4 ms·

Because the internet told them to.

impossiblefork 2y ago
There was absolutely an internet trend about hating Nickleback, and I don't think you need a lot of people to start something of that sort. I think much of the Musk hate is something similar. Here in Sweden we actually have a conflict with Musk-- the labour union network that almost all Swedes are part of are striking and Tesla are bringing in strikebreakers from outside Sweden to overcome this, something no company has done for a very long time and something which is a threat to the way we've ordered our society, but even we don't hate him. Rather, you see quite rabid Americans go on about him, who much less of a conflict with him than we do.
- LargeWu 2y ago
  The irony is that Musk was a folk hero in many corners of the internet because he was viewed as a visionary. And rightly so, because Tesla revolutionized electric vehicles and especially the charging infrastructure, and SpaceX is revolutionizing rocketry. But then he started to make it all about himself, with his atrocious stewardship of Twitter (and increasingly, Tesla), his loud foray into authoritarian politics, and generally being an erratic asshole. He's proven himself to be exactly the type of person that abuses their wealth and power to further enrich themselves without regard to who or how it affects others. He was the richest man in the world, and it wasn't enough.
  - tivert 2y ago
    > The irony is that Musk was a folk hero in many corners of the internet because he was viewed as a visionary. And rightly so, because Tesla revolutionized electric vehicles and especially the charging infrastructure, and SpaceX is revolutionizing rocketry. > But then he started to make it all about himself, with his atrocious stewardship of Twitter (and increasingly, Tesla), his loud foray into authoritarian politics, and generally being an erratic asshole. He's proven himself to be exactly the type of person that abuses their wealth and power to further enrich themselves without regard to who or how it affects others. He was the richest man in the world, and it wasn't enough. No, he was always "being erratic asshole". For instance: I disliked him before it was cool because of his constant lies about self-driving technology, how he treated his workers, etc. He stopped getting a pass, and Musk-hate really got going when he entered the polarized political environment and started to annoy Democrats by not conforming to their ideological requirements. Only then did many people start paying attention.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - mindslight 2y ago
      "meh" to your narrative of basic partisan bickering. At least for me, it takes a long time to get to the point of actually condemning someone. I wait for unassailable happenings where indisputable facts themselves paint a bad picture, while giving endless benefit of the doubt for the hyper-sensationalized weekly two minute hates. Lying about self driving capabilities? Common business hustling. "Pedo guy"? Message board squabbling. Worker treatment? Basically every business. Articles that his immediate reports' job is basically managing his ego? Hit piece. And so on. It's not that these situations definitely are these things, but rather that they can possibly be explained by them - thus they aren't really objective things to hang my judgement on. But buying Twitter for $20B+, whether a regretful instance of "drunk" shopping or not, and then immediately going to work destroying the user base, its customers, and the company organization itself? That's midlife crisis buys a new red Dodge Viper and crashes it into a tree on the way home territory. I don't see a way to explain away any of that in nicer "4D chess" terms - any of these arguments about worthwhile changes could and should have been done gradually and behind the scenes, because those "soft assets" were all the business was. And so mismanaging Twitter into the Xitter sticks as a pretty poignant example that the guy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, or at the very least has a debilitating social media addiction... which then damages this aura of being the lead visionary from whom all innovation flows at his other companies. Since we're already in the political arena, I did the same thing with Trump. I was the one telling all my aghast friends in 2016 that there was a good chance he was going to win, because he was actually saying what a lot of people felt. I didn't believe his schtick and didn't vote for him nor the other team's talking head, but I was still hoping that any of the "4D chess" arguments would have some merit. Despite the endless barrage of "You'll never believe THIS bad thing Trump did", it took me until June 2020 to finally write the guy off as irredeemable - that's when Covid was solidly indisputable as capital-P Problem, yet he continued to deflect and equivocate. All the guy had to do was address the problem and lead, and he would have had the shoe-in second term of the war/crisis time president. But alas he kept on doubling down on his divisive reality distortion field, and we all know how that ended up.
  - ramblerman 2y ago
    The irony is that people can’t deal with the fact that people can be both “narcissistic assholes” and “visionaries” They want their heroes and devils neatly wrapped and separated.
- grecy 2y ago
  > but even we don't hate him. Rather, you see quite rabid Americans go on about him, who much less of a conflict with him than we do. In my experience a big part of the American identity is hating something (or someone). You’re with us or against us, black or white. There is little tolerance for the middle ground or discussion. See: public healthcare, dems v republicans, gun ownership, reproductive rights. Hate, hate, hate.
taneq 2y ago
You’re copping downvotes but that’s a significant reason (and discussed in the article). It was a joke that became a meme and then a default stance, independent of the actual band or their music.

