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The Elon Musk hate

And a follow up to my #39. Kelly is a US Navy combat vet who visited our ally, Ukraine, during wartime. Is Musk so fvcking stupid or insane that he thinks this is the equivalent of Jane Fonda going to North Vietnam?

Fvck Musk. He's a clear and present danger.
 
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The Courage to Embrace Our Humanity​

Because so many time-worn systems of power have placed certain people outside the realm of what we see as human, much of our work now is more a matter of “rehumanizing.” That starts in the same place dehumanizing starts—with words and images. Today we are edging closer and closer to a world where political and ideological discourse has become an exercise in dehumanization. And social media are the primary platforms for our dehumanizing behavior. On Twitter and Facebook we can rapidly push the people with whom we disagree into the dangerous territory of moral exclusion, with little to no accountability, and often in complete anonymity.

Here’s what I believe:

  1. When the president of the United States calls immigrants animals or talks about grabbing pussy, we should get chills down our spine and resistance flowing through our veins. When people call the president of the United States a pig, we should reject that language regardless of our politics and demand discourse that doesn’t make people subhuman.
  2. If you are offended or hurt when you hear Hillary Clinton or Maxine Waters called bitch, whore, or the c-word, you should be equally offended and hurt when you hear those same words used to describe Ivanka Trump, Kellyanne Conway, or Theresa May.
  3. If you’re offended by a meme of Trump Photoshopped to look like Hitler, then you shouldn’t have Obama Photoshopped to look like the Joker on your Facebook feed.
  4. When we hear people referred to as animals or aliens, we should immediately wonder, “Is this an attempt to reduce someone’s humanity so we can get away with hurting them or denying them basic human rights?”
There is a line. It’s etched from dignity. And raging, fearful people from the right and left are crossing it at unprecedented rates every single day. We must never tolerate dehumanization—the primary instrument of violence that has been used in every genocide recorded throughout history.

When we engage in dehumanizing rhetoric or promote dehumanizing images, we diminish our own humanity in the process. When we reduce immigrants to animals like Trump did earlier this week, it says nothing at all about the people we’re attacking. It does, however, say volumes about who we are and our integrity.

Dehumanizing and holding people accountable are mutually exclusive.

Humiliation and dehumanizing are not accountability or social justice tools, they’re emotional off-loading at best, emotional self-indulgence at worst. And if our faith asks us to find the face of God in everyone we meet, that should include the politicians, media, and strangers on Twitter with whom we most violently disagree. When we desecrate their divinity, we desecrate our own, and we betray our humanity.


 

The Courage to Embrace Our Humanity​

Because so many time-worn systems of power have placed certain people outside the realm of what we see as human, much of our work now is more a matter of “rehumanizing.” That starts in the same place dehumanizing starts—with words and images. Today we are edging closer and closer to a world where political and ideological discourse has become an exercise in dehumanization. And social media are the primary platforms for our dehumanizing behavior. On Twitter and Facebook we can rapidly push the people with whom we disagree into the dangerous territory of moral exclusion, with little to no accountability, and often in complete anonymity.

Here’s what I believe:

  1. When the president of the United States calls immigrants animals or talks about grabbing pussy, we should get chills down our spine and resistance flowing through our veins. When people call the president of the United States a pig, we should reject that language regardless of our politics and demand discourse that doesn’t make people subhuman.
  2. If you are offended or hurt when you hear Hillary Clinton or Maxine Waters called bitch, whore, or the c-word, you should be equally offended and hurt when you hear those same words used to describe Ivanka Trump, Kellyanne Conway, or Theresa May.
  3. If you’re offended by a meme of Trump Photoshopped to look like Hitler, then you shouldn’t have Obama Photoshopped to look like the Joker on your Facebook feed.
  4. When we hear people referred to as animals or aliens, we should immediately wonder, “Is this an attempt to reduce someone’s humanity so we can get away with hurting them or denying them basic human rights?”
There is a line. It’s etched from dignity. And raging, fearful people from the right and left are crossing it at unprecedented rates every single day. We must never tolerate dehumanization—the primary instrument of violence that has been used in every genocide recorded throughout history.

When we engage in dehumanizing rhetoric or promote dehumanizing images, we diminish our own humanity in the process. When we reduce immigrants to animals like Trump did earlier this week, it says nothing at all about the people we’re attacking. It does, however, say volumes about who we are and our integrity.

Dehumanizing and holding people accountable are mutually exclusive.

Humiliation and dehumanizing are not accountability or social justice tools, they’re emotional off-loading at best, emotional self-indulgence at worst. And if our faith asks us to find the face of God in everyone we meet, that should include the politicians, media, and strangers on Twitter with whom we most violently disagree. When we desecrate their divinity, we desecrate our own, and we betray our humanity.


That's impressive. I assume AI wrote it?
 
is beyond stupid and needs to stop. The left (and the legacy media) are actively attempting to convince some crazy lefty cult member to attempt to take out Musk. The rhetoric is getting more and more violent and intense. It’s gross.

