No disagreement. I was trying to use a nontechnical term to indicate that the dude has some sort of issue that could be diagnosed. Could be a personality disorder.
To me, he seems weird and “off,” but I was not trying to diagnose him.
I think it’s simply that he’s an asshole. No further diagnosis needed.
An egotistical asshole who unfortunately has enough money to let his assholery run rampant without worrying about the deserved repercussions.
To the extent that he seems “off” it isn’t because of the typical anxious tics or difficulty in making eye contact (and he had no noted history of shuttering as a child) but because (in my opinion) he is spending so much mental effort concocting his next line of bullshit while the current one is still exiting his mouth. Fifteen years ago when nearly everyone and especially tech bros and space enthusiasts were agog over SpaceX finally enjoying a successful flight of the Falcon 9, I was having to diplomatically explain to Air Force majors and colonels and government civilian program managers how the things Musk was saying about propulsion and manufacturing were misrepeated gibberish and that they really needed to talk to the actual performers to get realistic estimates of schedule and development challenges (a situation that resolved itself by Elon just becoming too busy to waste time on anyone who doesn’t have a star on their cap). Eight years ago when Neuralink was publicly disclosed and neuroscientists started scratching their heads at Musk’s description of their technology and his purported expertise in their field, at least a few people outside of the space launch industry started to realize that he’s full of hype and without actual scientists and engineers left alone to do their work, and a management that could insulate them from Elon’s tempestuous interpositions his companies would not be successful. Two years ago and change when Elon bought Twitter and demanded that employees bring printouts of their submits for ‘code review’, a thundering herd of people started to become conscious to the fact that he doesn’t actually know what he’s doing.
And now that he is the pseudo-head of DOGE (a joke perpetrated upon people duped into thinking that cryptocurrencies have intrinsic value, now rendered as a ‘dank meme’ in the form of a questionably legal government entity) leading a bunch of underdeveloped teenagers and twenty-something incels to audit government agencies for signs of ‘fraud, waste, and abuse’, making order-of-magnitude errors in estimation and failing to have a basic understanding of the language that many of these systems are working on, and putting the employment, well-being, and even lives of tens of thousands of government employees and millions of beneficiaries who have been promised and depend upon government services, his ignorant bluster and utter mendacity is in plain view for all to see. And yet, he still tries to stutter-bullshit his way through pressers and Cabinet meetings, glowering over Trump with his little demon-spawn snotting up every piece of furniture he can find, gaslighting people that he’s not really making any decisions or running anything while all ineffectual advisors and Cabinet secretaries can do is sit and seethe because even though they also want to tear down much of the government bureaucracy they oversee they don’t want to do it in such an open fashion or be seen as mere functionaries to a billionaire overlord who bought their godhead and now runs him in circles like a pet Chihuahua.
Musk’s problem isn’t that he is neurodivergent, and in fact, it is disingenuous and offensive to those legitimately diagnosed with socioneurological ‘disorders’ that the rest of society often mocks and lampoons for ‘fun’. Musk’s problem is that he is a sociopathic fucking asshole who runs roughshod over employees and regulators, perniciously lies to investors and enthusiasts (who then feel compelled to apologize and explain away his foibles), treats people like disposable resources including the now-fourteen children he has but with a couple of exceptions rarely sees much less serves as a caring and empathic parent, and generally gets his rocks off over inciting outrage and disgust at his destructive behavior and oldest-teenage-edgelord on the social platform he conned a bunch of investors into buying for him to personally abuse. It isn’t “Asperger’s”, or being on the autist spectrum, or even a new thing stemming from his drug use and meteoric rise as a ‘MAGA celebrity’; he’s always been this way since starting his career back to the Zip2/PayPal days and it is just on show for everyone to see now.
Stranger
Yeah. This has been posted before, and it will no doubt be posted again. It never, sadly, becomes any less relevant.
Let’s face it, an African nonetheless
Spending his life in a rich man’s bubble of toadies and minions is more than enough to explain that; just look at history. Lots of wealthy people, aristocrats and so on have descended into outright crazy behavior due to the corrosive effects of decades of living in their bubble. It is not good for a person’s psychological health to live like that.
Ah, good point. It’s so foreign to my own experience that I suppose I find it easy to forget that some people live that way.
That’s not necessarily incompatible with autism.
As a data point: I think most people would say I fit the description above. I’ve been married for 13 years and did plenty of dating before that, I have friends who I’ve been close with for decades, and I’ve spent thousands of hours interacting with (and, dare I say, charming) the public as a streamer and convention staffer.
Still, I was diagnosed with ASD at age 41. It wasn’t easy to find someone who does autism evaluations for adults; if I hadn’t had a work-related reason to need to document it, I probably wouldn’t have bothered getting an official diagnosis.
One of the hallmarks of ASD, in someone who manages to conceal their deficits in communication and interpersonal relations, is having to put in 10x as much mental effort just to appear half as competent as a typical person.
This is a typical Afrikaans cultural trait, and one in which many take pride.
I’d reference a common local description for Elon in his native Afrikaans (or, really, his mother), but it would probably break board rules, even in a different language.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. South Africa doesn’t want him. You gave him citizenship, you get to keep him.
I read the news here, and Elon is conspicuosly absent. We just don’t like him.
ETA: the last time I read about Musk in local news was when there was a kerfuffle about StarLink, there are some local laws that may be changed to allow StarLink to operate.
Otherwise we don’t give a shit.
I wonder what would happen if Trump ever subjected Musk to a loyalty test. Put Musk in a room with some MAGA person who appears to be a sycophant but who will privately (except for the recording device in his pocket) express doubts to Elon about Trump’s intelligence. Say something to him like “I’m glad you’re the one who’s really in charge because Trump is an idiot!” The test is then two-fold: first, does Elon respond with humility even though he thinks he’s the smartest guy in any room? What does he say when he thinks Trump isn’t watching? Does he humiliate and debase himself to maintain the illusion that the Emperor has clothes? Second, his immediate obligation at this point is to go back to Trump and to snitch on the dissenter. How long does it take him to do this? If it is any longer than a few minutes, he’s not loyal. I suppose Trump might already know Musk isn’t loyal but if he has recorded proof of it he’ll have no choice but to respond.
Just out of curiosity, is the disdain for Musk equal among Black and white people there? I find it easy to imagine that the Black people would want nothing to do with this nazi mutherfucker.
What I think (i.e., with 95% certainty) Musk would do is consistent with what I’ve written in this thread, inasmuch as he genuinely admires and looks up to Trump as a father figure: He would deny that Trump is an idiot and quiz the the interlocutor on where he was coming from. I think it’s also highly likely that Musk would sense a setup and say, “Are you wearing a wire or something? Everyone knows I’m 100% loyal to the president. I hope this is a test, as he’s about to learn what you just said.”
I don’t talk much with Black people because my social circle is (what we call) Coloured and White.
But yes. As we say in the Cape, “Elon se poes.”
That is a very, very derogative term. My various Black friends would agree.
(Eta: “coloured” is not a perjorative in South Africa. It refers to a fantastic culture made up from Malaysian slaves, indigenous locals and some colonialist genetics. And creators of some of the best food.)
I looked it up, lol!
Not the best source, but seems legit.
Perhaps a better source might be the Politico report linked to by The Daily Mail, although the Politico report places the change in the future, “President Donald Trump has told his inner circle, including members of his Cabinet, that Elon Musk will be stepping back in the coming weeks from his current role as governing partner, ubiquitous cheerleader and Washington hatchet man.”
I wonder if Musk’s failure to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court election has / will have any effect.
Brian
Back to Mars!