accusations (specially when said by someone with the kind of cult following that Musk has). It's far, far worse than "infantile", "inconsiderate" or "entirely non-productive."
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- ofrzeta 8y ago
  It's also interesting that people perceive Elon Musk as an engineer because as far as I can see he is primarily a businessman. He got a bachelor in physics but then moved on to earn a bachelor of economics.
  - sergiosgc 8y ago
    You should hear some of his more informal interviews. He did a couple for Y Combinator, available on the podcast. The technical knowledge he shows is lower level than CEO activities provide. He's probably never in the trenches, but surely talks a lot with people who do.

by smcl 8y ago

Brotkrumen 8y ago

Also the hate for Musk is a bit unsettling. I made the mistake of viewing the replies to various tweets surrounding this controversy and there's a worrything amount of unreasonable haters ready to jump in and attack him by sniping at anyone talking positively about him. Why anyone would feel the need to attack a helpful narcissist is beyond me.

deleted 8y ago
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sergiosgc 8y ago

> Why anyone would feel the need to "white knight" a billionaire is beyond me. Being a billionaire shouldn't be a negative trait. Yet, it is, because so many of the 1% show lack of empathy and disregard for the common man and a single focus on generating wealth for wealth's sake. Musk does not seem to be in it for the cash, and thus looks different. Musk is, very transparently, an engineer at heart. He tinkers and creates and takes absolute joy in the creation process and in the result. It just so happens he's also a billionaire. Combine the hacker mentality with lots of cash and you get crazy creations like SpaceX, Tesla or The Boring Company. Musk's tweets about the sub, if viewed from the perspective of a hacker bragging about a hack, are perfectly natural. As is throwing a car up into orbit. That the Internet at large jumps to reading these fun, creative actions as "marketing" or "self-promotion" or "billionaire arrogance" is a sign that we, as a collective, lost our innocence long ago, and are unable to take pleasure in creating stuff. It is a shame.

smcl 8y ago
I got a kick out of him sending a car into space, I'm impressed by SpaceX, Tesla and I'm at least curious about the Boring Company. But what people are annoyed about here is that a very influential person is directing the internet hate machine at someone who he didn't like. Calling someone a paedophile is not a fun creative action in my book. Any defence of this as some kind of engineer-specific personality quirk we can all identify with isn't something I'm going to agree with
- sergiosgc 8y ago
  For the record: I strongly criticize the pedophile slur. It's infantile, inconsiderate and entirely non-productive. In my comment, I was trying to explain why people admire Musk, but he is full of flaws. The world, in general, isn't black and white. One must exercise critical judgment.
  - luord 8y ago
    > It's infantile, inconsiderate and entirely non-productive. A false accusation of that caliber can destroy an innocent person's life and it cheapens the value of real accusations (specially when said by someone with the kind of cult following that Musk has). It's far, far worse than "infantile", "inconsiderate" or "entirely non-productive."
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ofrzeta 8y ago
It's also interesting that people perceive Elon Musk as an engineer because as far as I can see he is primarily a businessman. He got a bachelor in physics but then moved on to earn a bachelor of economics.
- sergiosgc 8y ago
  You should hear some of his more informal interviews. He did a couple for Y Combinator, available on the podcast. The technical knowledge he shows is lower level than CEO activities provide. He's probably never in the trenches, but surely talks a lot with people who do.