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Elon Musk Flirts with Conspiracy Theories About Texas Mall Shooting

12 points by hn2017 3y ago

hn2017 3y ago
> Responding to a tweet that referred to this fact as a “psyop” — short for a psychological operation, usually employed by counterintelligence military personnel — Musk said it was indeed “the weirdest story ever or a very bad psyop!”
tonetheman 3y ago
[dead]
ftxbro 3y ago
musk writes a tweet that drives engagement on the platform that he owns
- anigbrowl 3y ago
  It drives engagement for his account. I doubt very much it's helping with user acquisition/retention. Incidentally officials have acknowledged his 'neo-nazi ideation' though they've held off identifying a motive. If you peruse his online footprint it's rapidly apparent that he's been suicidal for years primarily due to a dysfunctional family background and difficulty in forming personal relationships. Right-wing ideology serves as explanatory framework/coping mechanism roadmap for a lot of lonely and dissatisfied young men, but the more the odds tilt against them the more likely they are to end up blackpilled. Arguably, some of the smarter/more manipulative figures in that movement invest effort in maximizing that, because martyrs make great recruiting tools. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/texas-mall-gunman-neo-nazi-tattoos?CMP=share_btn_tw https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/texas-mall-g...
  - version_five 3y ago
    Ironic comment in a thread about conspiracy theories.
    - anigbrowl 3y ago
      There are right wing groups that specifically advocate 'martyrdom' and publish material glorifying mass shooters and other acts of political violence, others that emphasize the inevitability of death and provide instructions for how to plan and carry out such actions. I write about this professionally and have a huge collection of such materials; I'm describing rather than theorizing.
softwarelounge 3y ago
How does he have time to constantly write tweets on every single thing? I get it that he now has an big incentive to drive engagement on his platform, but he used to do tweet a lot in the past as well. Since a majority of his tweets are replies, that might also imply he spends a lot of time doom scrolling Twitter.
- hn2017 3y ago
  That's not even close to the main issue. The issue is he is spreading false stories involving far right-wing conspiracies, in this case involving neo-nazis
d23 3y ago
Example 1000 of his disingenuous, bad faith behavior
Zigurd 3y ago
Nusk seems isolated and paranoid. Why does he engage with obviously mentally ill individuals and their paranoid fantasies when a normal person would tell them to get help?

12 points by hn2017 3y ago

hn2017 3y ago

> Responding to a tweet that referred to this fact as a “psyop” — short for a psychological operation, usually employed by counterintelligence military personnel — Musk said it was indeed “the weirdest story ever or a very bad psyop!”

tonetheman 3y ago

[dead]

ftxbro 3y ago

musk writes a tweet that drives engagement on the platform that he owns

anigbrowl 3y ago
It drives engagement for his account. I doubt very much it's helping with user acquisition/retention. Incidentally officials have acknowledged his 'neo-nazi ideation' though they've held off identifying a motive. If you peruse his online footprint it's rapidly apparent that he's been suicidal for years primarily due to a dysfunctional family background and difficulty in forming personal relationships. Right-wing ideology serves as explanatory framework/coping mechanism roadmap for a lot of lonely and dissatisfied young men, but the more the odds tilt against them the more likely they are to end up blackpilled. Arguably, some of the smarter/more manipulative figures in that movement invest effort in maximizing that, because martyrs make great recruiting tools. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/texas-mall-gunman-neo-nazi-tattoos?CMP=share_btn_tw https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/texas-mall-g...
- version_five 3y ago
  Ironic comment in a thread about conspiracy theories.
  - anigbrowl 3y ago
    There are right wing groups that specifically advocate 'martyrdom' and publish material glorifying mass shooters and other acts of political violence, others that emphasize the inevitability of death and provide instructions for how to plan and carry out such actions. I write about this professionally and have a huge collection of such materials; I'm describing rather than theorizing.

softwarelounge 3y ago

How does he have time to constantly write tweets on every single thing? I get it that he now has an big incentive to drive engagement on his platform, but he used to do tweet a lot in the past as well. Since a majority of his tweets are replies, that might also imply he spends a lot of time doom scrolling Twitter.

hn2017 3y ago
That's not even close to the main issue. The issue is he is spreading false stories involving far right-wing conspiracies, in this case involving neo-nazis

d23 3y ago

Example 1000 of his disingenuous, bad faith behavior

Zigurd 3y ago

Nusk seems isolated and paranoid. Why does he engage with obviously mentally ill individuals and their paranoid fantasies when a normal person would tell them to get help?