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Elon Gives Nazi Salute During Inauguration Speech
- LightBug1 2y agoShouldn't the tech community be roundly calling this out and condemning this? It's probably a sick billionaire joke, but regardless it's disgusting.
- LightBug1 2y agoApparantly mainstream non-live broadcasts cut it out so not all may have seen it.
- DanAtC 2y ago[flagged]
- minimaxir 2y agoTechnically it is political content which is off topic, but traditional HN policies are going to be tested the next few years.
- rUsHeYaFuBu 2y ago> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. It is certainly an interesting new phenomenon or development.
- mullingitover 2y ago[flagged]
- minimaxir 2y agoThe ADL (who Musk sued for earlier giving him bad publicity) conspicuously avoided condemning it. https://x.com/ADL/status/1881474892022919403 https://x.com/ADL/status/1881474892022919403
- mullingitover 2y agoThey just hired Ballard Partners, a swamp creature PR firm tied to Trump[1]. [1] https://jewishinsider.com/2025/01/anti-defamation-league-trump-ballard-partners-antisemitism-policy/ https://jewishinsider.com/2025/01/anti-defamation-league-tru...
- ceejayoz 2y agoSo, “a ceasefire would be nice” is bad (https://www.instagram.com/p/C0zInRCspoZ/ https://www.instagram.com/p/C0zInRCspoZ/) but a set of two full-throated Nazi salutes requires “grace”. Huh.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tayo42 2y agotech community seems to have shifted to the political right in the last few months. where on the internet can you even speak up right now? Or what can be done in person? people voted for this.
- api 2y agoFew months? The really huge shift started back with Gamergate and similar things.
- chadcmulligan 2y agoeven reddit seems to be trending to the right, which is odd
- tayo42 2y agoMaybe, maybe I'm misremembering but I think younger then millennial generations are more conservative now. I heard an interesting point, that most younger people (like mid 20s) have had trump and things he says be part of a significant part of their lives. This is all normal
- smgit 2y agoSpeaking is over rated. Many from Tech spoke up after WikiLeaks and during Arab Spring/Tahrir Square. Guess who is in charge over there today? Generals. Other option would have been religious loonies. For the simple reason the military and religious people are better organized. Tech is not an organized around anything. Its just a diverse bunch rowing in whatever directions the tools they are familiar with allow them too.
- sidibe 2y agoThe "tech community" is used to label both the very liberal on average big tech employees and the PayPal Mafia/VC people who have very different politics. Lately the latter have been much louder.
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- cellwebb 2y agoThis is disgusting behavior. Unfortunately not terribly surprising if you've seen his shift to supporting the far-right over the last few years.
- mullingitover 2y agoThis seems like a power move perfectly designed to humiliate anyone still attempting to be neutral. The mainstream media and even the ADL is being forced into a degrading charade where they can't call two full-throated nazi salutes what they obviously are. The closest I've seen to calling this what it is is Rolling Stone pointing out that actual neo-Nazis are thrilled at having him speak directly to them[1]. [1] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-musk-salute-reaction-right-wing-extremists-1235241866/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-mus...
- Rzor 2y agoI think you’re giving too much "credit" to Musk, as if he orchestrated this to shift the Overton window. Musk was recently criticized on Twitter for not prioritizing American workers (the H1B visa thing), and now he’s trying to signal to some of those people that he’s actually "on their side." In short, I believe this is all about Musk’s insecurities and his need for validation. That said, if this is true, it puzzles me that he would focus only on the more radical individuals rather than making a broader, more inclusive gesture to Americans.
- franktankbank 2y agoWay to equate people who want H-1B fraud reined in to nazis. Why would I a normal engineer who has bad experience working with infosys hacks be appreciative of a nazi salute?
