Elon Musk, love him or hate him

[bimble]

though in response to the advertiser backlash against this latest issue he has announced new steps to combat "calls for extreme violence" against Israel.  This includes suspensions for uses of phrases such as "from the river to the sea" which the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) considers to be a coded call for Israel's destruction - would be suspended from the platform.

Which isn't the case everywhere on the internet...

X ad boycott gathers pace amid antisemitism storm - BBC

[Sawyer]

Musk is apparently also retweeting literal Nazis on the old "jews have been secretly riling up the blacks" conspiracy.  I had to read Rai's post very carefully to make sure it was a DIFFERENT incident involving endorsing Nazi propaganda.

Fuck him.  Fuck everyone that defends him.  None of this "well even the worst people think they are doing the right thing ..." bullshit.  He is either is 100% aware of the diabolical path he has traveled down and the tangible harm it inflicts on the world, or he isn't aware, in which case he's one of about a dozen people on the planet that truly needs to be put in a straitjacket and thrown into an 1890s-era sanitarium.

[random poet]

Now he is suing Media Matters, saying they are looking for hateful content on purpose, in order to drive advertisers away from Twitter. Hilarious.

[Harry Black]

I wonder how many people will still start sentences with "Yes, but..." And then start on about how we need him for space things.

What is it about nazis and their ilk getting free passes for space?

[daniel1948]

I wonder how many people will still start sentences with "Yes, but..." And then start on about how we need him for space things.

What is it about nazis and their ilk getting free passes for space?

I don't think anybody would say that we need Musk. Some will excuse his ranting and his actions and say that he's done more good than bad. But "need"? I don't think so. I own stock in Tesla and I think he's actively hurting the company. I wish he'd leave. I do think that at one point in his career he put a shit-ton of money into something good: Bringing electric transportation into the mainstream. That does not excuse any of the bad stuff he's done and said.

But where does the idea that "... nazis ... [are] getting free passes for space" come from? Has anybody actually said "Musk is a nazi but at least something-something space"? There are certainly people who think that SpaceX is doing good things but I doubt that any of those people think that Musk is a nazi.

Of course, in a capitalist country the rich can do pretty much whatever they like, but that's regardless of whether they are nazis or not. I don't think it has anything to do with nazis. Rich people get away with whatever. And a lot of people think it's good that there are space companies. I don't think there's a connection.

[arthwollipot]

I've argued before that only billionaires have the resources to commercialise space. Governments won't do it. At best, governments will fund science and discovery.

If not Musk, then Bezos, or some other billionaire. It's just the way it is.

[werecow]

I wonder how many people will still start sentences with "Yes, but..." And then start on about how we need him for space things.

How else are we going to shoot him into the sun, mr smarty pants? }|:o|

[daniel1948]

I've argued before that only billionaires have the resources to commercialise space. Governments won't do it. At best, governments will fund science and discovery.

If not Musk, then Bezos, or some other billionaire. It's just the way it is.

In the U.S. the government does not commercialize anything. The government pays commercial enterprises for whatever services it wants. There are a very few exceptions, such as air traffic control, firefighting, and garbage collection. If it were possible to colonize Mars, it would be done by commercial companies under contract to the government: The government would pay and the commercial companies would provide the services, at a profit. Which is what Musk wants: For SpaceX to make a profit. It's what every corporate executive wants: For their company to make a profit.

ETA: In some places even garbage collection is done by commercial companies, who are paid by the government.

[xenu]

My town has commercial garbage pick up. The city negotiates the contract we pay the bill directly to the company. The only thing the city does is to negotiate the contract. It works pretty well. No complaints from me.

[bimble]

I wonder how many people will still start sentences with "Yes, but..." And then start on about how we need him for space things.

How else are we going to shoot him into the sun, mr smarty pants? }|:o|

If I remember correctly it's easier to shoot him (or anything) out of the solar system than into the Sun

[Harry Black]

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/spacex-musk-safety/#:~:text=To%20speed%20work%20and%20cut,Fahrenheit%2C%20the%20SpaceX%20workers%20said

He cannot be trusted to be involved with developing anything. Let alone getting us to Mars.
His treatment of workers is despicable.

[werecow]

I wonder how many people will still start sentences with "Yes, but..." And then start on about how we need him for space things.

How else are we going to shoot him into the sun, mr smarty pants? }|:o|

If I remember correctly it's easier to shoot him (or anything) out of the solar system than into the Sun

Well, we can make a valiant effort.

[daniel1948]

I wonder how many people will still start sentences with "Yes, but..." And then start on about how we need him for space things.

How else are we going to shoot him into the sun, mr smarty pants? }|:o|

If I remember correctly it's easier to shoot him (or anything) out of the solar system than into the Sun

True, but worth the effort.

He cannot be trusted to be involved with developing anything. Let alone getting us to Mars.

We shouldn't be going to Mars anyway. But SpaceX (the engineers, not Musk himself) has been very successful at developing lower-cost access to space. As long as you don't care about the workers (and when has America ever cared about workers?) SpaceX is probably the fastest and cheapest way accomplish the useless, pointless, stupid, and wasteful project of putting a person on Mars.

His treatment of workers is despicable.

True, and not new.

[Harry Black]

I dont think many people realise just HOW bad he is.
I honestly did not expect this degree of negligence at Space X.

[daniel1948]

I dont think many people realise just HOW bad he is.
I honestly did not expect this degree of negligence at Space X.

I suspect the negligence at SpaceX is the result of the push to get it done faster. The first company to develop the rocket that's needed for the next big project will be the industry leader and will get the contracts.

Tesla is the industry leader in EVs because a few billionaires decided to put big money into the technology at a time when the big auto makers were fighting tooth and nail against it. They got a head start because nobody else was willing to enter the sector. But SpaceX has been competing from the start against established aerospace companies. To gain the upper hand, Musk has had to push for rapid development and that has meant cutting corners. That's fine when it just means blowing up a few rockets in order to achieve working technology before the more cautious legacy companies. It is not fine at all when it means sacrificing safety and injuring or killing workers.

Like the general addressing his troops before the big battle: "Men, many of you are going to die today, but that's a price I'm willing to pay." Generals and captains of industry are willing to sacrifice lives in order to achieve their goals.