Musk is a pathetic human being, third only to Putin and Trump. He has $400B and he is cutting jobs of VA and park workers?!?! What a dam idiot!! He has been blessed beyond imagination and he takes away jobs of less fortunate hard-working people. He should be imprisoned for life.
 
Musk is a pathetic human being, third only to Putin and Trump. He has $400B and he is cutting jobs of VA and park workers?!?! What a dam idiot!! He has been blessed beyond imagination and he takes away jobs of less fortunate hard-working people. He should be imprisoned for life.
It isn't so much the taking away jobs that is the issue. It is the carelessness of how he is doing it. His idiotic chainsaw stunt was a very accurate depiction of how he is going about things.

Thus, seems to be quite a bit of firing without knowing what the people do and then trying to rehire once DOGE and big balls realize they weren't expendable.
 
Who's shocked the right has jumped on his claim that it was Ukraine when a group of hackers took credit for it that aren't from Ukraine.

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My biggest issue with Elon is his habitual (like all day, everyday) promotion of misleading ideas, baseless accusations and outright falsehoods/blatant lies. He's the most dishonest person in an admin that includes Donald Trump.
 
My biggest issue with Elon is his habitual (like all day, everyday) promotion of misleading ideas, baseless accusations and outright falsehoods/blatant lies. He's the most dishonest person in an admin that includes Donald Trump.
I think he's also causing "waste, fraud, & abuse" to become the new "woke." As in it's now equivalent to "stuff I don't like."
 
is beyond stupid and needs to stop. The left (and the legacy media) are actively attempting to convince some crazy lefty cult member to attempt to take out Musk. The rhetoric is getting more and more violent and intense. It’s gross.

Perhaps showing a bit of caring about the people losing their jobs rather than flexing on their heads....

Just a thought.
 
Tesla stock is taking a beating, but I'm sure MAGA will be rushing out to buy some Tesla cars to help out Elon Musk:


Word is that the President is going to buy one. He probably should buy a dozen or more, but one is a start. @TyWebbIU, get your ass out there and buy a Tesla! Help out your guy. It's the right thing for you to do. And don't reply to this, I'm just trying to help you out and I have no desire to converse with a dishonorable POS like you.
 
I know he's smart, but I really question his business acumen as it relates to Tesla. He pisses off most Democrats and many foreigners who are the very people most likely to buy his cars. That ship has sailed after the last 60 days.

The people he seems to care about the most would not be caught dead in an electric vehicle (painting with a broad brush, there are exceptions). If I were a Tesla shareholder or employee I'd be pissed.
 
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My biggest issue with Elon is his habitual (like all day, everyday) promotion of misleading ideas, baseless accusations and outright falsehoods/blatant lies. He's the most dishonest person in an admin that includes Donald Trump.
Trump and Elon are two of the greatest salesmen in the history of the world. They are absolute geniuses in sales.

My sense is that Trump has made more money from the Trump brand and licensing his name than any real estate genius.

I don't agree with everything in this piece, namely that he founded much of anything. My understanding is that he bought both Tesla and SpaceX, but otherwise I think this article is on point.

 
He's a US citizen; he can opine on anything he wants to.
He's not a standard US citizen. He's a top-level spokesman for the President and an employee of the US Government and his duties, as undefined as they appear to be, do not include US Foreign policy. We have a Secretary of State and a Secretary of Defense. Their duties include NATO.

Also, as a US citizen, I'm free to criticize him when he's out of his lane and he's out of his lane.
 
Trump and Elon are two of the greatest salesmen in the history of the world. They are absolute geniuses in sales.

My sense is that Trump has made more money from the Trump brand and licensing his name than any real estate genius.

I don't agree with everything in this piece, namely that he founded much of anything. My understanding is that he bought both Tesla and SpaceX, but otherwise I think this article is on point.

You're wrong that Musk didn't found "much of anything."

 
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He's not a standard US citizen. He's a top-level spokesman for the President and an employee of the US Government and his duties, as undefined as they appear to be, do not include US Foreign policy. We have a Secretary of State and a Secretary of Defense. Their duties include NATO.

Also, as a US citizen, I'm free to criticize him when he's out of his lane and he's out of his lane.
Criticize away.

But the phrase "no business opining on" roughly means he shouldn't express an opinion about. That's a much different proposition than a critique of the actual opinion.
 
He's not a standard US citizen. He's a top-level spokesman for the President and an employee of the US Government and his duties, as undefined as they appear to be, do not include US Foreign policy. We have a Secretary of State and a Secretary of Defense. Their duties include NATO.

Also, as a US citizen, I'm free to criticize him when he's out of his lane and he's out of his lane.
He’s also promised to primary anyone who isn’t fully on board with the Trump agenda, which presumably lines up with his foreign policy opinions.

That doesn’t change the fact that he’s free to share his opinions. He is putting his thumb on the scales a little bit here though.
 
Criticize away.