- Rzor 2y agoI never said that. I don’t think they are all Nazis, although some are, while others are sympathetic or simply understand that Musk is moving in the right direction (in a way that doesn’t make him a Nazi because he’s just "joking"). Do I have to draw a Venn diagram of all possible cases? Have you seen replies to Musk lately? The people who criticized Musk—a particular subset of them—are the ones Musk was signaling to, in his own misguided way. Or maybe he was signaling to all of them, and this is how he thinks he can win them by throwing a bone. There’s some kayfabe here. To his audience, or at least some of them, he can do this without being a Nazi, much like how Trump can promise to defend America abroad, but take back Panama or Greenland, or whatever (even though he says he doesn’t actually like or want war), or how Christian he is. It’s just theatrics in a certain direction. For those who care, it’s there; for others, it’s nothing, and they just rationalize it as some kind of performance, but still remain loyal. My point is that this is how Musk thought he could win some people back, perhaps impulsively—not as a ploy to shift public perception or signal an incoming Fourth Reich. This is obviously bad and it just stains Musk's increasingly poor reputation even more.
- bloomingkales 2y agoI am astonished. I wondered my whole life how Nazism could have possibly happened, how cooler heads didn’t prevail. We got here a day at a time. Don’t promote this guys shit ever again if you have any self respect. Color me changed, I was wrong about this Trump thing. It’s all real, all of this happening. Edit: Do not flag this post. Casual nazism, jingoism, corruption is too serious to say we are above discussing this.
- qsdf38100 2y agoI'm glad to know that some Trump supporters do have red lines. Out of curiosity, up to when did you still support Trump?
- bloomingkales 2y agoIt happened gradually. I realized that an 80 year old man that is that hateful even after life gave him miracle after miracle (god gave him everything), is just a bad force. There is a foul wind in the air, and I finally accept it. I can smell it.
- qsdf38100 2y agoThank god. I would love to discuss with you, maybe we could save some poor souls that are still into this from turning to full blown fascists.
- cs702 2y agoNormally I would flag an OP like this one, but in this case I will NOT, because the sight of one of the world's most well-known and successful entrepreneurs giving the Nazi salute in public at a presidential inauguration has left me in shock. Shock. If there is anyone close to Elon here on HN who could talk some sense into him, please do so. This shocking video must be seen to be believed. To the moderators: please consider unflagging the OP.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- api 2y agoAgreed. Keeping HN free of politics is the right thing to do 99% of the time, but this is significant. I didn't believe it at first. I had to find the video, watch the whole thing a few times, look up what various Nazi salutes (1930s to modern) look like, before I was finally convinced, because it's too surreal. I can't think of another explanation other than him being absolutely blasted on drugs, but in that case I can't imagine him giving even a semi-coherent speech. I'm also not familiar with a drug that makes you salute Hitler, but I hear there's some weird research chemicals around these days so who knows? /jk BTW there are pictures going around of other politicians with their hands in the air, but if you look up the video/context they were not doing what Musk was doing. Musk snapped a classic Heil Hitler salute. If you watch the video it looks worse in context.
- cs702 2y agoTo be perfectly clear: I don't think there was any ill will here. My perception is that Musk may be unaware of the possible consequences of his actions.
- justonceokay 2y agoNo chance. He is a public figure who has been doing PR for at least a decade. His actions might not produce the results he expected, and we can question his motives, but don’t tell me he didn’t know this would have consequences.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoI am not deeply familiar with autism, but is this just an awkward way for someone who is autistic and awkward in social things, where they put their hand over their heart and salute someone (like is it within the range of things that could be explained by autism)? Or is it meant to be purposefully ambiguous to antagonize. I have to admit, looking at the actual video, it looks exactly like a Nazi salute. I doubt Elon is an actual Nazi or racist, but I also could see him doing something aggressive and childish to instigate his “enemies”. EDIT: Why is this story flagged? This absolutely deserves discussion. Elon is a key figure in the tech industry and this administration is going to heavily impact everyone’s world - not just in some abstract political way but in a real way that finds it way to our professional worlds.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- zfg 2y ago[flagged]
- p_ing 2y ago> where they put their hand over their heart and salute someone? For ever-living fuck no! If Elon was a non-verbal, one could potentially give some grace. But don't down play this man's clear Nazism. You got the UD down, I'm waiting to see what the F will be.
- boudin 2y agoElon support for fascist and nazi party in europe makes it beyond doubt that this is intentional.
- voganmother42 2y agoThis should not be flagged.