I don’t know what the point of that drive-by remark is supposed to be. Anyone saying this is obviously not meaning to be taken literally. But I’ve never seen such a claim, I certainly never made such a claim, and the comment just above from one of his strongest critics here is that his intelligence is “probably a bit above average”.
So according to the latest Musk fanbois to crawl out of the woodwork, Musk has always been universally regarded by “the left” as either “the smartest person on earth” or “the stupidest person on earth”, depending on which way the wind was blowing, and there was never any middle ground!
Maybe you should take off those far-right blinders and consider the reality. Before the Twitter fiasco, many of us (especially those who had bothered to read the Ashlee Vance bio) knew of Musk as an eccentric asshole who was nevertheless head of a couple of impressive technology ventures. After Twitter, his comical level of ineptness and utter contempt for basic human values became abundantly obvious. So many opinions shifted to some extent because of that pitiful exhibition.
Yeah, these attempts at leveling hypocrisy only make sense if you assume that much of people like @Sam_Stone’s and @EastUmpqua’s deranged imaginations have any sort of connection to reality, which they don’t.
What is truly amusing is the right, that hates electric cars, that hates Tesla, that go out of their way to modify their trucks in order to “coal roll” someone for having the terimity to drive a Tesla, who will laugh about how they are using their F350s to block charging stations, is now heaping praise on Musk since he turned out to be a racist like them.
Okay, so I suppose you have never and will never respond to a post that was not directed to you?
Hmmm, thought not. Tell you what, there’s a cactus over there in the corner looking rather lonely. Maybe you should see if yo two can hook up and find something to do together.
I’ve been trying to stake out the middle ground this whole time, and have gotten nothing but grief for it because I won’t agree that Musk is a know-nothing poseur who gets real engineers to do all the thinking and then takes credit for it. That is the common sentiment here - that Musk was lucky, that he is a product of power and privilege with nothing special upstairs. He just bought Tesla, he didn’t create anything he just hired rocket engineers then claimed to be a genius when they made a good rocket, yada yada. All presented without evidence, and while ignoring reams of evidence to the contrary.
When I posted that list of quotes from other engineers, I was very careful to include people who don’t work for Musk and who even compete with him. That was ignored. I included Robert Zubrin, a guy who is brilliant and rarely says anything that isn’t a criticism of someone and has no reason to puff up Musk. Also ignored.
And I didn’t post that interview video, or the other videos that are out there that anyone can find easily, because I assumed they would also be ignored or mocked. And sure enough, the posts before mine basically dismissed that video.
You can’t reason someone out of a position they weren’t reasoned into. This hatred of Musk is tribal. He’s not ‘of the body’, and therefore he’s a threat who must be destroyed.
It didn’t show him to be the genious that you make him out to be, no. Sure, if someone had said that he’s stupid, and he has no idea what he is doing, then that video would counter that.
All I saw in that video, and any other videos about him, is him demonstrating that he understands the basic concepts involved in the industry that he is in.
If you are now saying that he’s just a more or less normal person, with probably somewhat above average intelligence, then we are in agreement. It was when you kept defending obvious mistakes with the claim that we just aren’t smart enough to understand him that you got called out on it.
This belief of yours is certainly not something that you were not reasoned into, so I agree that it’s pointless to try to reason you out of it.
This is simply something that you have made up, almost entirely out of whole cloth, in order to continue your persecution of your self persecution complex.
It used to be annoying, but honestly, at this point, you are just getting boring with it.
This just isn’t true. We’ve known that Musk isn’t a liberal or progressive since well before he bought Twitter. It is his actions with regards to Twitter that have led people to reevaluate his intelligence.
What seems different now is that the right now considers Musk one of their own, and thus feels a need to defend him, even when what he’s done is objectively stupid. Defending Musk has become a way to “stick it to the libs.”
Not just a racist, but a promoter of fascist agendas, someone who treats his employees the way the right believes they should be treated – i.e.- with utter contempt, someone who rants against having to pay taxes, and a shameless hypocrite who claims to promote “free speech” unless it’s speech he doesn’t like. But neo-Nazi speech is always welcome! No wonder right-wing lunatics are in love with Elmo!
Hey, Sam, how’s Elizabeth Cheney’s senatorial career doing? Adam Kinzinger? Frank Upton? How many Republicans who didn’t toe the line on Trump got voted out of office for not being “of the body?”
Actually, that’s a load of cheap stereotypes. Also, maybe the right can compartmentalize and make allies with people they don’t agree with on all things. The right is also okay with supporting left-wing and center-left people like Matt Taibbi, Russell Brand, Glenn Greenwald and others fighting for free speech while they disagree with them on many other issues.
The left has a more totalitarian mindset. You must agree with them on everything or you are excommunicated. Glenn Greenwald and Elon Musk would agree with you far more than they do with me on a whole host of issues. And yet, I’m fully capable of supporting them on some things while opposing them on others. Most of you, not so much. You tend to decide that flaws in others or their diversions from the one true path make them ‘pieces of shit’ or other gross, derogatory labels. It’s rather sickening to watch, especially coming from people who claim to care about ‘online safety’, ‘trigger words’ and ‘hate’.
I have an open mind and often do change my thoughts based on new information. I am not locked on to the same stuff I used to believe when I was 20 (it was dumb, believe me…I voted R at the time while believing I was a free-thinking libertarian). Changing your mind as you become more informed or new information comes out is a good thing.
