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American culture has shifted in the last decade to be extremely critical and scathing towards anyone or anything that attempts to change the status quo - even i
by grecy 8y ago
American culture has shifted in the last decade to be extremely critical and scathing towards anyone or anything that attempts to change the status quo - even if it's an attempt to make things better.
See all the negative comments in this thread, for example.
Instead saying "Jeez, this looks interesting. I'm happy some billionaire is trying to fix the horrible traffic problem instead of just buying more McMansions and yatchs. It seems complicated and I'm not sure it will work because of reason x, y and z, but it will be cool to watch!"
The collective American voice is now: "Stupid! Will never work! Waste of time!". (And angrily at that)
It's a real shame, because people who genuinely try to make life better for others are rare, and America needs all of them they can get!
- kurtisc 8y agoElon Musk is hardly starved of hero-worshippers
- grecy 8y agoSure, but what percentage of the US population do you think hero-worship him vs. what percentage hate his guts? 5/95? 1/99?
- kurtisc 8y agoI've not seen anything that would suggest either ratio.
- grecy 8y agoSo what's your guess?
- danso 8y agoOpinion about Elon Musk seems to be polarized in places like HN. Haven't heard of normal people caring substantively about him, certainly not in a way describable as "hating his guts".
- kurtisc 8y agoIt would be just that, a guess, and a particularly bad one since I'm not in the US anyway.
- kthejoker2 8y agoNot just last decade, the 70s were a real pivot point in the American attitude towards technology and science as a large cultural shift towards mistrusting power and the market. Watching science newsreels from the 40s-60s you notice that they're the epitome of boundless optimism.