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It's not really surprising anymore but it still amuses me that most replies agreeing with Elon's public diatribes are a collection of quacks and kooks of every

by piva00 4y ago

It's not really surprising anymore but it still amuses me that most replies agreeing with Elon's public diatribes are a collection of quacks and kooks of every kind. From disgraced professors to magical healing people, to conspiracy nutters, crypto-bros and "Millionaire at 40, looking for companies that make the future happen"-bio profiles. It seems that Elon really created his own bubble of quacks as followers, and feels empowered by that. Actually, when I think deeper about it, it's a little scary...

rhaway84773 4y ago
It’s not clear to me what they’re agreeing with him on? - That employees have no right to know whether or not they’re employed? - Or that employee private medical information should be allowed to be disclosed publicly? This whole thing started because Twitter’s HR couldn’t tell this person if he was or wasn’t employed by Twitter. He guessed the only way he would get an answer was to publicly ask Elon on Twitter. And guess what, he was right! That indeed turned out to be the only way to get an answer. Elon further decided to commit a bunch of privacy and employment rights abuses but fundamentally it was simply a question of an HR dept that didn’t know who it employed.
- piva00 4y ago
  I think "agreeing" was the wrong choice of words from me, I'm sorry, substitute it for "egging on" or "supporting". They're literally followers, if Elon said/did there's a good reason for it. As classic as it can be for a cult of personality.
- rsynnott 4y ago
  > It’s not clear to me what they’re agreeing with him on? They're agreeing with him that he is the infallible Dear Leader, pretty much. The Musk following, at this stage, is a full-blown personality cult; what Musk is actually saying/doing is rather beside the point.
  - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
    You say that, but I'd bet that if he started tweeting responsibly and acting respectful his followers would quickly lose interest.
    - rsynnott 4y ago
      I'm... not sure, and it would arguably be an interesting social experiment. I'm struggling to think of anyone who accumulated this degree of blind adulation and _did_ act like a normal, reasonable person; maybe being an arsehole is actually an entry requirement.
mistermann 4y ago
If people were able to look even more deeply, the scariness might transform into something more resembling beauty. Unfortunately, that sort of behavior tends to appear as "magical thinking", "woo woo", "pedantry", "nonsensical", "a waste of time", "sea-lioning", {all the memes}, etc, despite it being essentially what the scientific method does, but in a very different and much simpler, deterministic problem space.
ncr100 4y ago
Meta: here on hacker news several of the related articles that have popped up around this issue have been downvoted into the 170s just 2 hours after posting and hitting the top. Crazies are at work here too. Sycophant is sort of behavior profile. It's a thing that you can do, be a sycophant. It looks like that's what's going on for these so-called crazies.
- icco 4y ago
  That's not surprising. hn has been home to anti-worker, pro-techno-utopianism for a very long time.
- hn2017 4y ago
  There is a lot of brigading by Musk and his new right wing followers. Any criticism is immediately down voted or flagged. Sad to see how easily HN is gamed.
- eric_cc 4y ago
  Call me crazy, but i downvoted it because I don’t enjoy it. It’s not the type of content I’m here for and I don’t feel like it adds anything by being posted. Do you think this way: A thread of people dunking on Musk is so cool! Calling people crazies (implying that you are not crazy, only they are!) is so fantastic!
spixy 4y ago
but also Lex Fridman?
ryloric 4y ago
Unfortunately know a couple of guys who have an eerily similar bio, it's is such a big red flag imo.

by piva00 4y ago

rhaway84773 4y ago

It’s not clear to me what they’re agreeing with him on? - That employees have no right to know whether or not they’re employed? - Or that employee private medical information should be allowed to be disclosed publicly? This whole thing started because Twitter’s HR couldn’t tell this person if he was or wasn’t employed by Twitter. He guessed the only way he would get an answer was to publicly ask Elon on Twitter. And guess what, he was right! That indeed turned out to be the only way to get an answer. Elon further decided to commit a bunch of privacy and employment rights abuses but fundamentally it was simply a question of an HR dept that didn’t know who it employed.

piva00 4y ago
I think "agreeing" was the wrong choice of words from me, I'm sorry, substitute it for "egging on" or "supporting". They're literally followers, if Elon said/did there's a good reason for it. As classic as it can be for a cult of personality.
rsynnott 4y ago
> It’s not clear to me what they’re agreeing with him on? They're agreeing with him that he is the infallible Dear Leader, pretty much. The Musk following, at this stage, is a full-blown personality cult; what Musk is actually saying/doing is rather beside the point.
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  You say that, but I'd bet that if he started tweeting responsibly and acting respectful his followers would quickly lose interest.
  - rsynnott 4y ago
    I'm... not sure, and it would arguably be an interesting social experiment. I'm struggling to think of anyone who accumulated this degree of blind adulation and _did_ act like a normal, reasonable person; maybe being an arsehole is actually an entry requirement.

mistermann 4y ago

If people were able to look even more deeply, the scariness might transform into something more resembling beauty. Unfortunately, that sort of behavior tends to appear as "magical thinking", "woo woo", "pedantry", "nonsensical", "a waste of time", "sea-lioning", {all the memes}, etc, despite it being essentially what the scientific method does, but in a very different and much simpler, deterministic problem space.

ncr100 4y ago

Meta: here on hacker news several of the related articles that have popped up around this issue have been downvoted into the 170s just 2 hours after posting and hitting the top. Crazies are at work here too. Sycophant is sort of behavior profile. It's a thing that you can do, be a sycophant. It looks like that's what's going on for these so-called crazies.

icco 4y ago
That's not surprising. hn has been home to anti-worker, pro-techno-utopianism for a very long time.
hn2017 4y ago
There is a lot of brigading by Musk and his new right wing followers. Any criticism is immediately down voted or flagged. Sad to see how easily HN is gamed.
eric_cc 4y ago
Call me crazy, but i downvoted it because I don’t enjoy it. It’s not the type of content I’m here for and I don’t feel like it adds anything by being posted. Do you think this way: A thread of people dunking on Musk is so cool! Calling people crazies (implying that you are not crazy, only they are!) is so fantastic!

spixy 4y ago

but also Lex Fridman?

ryloric 4y ago

Unfortunately know a couple of guys who have an eerily similar bio, it's is such a big red flag imo.