Can you name the specifics of Elon's dumb antics? I can think of a couple of dumb Tweets, but on the whole, I think he is more right than wrong on his takes, he just has less of a filter than most people.
Turning his sexual harassment allegations into a cultural red vs blue issue by front-running a story about said sexual harassment allegations
Totally unnecessarily inhumane behavior toward employees during the Twitter acquisition
He just seems increasingly like a truly awful person by almost any definition of “awful person” except the one “has a lot of money.” Character really, really matters, and culturally important people exhibiting horrible character should be aggressively laughed at and disparaged. A less public, equally atrocious, equally wealthy person actually does have less of a negative impact on the rest of us by mere virtue of being less public. Elon could’ve been awful in private and frankly I wouldn’t have cared all that much. But as it is now, generations of people — young leaders — are learning that you can be as awful as you want so long as you’re powerful. What does that foreshadow for our culture, if unchecked?
There's not enough characters in a single HackerNews comment to truly show every fucking insane thing he's done over the last X (ha-ha!) number of years
You seem to be getting downvoted, but I agree with you to a large extent. He does say a ton of stuff I disagree with, sometimes strongly, but I also know if most other CEOs were as public and unfiltered they'd probably fair even worse in aligning with my positions on many issues.
When I'm thinking where to spend my money, I do appreciate that Tesla (and SpaceX) push the boundaries in high-tech industries, and that much of the R&D and manufacturing spend goes to employees in my home country.
He used to be politically neutral but seems to have adopted a right-wing viewpoint that is getting increasingly right-wing over time. Not an extremist by any means but a definite shift. It started around the time he got into a scuffle with the Democratic administration over union issues so maybe it isn't a real shift just being opportunistic. Maybe it is just perception and I'm off-base.
As an investor in Tesla's IPO I find some of his behavior erratic and worrying. I certainly can't diagnose anyone and don't know the man personally. But sometimes he gives the impression he's abusing stimulants to stay awake for 72 hour stints. I worry about his health. I worry about how some of his decisions might negatively affect Tesla or SpaceX.
In the past he was known for appreciating contrary views and opposed yes-men but it seems like he is surrounded more and more by such people who say what he wants to hear in an attempt to leech off him. Again I don't have any personal knowledge but it is another worry that any rich person has to face. I hope I'm wrong about this.
The thing I'm most disappointed about is his moving from CA to TX to avoid income taxes.
The startup ecosystem, local infrastructure, education system, and many other factors that make California the global center of startups and innovation are paid for by those taxes. Or at least the region needs to pay for infrastructure, housing, etc to make it possible for such a system to function. Elon effectively declared "screw you future generations, I got mine".
Did moving to avoid income tax make him immoral? No. Was it illegal? No. But I hate that kind of thinking. You made your bones here in CA, now that you have more money than you can ever spend in a lifetime you want to bail to avoid paying into the system that made it all possible?
I want to be clear here: Elon is within his rights to do that. I'm not calling him a sinner. I just personally find it incredibly disappointing and demonstrative of a lack of appreciation for the factors that made him successful.
edit: I still own a Tesla vehicle. I still own shares. I still support SpaceX's mission. I don't fault anyone for being a fan of his, I'm just not as much anymore and I find that regrettable because he used to be focused on such grand and important things.
edit2: Twitter is also such a massive and pointless distraction born out of being personally offended that they were fact-checking and moderating some of his tweets. The world would be better off if he were focused on Tesla and SpaceX. Instead he's out there swearing at advertisers and doing petty things like removing verified checkmarks or banning prominent people who say bad things about him on Twitter - despite his purported support of "Free Speech". All of this is demonstration of extremely thin skin and lack of perspective.
He recently posted, then deleted a tweet about "Pizzagate." Previously, this hyper-political conspiracy theory got a random pizza place assaulted by a man with a long gun looking for children in their non-existent basement.
He posted another insane conspiracy theory about the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband. [0]
He keeps promoting the concept of "civil war" in the EU, due to immigration. I am in the EU, and this sounds absolutely bonkers to me. Maybe different parties being elected at best/worst, but civil war? That's not a rational take, and seemingly just projection.
> Musk, who has never reserved his social media posts for business matters alone, drew attention to a tweet that said Jewish people “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
> Musk replied to that tweet in emphatic agreement, “You have said the actual truth.” [1]
I greatly respect SpaceX which he actually founded, what he has done with funding and running Tesla, but it appears to me that he has now truly lost his mind. Today he behaves like a politically deluded troll. This saddens me deeply. At one point, he seemed like the best of us, above any of that dangerous silliness.