But the phrase "no business opining on" roughly means he shouldn't express an opinion about. That's a much different proposition than a critique of the actual opinion.
The fact is he shouldn't express his opinion on NATO and foreign policy. If he was Secretary of Transportation or a senior official at any agency or department unrelated to foreign policy, he wouldn't and would be slapped down in any normal administration for doing so. I know this administration isn't normal and Musk has a job that's not been defined and never existed before, but his policy sure as hell isn't responsibility for foreign policy. No wonder Secretary Rubio is unhappy with Musk.
 
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He's a US citizen; he can opine on anything he wants to.
Hey Brad. Loved the essay on the importance of civil discourse, including the portion about drawing on one's faith "to find the face of God in everyone we meet." That's an inspiring Christian message. Nice find, and well done.

Why not 'til now, though? Where was this message late last summer and fall when Harris was frequently depicted here as a whore who sucked and fvcked her way to the top? Where is this message when posters are called pussies and motherf*ckers, and even threatened with violence?

That said, a strong moral voice here could make for a much better board. Seems like you're ready to take on the mantle. I look forward to more positive messaging from you -- perhaps applied, though, a bit more even-handedly.
 
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The fact is he shouldn't express his opinion on NATO and foreign policy. If he was Secretary of Transportation or a senior official at any agency or department unrelated to foreign policy, he wouldn't and would be slapped down in any normal administration for doing so. I know this administration isn't normal and Musk has a job that's not been defined and never existed before, but his policy sure as hell isn't responsibility for foreign policy. No wonder Secretary Rubio is unhappy with Musk.
The govt employee thing is certainly a differentiating factor. But if Trump, the head of the executive branch, doesn't want him talking about it, that's Trump's issue. And if Trump is OK with it, then I'd argue it is "his business."

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Trump likes Musk floating these ideas out there to see how much support they get before deciding to move forward on an issue. Of course, it also wouldn't surprise me at all if Trump had no clue what he did and is just playing it by ear.
 
Hey Brad. Loved the essay on the importance of civil discourse, including the portion about drawing on one's faith "to find the face of God in everyone we meet." That's an inspiring Christian message. Nice find, and well done.

Why not 'til now, though? Where was this message late last summer and fall when Harris was frequently depicted here as a whore who sucked and fvcked her way to the top? Where is this message when posters are called pussies and motherf*ckers, and even threatened with violence?

That said, a strong moral voice here could make for a much better board. Seems like you're ready to take on the mantle. I look forward to more positive messaging from you -- perhaps applied, though, a bit more even-handedly.
you're on his ignore stupid. no one likes faux christian creeps
 
When he bought Tesla I think there was one other employee...
Pretty good for you, only off by a factor of 225. There were 225 Tesla employees when Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO in 2008.


To be fair, when Musk first INVESTED some of his own money in Tesla from his PayPal windfall ($6.25M), there were somewhere between 10 and 22 employees.
 
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is beyond stupid and needs to stop. The left (and the legacy media) are actively attempting to convince some crazy lefty cult member to attempt to take out Musk. The rhetoric is getting more and more violent and intense. It’s gross.


Elon's opinions, and his platform to deliver them, rub people the wrong way. He deserves blame for how he's gone about things. He isn't exactly working cordially across the aisle himself. Not sure why someone would defend his approach if they want reasonableness.

That being said, this type of violence is pretty bad and representative of the fringe of this country, which I don't believe is growing in number as much as it is magnification.
 
Pretty good for you, only off by a factor of 225. There were 225 Tesla employees when Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO in 2008.


To be fair, when Musk first INVESTED some of his own money in Tesla from his PayPal windfall ($6.25M), there were somewhere between 10 and 22 employees.
Maybe it wasn’t one. Less than 10 it seems, and no car when he bought Tesla (aka became the controlling interest).

Why are you bringing up when he became CEO? That’s not what I said you dishonest piece of excrement.
 
Why are you claiming the date when he first invested in the company as the date when he "bought" it, you dishonest piece of excrement.
Because he took a controlling interest with that investment. Not when he became CEO.

Similarly, if I buy a property a choose to retain a property manager who already worked there, I am still the one that owns and bought the property. Not the property manager.

You able to wrap your head around that?
 
Because he took a controlling interest with that investment.
No, he didn't. He certainly led series A, B, and C financing, contributing $6M of the $100M raised. His main role leading the Board of Directors was to get prominent entrepreneurs, including Google co-founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page, former eBay President Jeff Skoll, Hyatt heir Nick Pritzker, the VC firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Capricorn Management, and JPMorgan Chase to invest the rest.

He didn't "buy" the company in any sense until he was able to oust all of the founders and many other executives in 2007-2008.
 
No, he didn't. He certainly led series A, B, and C financing, contributing $6M of the $100M raised. His main role leading the Board of Directors was to get prominent entrepreneurs, including Google co-founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page, former eBay President Jeff Skoll, Hyatt heir Nick Pritzker, the VC firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Capricorn Management, and JPMorgan Chase to invest the rest.

He didn't "buy" the company in any sense until he was able to oust all of the founders and many other executives in 2007-2008.
That alone is remarkable
 
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