Not many people with direct experience left in Germany.
(Just a btw, btw. But I'm a bit tired of statements like this.)
Elon Musk - news and discussion
- Thread starter tim
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(Just a btw, btw. But I'm a bit tired of statements like this.)
two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
true, but they've been brought up with that at the front of their minds.
Eta: fairly fresh for the Dutch for example, too, it's well known there that Germans removed all the dutch bicycles for the metal and German tourists used to have "give us our bikes back" called after them.
Eta: fairly fresh for the Dutch for example, too, it's well known there that Germans removed all the dutch bicycles for the metal and German tourists used to have "give us our bikes back" called after them.
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
Years ago, before all this Nazi stuff, someone on Urban (i think, could have been on Twitter or FB) once described Musk as Arnold Rimmer with a swastika instead of an H. It was a joke, obv, but a prescient one!
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
I think it fits his previous behaviour quite well. And I find it more plausible than some mixed up my heart goes out to you gesture.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
Not prescient enough as Arnold Rimmer was dead.
'we only need a very small Hitler, not an evil one like we used to have, just someone who cleans up a little bit. But pls don't think I'm a nazi' - I've lost count of how many times I've heard it. Used to be the older gen, now it comes from younger ones. It's kind of 'a reasonable opinion'.
Won't that just make him angrier?
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
Maybe Musk is too and that was a malfunctioning hologram at the inauguration
They could get a Cbeebies show out of this. Adolf in my pocket.
Point is that 'fascism isn't all bad' is not a fringe position (at least less fringe - used to be preserved for older frustrated ex Nazis).
Or that 'lets remember the positive bits of our past'.
I know and you're not wrong.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
It would explain a few things.
Elpenor
The World Turned Upside Down
Rimmer had better salutes
Which is part of a reason why we don't have a bigger public condemnation (the lack of it apparently legitimises musks gesture as a bit of a laugh / bad for business)
Rob Ray
Weight is meaningless
That's not an either/or. He is quite capable of doing it simultaneously knowing that he'll get away with trolling his enemies because everyone will be arguing over what it is and indulging his own political creed in full public view. In fact I'd be surprised if it weren't the case given his consistent political journeying online over the last few years. This idea that he doesn't know what he's doing in the sphere of politics and public address has a weird memory hole element to it, as though he's not been extremely successful in the former and confidently doing the latter for quite some time now.
Rob Ray
Weight is meaningless
Just as a reminder about a handful of his known and publicly stated views:
- Sept 2023: Accuses Soros Foundation of wanting to "destroy Western civilisation"
- Nov 2023: Agrees with tweets promoting the Great Replacement theory and goes on a ramble about "international Jewry" hating the West
- Jan 2025: Supports a British neonazi jailed over his role in the Southport riots
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tommers
It was... Rebekah Vardy's account
And NOTHING HAPPENED TO HIM. There were no meaningful consequences whatsoever.
Rob Ray
Weight is meaningless
The main consequence was losing advertisers on X and, to a limited degree, buyers of his cars. But otherwise yes, nothing at all from our vaunted democratic bulwarks, and I have my suspicions that as long as he remains in Trump's direct orbit there may be a trickle of advertising going back to X in the near future - corporate hat-tips for the victorious baron.
Kaka Tim
Half Arsed and Slapdash till I Die
Im still sracthing my head that anyone who isn't being willfully obtuse can see it as anythign other than what it was (a fucking nazi salute!).
Its entirely in keeping with his personality and previosu behavoir. Its not about some strategic, business orientated master plan - This is a man who spend most of his wakiing hours posting attention seeking shite on the internet - and bought his own socail medai platform jsut so he could do this. He sees himself as an exceptional individual, a disrupter, a visonary for whom the normal rules and convnetions do not apply (see also Borsis Johnson and his various offensive - and deliberate - "gaffes"). He thinks hes the joker from batman. But hes more like a cross between ayn rand and toad of toad hall.
Its like when the kids were trapped in a cave - he was straight in with some attention , ridiculous, hi tech, musk led solution and then spat the dummy when he was told to fuck off - to the point of slandering the rescue team as paedophiles. That isnt a business strategy - its ego driven caprice.
In between obessive tweeting, his latest game his putting favoured policians into power - like hes playing some PC grand stategy game for real - he clearly thinks Trumps victory is on him. But I dont think there is any grand plan here - he's winging it.