There was absolutely an internet trend about hating Nickleback, and I don't think you need a lot of people to start something of that sort. I think much of the Musk hate is something similar. Here in Sweden we actually have a conflict with Musk-- the labour union network that almost all Swedes are part of are striking and Tesla are bringing in strikebreakers from outside Sweden to overcome this, something no company has done for a very long time and something which is a threat to the way we've ordered our society, but even we don't hate him. Rather, you see quite rabid Americans go on about him, who much less of a conflict with him than we do.

LargeWu 2y ago
The irony is that Musk was a folk hero in many corners of the internet because he was viewed as a visionary. And rightly so, because Tesla revolutionized electric vehicles and especially the charging infrastructure, and SpaceX is revolutionizing rocketry. But then he started to make it all about himself, with his atrocious stewardship of Twitter (and increasingly, Tesla), his loud foray into authoritarian politics, and generally being an erratic asshole. He's proven himself to be exactly the type of person that abuses their wealth and power to further enrich themselves without regard to who or how it affects others. He was the richest man in the world, and it wasn't enough.
- tivert 2y ago
  > The irony is that Musk was a folk hero in many corners of the internet because he was viewed as a visionary. And rightly so, because Tesla revolutionized electric vehicles and especially the charging infrastructure, and SpaceX is revolutionizing rocketry. > But then he started to make it all about himself, with his atrocious stewardship of Twitter (and increasingly, Tesla), his loud foray into authoritarian politics, and generally being an erratic asshole. He's proven himself to be exactly the type of person that abuses their wealth and power to further enrich themselves without regard to who or how it affects others. He was the richest man in the world, and it wasn't enough. No, he was always "being erratic asshole". For instance: I disliked him before it was cool because of his constant lies about self-driving technology, how he treated his workers, etc. He stopped getting a pass, and Musk-hate really got going when he entered the polarized political environment and started to annoy Democrats by not conforming to their ideological requirements. Only then did many people start paying attention.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - mindslight 2y ago
    "meh" to your narrative of basic partisan bickering. At least for me, it takes a long time to get to the point of actually condemning someone. I wait for unassailable happenings where indisputable facts themselves paint a bad picture, while giving endless benefit of the doubt for the hyper-sensationalized weekly two minute hates. Lying about self driving capabilities? Common business hustling. "Pedo guy"? Message board squabbling. Worker treatment? Basically every business. Articles that his immediate reports' job is basically managing his ego? Hit piece. And so on. It's not that these situations definitely are these things, but rather that they can possibly be explained by them - thus they aren't really objective things to hang my judgement on. But buying Twitter for $20B+, whether a regretful instance of "drunk" shopping or not, and then immediately going to work destroying the user base, its customers, and the company organization itself? That's midlife crisis buys a new red Dodge Viper and crashes it into a tree on the way home territory. I don't see a way to explain away any of that in nicer "4D chess" terms - any of these arguments about worthwhile changes could and should have been done gradually and behind the scenes, because those "soft assets" were all the business was. And so mismanaging Twitter into the Xitter sticks as a pretty poignant example that the guy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, or at the very least has a debilitating social media addiction... which then damages this aura of being the lead visionary from whom all innovation flows at his other companies. Since we're already in the political arena, I did the same thing with Trump. I was the one telling all my aghast friends in 2016 that there was a good chance he was going to win, because he was actually saying what a lot of people felt. I didn't believe his schtick and didn't vote for him nor the other team's talking head, but I was still hoping that any of the "4D chess" arguments would have some merit. Despite the endless barrage of "You'll never believe THIS bad thing Trump did", it took me until June 2020 to finally write the guy off as irredeemable - that's when Covid was solidly indisputable as capital-P Problem, yet he continued to deflect and equivocate. All the guy had to do was address the problem and lead, and he would have had the shoe-in second term of the war/crisis time president. But alas he kept on doubling down on his divisive reality distortion field, and we all know how that ended up.
- ramblerman 2y ago
  The irony is that people can’t deal with the fact that people can be both “narcissistic assholes” and “visionaries” They want their heroes and devils neatly wrapped and separated.
grecy 2y ago
> but even we don't hate him. Rather, you see quite rabid Americans go on about him, who much less of a conflict with him than we do. In my experience a big part of the American identity is hating something (or someone). You’re with us or against us, black or white. There is little tolerance for the middle ground or discussion. See: public healthcare, dems v republicans, gun ownership, reproductive rights. Hate, hate, hate.

taneq 2y ago

You’re copping downvotes but that’s a significant reason (and discussed in the article). It was a joke that became a meme and then a default stance, independent of the actual band or their music.