# What happened to Elon Musk **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365 "2023-12-10T13:57:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/21 "2023-12-11T09:56:25Z")
I’m technically South African, in that I have citizenship and live here. I just want to know, how do I become an ultra-villain, aside from the obvious part of exchanging my very British/Zimbabwean accent for something more Afrikaans? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/22 "2023-12-11T10:11:16Z")
Do you own an emerald mine? I’ve heard that’s a good place to start. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/23 "2023-12-11T13:55:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It means he’s a spoiled rich white man who grew up in a country where spoiled rich white men were the only people who mattered. The United States of America, where Musk made 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of his wealth. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/24 "2023-12-11T14:21:35Z")
He grew up in the US? I’m sure that’s news to most people, including him ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/25 "2023-12-11T14:55:11Z")
No of course he didn’t, but im sick of people blaming his racism on being South African. I’m a white south african many of my friends are white south africans. None of us are like Musk, not even those his age. His wealth, his bigotry, and his disgusting world view is very much of the US variety. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/26 "2023-12-11T15:05:45Z")
And the same is true for many Americans. And yet there are bigoted South Africans. There are wealthy South Africans. And there’s more than a little overlap in those groups. And there are historic reasons for this. Not all of them are this way, to be sure, but a blanket denial that it’s a factor is problematic in its own right, just as it is problematic if an American were to do the same for our own cultural peccadilloes ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/27 "2023-12-11T15:14:51Z")
I don’t completely agree, although one does have to very cautious about over-broad generalizations about nations and the classes of people who live there. But it seems like a factual statement that Musk grew up in a privileged white enclave in a country with a long history of institutionalized colonial racism going back centuries. Which in a sense could also describe the USA, except that I think in SA it was perhaps even more pervasive and certainly lasted longer. It’s not unreasonable to think that Musk entered the US with all the formative characteristics of white supremacy and spoiled rich-kid assholery ready to become fully developed. > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > And the same is true for many Americans. > > And yet there are bigoted South Africans. There are wealthy South Africans. And there’s more than a little overlap in those groups. And there are historic reasons for this. Not all of them are this way, to be sure, but a blanket denial that it’s a factor is problematic in its own right, just as it is problematic if an American were to do the same for our own cultural peccadilloes I agree. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/28 "2023-12-11T15:17:32Z")
Im not denying its a factor, I’m annoyed that people go it as a lazy catch all excuse. Musk is a bigoted asshole, and unfortunately he’s managed to fall into being a very powerful bigoted asshole. The country he spent less than half his life living in cannot be the excuse for that. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/29 "2023-12-11T15:21:21Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > He’s a megalomaniacal narcissist whose main need in life is to be liked and admired by a lot of people. Cue up TBMG “Kiss Me, Son Of God” 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/30 "2023-12-11T15:21:44Z")
Certainly not “the” excuse but also certainly it’s “a” factor. And a large one. His father is pretty well known for holding pretty much exactly the same bigoted views, if not worse, and also did not grow up in the US and in his case did not spend any significant amount of time living here. And known for having many of the same personality quirks, including the desire to have as many children as possible. That’s no coincidence. The apple did not fall far from the tree. Trying to put a number on that like “less than half his life” is ridiculous. The first couple decades of our lives are incredibly formative in terms of our beliefs and behaviors well into adulthood. I will not deny that being in the US has enabled many of those tendencies but trying to entirely blame shift the source does nobody any good. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/31 "2023-12-11T15:22:23Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > He’s a megalomaniacal narcissist whose main need in life is to be liked and admired by a lot of people. He targeted young liberals at first, because those are generally considered the cool kids. But those cool kids were a little skeptical of his “I’m not like the other billionaires, teehee” bullshit and he wasn’t getting the adulation he needed. He saw years of Trump and realized that you can be worshipped by right wing types just by being a huge asshole who spouts bullshit all day, and so he pivoted to that. The dumber and more assholish he gets, the more those deplorables love him, and so he’s leaning harder and harder into it. I think this sums it up nicely. I hadn’t even considered this, but it makes sense. He’s doing what he does for love and admiration, and he just switched who he wants to be loved and admired by because they’re easier to please as a troll. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365/32 "2023-12-11T15:30:44Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > I will not deny that being in the US has enabled many of those tendencies but trying to entirely blame shift the source does nobody any good. Agreed, we will not shift the blame entirely on his being South African. That was my only point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-elon-musk/994365.md?page=1)