3 ms·

Musk has killed hundreds of thousands of people with his reckless dismantling of USAID (https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/how-elon-musk-killed-hundreds-of-tho

Musk has killed hundreds of thousands of people with his reckless dismantling of USAID (https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/how-elon-musk-killed-hundreds-of-thousands-of-people https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/how-elon-musk-killed-hun...) and actively promotes white supremacy and race riots on Twitter. The Georges Ruggiu of social media. Meanwhile, here in our little tech bubble, we pretend it's not happening -- that he's not spending half the day amplifying some of the literal worst people on Earth and blathering about how immigrants are coming to rape our culture. Just focus on the IPO. Don't look behind the curtain. Where is a good chunk of this newfound money going to go? Into the pockets of AfD, Reform, and other far-right monsters around the world. It's all just... abhorrent. Beyond words. Regretfully, I start to understand the state of society that can foment revolution. Never before have I felt such impotent fury at the state of things. I can only hope his career ends as Ruggiu's once did: in shackles in front of an international tribunal.

sidibe 4mo ago
It'll end in suicide or OD. Every time he pulls off a coup like forcing huge indices to buy and hold massive amounts of $80 billion float he delays the inevitable but in the end his puffery will collapse at some point. I feel second hand embarrassment for all the bankers and analysts who have felt the need to pump this
- tastyface 4mo ago
  I think he's steadily working towards "too big too fail": make the entire US economy depend on his rat's nest of a megacorp, plus miltech/policetech (SpaceX, Grok).
  - tastyface 4mo ago
    For example: https://www.wired.com/story/doj-lawyers-argue-xai-vital-national-security-naacp-lawsuit/ https://www.wired.com/story/doj-lawyers-argue-xai-vital-nati...
iioiio 4mo ago
[flagged]
- tastyface 4mo ago
  I don't think I can roll my eyes any harder.
webglfan 4mo ago
Agreed, but please saying "Meanwhile, here in our little tech bubble, we pretend it's not happening" is a quite a bit of a leap. Right now there are a few stories on "/newest" calling out what is going on. A few of them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48514107 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48514107 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48513464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48513464 Also plenty of people upvote these stories when they come up. Yes, most of them are not welcomed by the HN moderating rules/team, and yes a large portion of them get death-flagged. But please do not disregard the people silently doing something about it. It only reinforces the lie that "people who care about democracy" are outliers and alone. No we are not!
- tastyface 4mo ago
  Yes, but: it's hard to have optimism when 4/5 of articles about Musk's horrifying behavior are insta-killed, while Grok and SpaceX puff pieces are cheerfully discussed with nary a mention of their owner's murderous politics. What does it take to make someone persona non grata in SV tech? Absolutely nothing, as long as they keep bringing in the big bucks. Nazi salutes, incitement of racial violence, thousands dead from starvation and cut-off medical care -- doesn't matter in the slightest. In a functioning society, Musk would not be able to go anywhere without being swarmed by protestors.
  - webglfan 4mo ago
    Yes, being optimistic, specially today, is hard. But it is important to remember that HN is not SV, and SV is not the USA, and that the USA is not the World. But people have absolutely prevailed over much harder conditions. Even SV in the past was exceptionally anti worker: I wrote about the history of SV here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47099922 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47099922. A few more things that can give you perspective: "Hope can be the consequence of action, not just its cause" https://youtu.be/WK6kRaBzbg4?t=114 https://youtu.be/WK6kRaBzbg4?t=114 https://feld.com/archives/2017/10/hope-consequence-action/ https://feld.com/archives/2017/10/hope-consequence-action/ Elon Cancelled This...Let's Do it Anyway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxmqTLps334 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxmqTLps334 Finally, sometimes we just need a break. It is OK to take a break. Do not burn yourself out. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Finally, to quote a historian, "You're always in history, and your choices matter" (src: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFbzg_bp-Q0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFbzg_bp-Q0)

sidibe 4mo ago

It'll end in suicide or OD. Every time he pulls off a coup like forcing huge indices to buy and hold massive amounts of $80 billion float he delays the inevitable but in the end his puffery will collapse at some point. I feel second hand embarrassment for all the bankers and analysts who have felt the need to pump this

tastyface 4mo ago
I think he's steadily working towards "too big too fail": make the entire US economy depend on his rat's nest of a megacorp, plus miltech/policetech (SpaceX, Grok).
- tastyface 4mo ago
  For example: https://www.wired.com/story/doj-lawyers-argue-xai-vital-national-security-naacp-lawsuit/ https://www.wired.com/story/doj-lawyers-argue-xai-vital-nati...

iioiio 4mo ago

[flagged]

tastyface 4mo ago
I don't think I can roll my eyes any harder.

webglfan 4mo ago

Agreed, but please saying "Meanwhile, here in our little tech bubble, we pretend it's not happening" is a quite a bit of a leap. Right now there are a few stories on "/newest" calling out what is going on. A few of them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48514107 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48514107 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48513464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48513464 Also plenty of people upvote these stories when they come up. Yes, most of them are not welcomed by the HN moderating rules/team, and yes a large portion of them get death-flagged. But please do not disregard the people silently doing something about it. It only reinforces the lie that "people who care about democracy" are outliers and alone. No we are not!

tastyface 4mo ago
Yes, but: it's hard to have optimism when 4/5 of articles about Musk's horrifying behavior are insta-killed, while Grok and SpaceX puff pieces are cheerfully discussed with nary a mention of their owner's murderous politics. What does it take to make someone persona non grata in SV tech? Absolutely nothing, as long as they keep bringing in the big bucks. Nazi salutes, incitement of racial violence, thousands dead from starvation and cut-off medical care -- doesn't matter in the slightest. In a functioning society, Musk would not be able to go anywhere without being swarmed by protestors.
- webglfan 4mo ago
  Yes, being optimistic, specially today, is hard. But it is important to remember that HN is not SV, and SV is not the USA, and that the USA is not the World. But people have absolutely prevailed over much harder conditions. Even SV in the past was exceptionally anti worker: I wrote about the history of SV here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47099922 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47099922. A few more things that can give you perspective: "Hope can be the consequence of action, not just its cause" https://youtu.be/WK6kRaBzbg4?t=114 https://youtu.be/WK6kRaBzbg4?t=114 https://feld.com/archives/2017/10/hope-consequence-action/ https://feld.com/archives/2017/10/hope-consequence-action/ Elon Cancelled This...Let's Do it Anyway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxmqTLps334 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxmqTLps334 Finally, sometimes we just need a break. It is OK to take a break. Do not burn yourself out. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Finally, to quote a historian, "You're always in history, and your choices matter" (src: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFbzg_bp-Q0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFbzg_bp-Q0)