His behavour seems to be increasingly self destructive and impulsive - but his enourmous wealth insulates him from conseqeunce. Youd think that at some point reality will inevtiably smack him hard in the face - but he can do a fuck load of damage before that point is reached.
Its entirely in keeping with his personality and previosu behavoir. Its not about some strategic, business orientated master plan - This is a man who spend most of his wakiing hours posting attention seeking shite on the internet - and bought his own socail medai platform jsut so he could do this. He sees himself as an exceptional individual, a disrupter, a visonary for whom the normal rules and convnetions do not apply (see also Borsis Johnson and his various offensive - and deliberate - "gaffes"). He thinks hes the joker from batman. But hes more like a cross between ayn rand and toad of toad hall.
Its like when the kids were trapped in a cave - he was straight in with some attention , ridiculous, hi tech, musk led solution and then spat the dummy when he was told to fuck off - to the point of slandering the rescue team as paedophiles. That isnt a business strategy - its ego driven caprice.
In between obessive tweeting, his latest game his putting favoured policians into power - like hes playing some PC grand stategy game for real - he clearly thinks Trumps victory is on him. But I dont think there is any grand plan here - he's winging it.
His behavour seems to be increasingly self destructive and impulsive - but his enourmous wealth insulates him from conseqeunce. Youd think that at some point reality will inevtiably smack him hard in the face - but he can do a fuck load of damage before that point is reached.
tommers
It was... Rebekah Vardy's account
He's still worth $436 billion. I would say that losing some advertisers on Twitter wasn't that meaningful to him. He can cover all the bases. If he has anybody who even remotely knows what they are doing then he cannot lose his money. When you have that much you just can't.
We're still assessing him like he lives in the same world as us. He doesn't. Even if he lost 90% of his wealth (which, let's face it, would mean we're all dead) then he still has $43 billion.
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
I think perhaps there’s confirmation bias going the other way, and I don’t mean from those who are fellow travellers, just centrist-leaning people who want to present themselves as sensible and calm, not like the easily alarmed pannicky lefty folk they see as leaping to alarmist conclusions - the Chamberlains of this world who may come to regret their earlier false of security.
Rob Ray
Weight is meaningless
It's mildly ironic that the era of conspiracy theories, by hardening most of us against "out-there" takes, has ended up providing cover for people who actually are mad bastards trying to achieve heinous shit. As someone who regularly has to remind comrades that the world just ain't that interesting, the State just ain't that competent, etc etc I can totally understand the reticence to declare the world's richest man a fascist who did a Nazi salute on national TV, twice, in the heart of the US government. It absolutely sounds weird and outlandish.
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
You’ve got it back to front. Saying that “he felt like it” is merely a sufficient reason, not a necessary one. It simply suffices as an explanation for something we’ve actually seen. That’s a long way from conspiratorial theorising, which is based on drawing conclusions about unseen events and entities. In fact, you claiming that Musk had unseen and mysterious motives that he won’t explain and we can’t understand is the example of conspiratorial thinking. Saying that a known volatile and temperamental Nazi did a Nazi thing in the moment doesn’t require anything further than the things we already know.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
How do you explain his vocal support for Nazis, then? Or are you saying that AfD and Yaxley-Lennon are not Nazis or Nazi-like?He's not a known Nazi, ffs. Get a grip!
Musk is an openly racist white-supremacist, one who enthusiastically supports violent, racist white supremacists around the world.
I think it's fair comment, in the vernacular, to call violent white supremacists 'Nazi'.
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
Yes he is. He’s actively agitating for the lines of AfD, ffs. I mean, okay, I’m using “Nazi” as a loose shorthand for “extreme ethno-nationalist who supports radically right-wing and violent tactics”, but close enough.He's not a known Nazi, ffs. Get a grip!
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
I think OU has a point, and your post here is an example of it. Centrists being sensible and calm. But you can only really remain sensible and calm right now by denying what is in front of your face.He's not a known Nazi, ffs. Get a grip!
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
I know it's fashionable amongst you lot to call anyone with right-wing views Nazi's and fascists. It's part of the reason why nobody takes the hard left seriously.
Is Trump a Nazi then?
What about Farage?
teuchter
je suis teuchter
What we've actually seen is a gesture that can be interpreted as a deliberate salute or an awkward expression of thanks. The "that's what he felt like doing" suffices as an explanation for either option.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
You don't really address the point. What about Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka Tommy Robinson? What do you think of people who are openly Muslim-haters? What word would you rather use?
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