by Donald Mayer | Nov 30, 2023 | Business Ethics, Uncategorized
Elon Musk might just be one of the most interesting people on the planet: head of Space X, Tesla, and the Boring Company, he seems to be everywhere all at once. Without his Starlink system (part of Space X), Ukraine would lack the ability to track Russian drone attacks. Walter Isaacson, who has written epic biographies of Steve Jobs, made Elon Musk the subject of his latest biography, which has been well received, and pays tribute not only to Musk’s genius, but his “dark side” (or demon mode) as well. Listen to this wonderful interview of Isaacson by David Axelrod on “the Axe Files.”
https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/axe-files/episodes/64d54e0f-0a94-4111-ab92-b09f01778b08
Doubtless, Musk really is a genius, especially when it comes to technology. But, as Isaacson notes, Musk has difficulty looking people in the eye, and lacks “emotional receptors,” so instead of buying Twitter, should have “stuck to batteries and rocket ships.”
Speaking of Twitter, and the lack of EI (emotional intelligence), why is he so tone deaf that he is still “tweeting” (or “Xing”) that tired and fully discredited Q Anon claim about Comet Ping Pong Pizza harboring sex trafficking Democrats?
(Readers of this blog will recognize an earlier post on the Comet Ping Pong Pizza, a delightful establishment in Northwest D.C. that your faithful chronicler visited in June of 2022.)
Recently, NBC News has reported that Musk has referenced “Pizzagate” five times in the past two weeks.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/28/pizzagate-musk-twitter-x-controversy/
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-boosted-pizzagate-conspiracy-theory-rcna127087
Here’s a gentle reminder to our readers: matters of “right” and “wrong” begin with the truth.
I had a first grade teacher, Mrs. Marts, who was frustrated with one of my classmates’ acting out, and she pretty much lost it, saying in a loud voice, “Don’t you know the difference between right and wrong?” (“I guess not,” said the boy.)
It occurs to me now that if you can’t tell truth from fiction, as Musk evidently does not, or does not care to, you can’t tell what’s right or wrong, either. What’s most concerning about “the world’s richest man” [1] is that on something as basic as truth vs. fiction, he knoweth not. A mighty tech titan, for sure, but morally? Lacking EI (ethical intelligence) makes Musk a bit of a moral midget, don’t you think?
[1] BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55578403
by Donald Mayer | Jul 18, 2022 | Society and Politics
I am not a big Hilary Clinton fan, but I voted for her (or, more accurately, against Donald Trump) in 2016. What astonishes me is the level of vitriol leveled against her. I was struck this week reading about Angela Rubino, who is now quite active in politics; now, that is, that she is able to scroll through scurrilous and incendiary lies about politicians, and about Hilary Clinton in particular.
Consider this gem: Rubino asks, “Did you ever see that clip about Hilary Clinton where she cut a girl’s face off and she wore it?” She was referring to a fake video, the likes of which she routinely sees in her social media doom-scrolling.
No, I didn’t see it, and don’t plan to: the very notion that someone could cut someone’s face off and then wear it is plainly idiotic. Marjorie Taylor Greene is Rubino’s political idol, and Greene is a self-proclaimed QAnon believer. In 2020, QAnon revived the smear on Clinton and John Podesta that they were running child sex trafficking ring from the basement of the Comet Ping-Pong Pizza in Northwest D.C. Or worse, that they enjoyed eating babies.
The Business Insider notes that in 2019 a book about the bizarre QAnon theory — which claims Democrats eat babies — became an Amazon best-seller and was “being boosted by the site’s algorithms.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/qanon-book-pro-trump-conspiracy-amazon-charts-2019-3?op=1
My wife and I went to Comet Ping Pong Pizza on a lovely evening in June, enjoyed some wonderful pizza, and watched as families did the same, with kids playing (you guessed it) ping pong on two tables in the back of the restaurant. Supposedly, according to the 2016 Pizzagate lie, there is a basement where trafficked children are being held.
In 2016, a North Carolina man took his guns there to liberate the children, and fired off three shots before giving himself up. He never found the basement there, because there isn’t one. And never was. But Pizzagate survives on Tik-Tok, and there are still true believers of this utter falsehood.
It must feel good to hate and demonize, because so many people do. They ask, “Who but a demon (like Hilary Clinton) would cut off a girls face and put it on her own?” So, hate and vitriol might feel righteous and good to some folks –– “Lock her up!” –– and there are no laws against it. But this kind of hatefulness is sheer idiocy. Yes, it is “perfectly legal” to indulge these hateful fantasies, and the First Amendment protects your right to say absurd things. But this is far from right. A dear friend of mine had a father who was wonderfully smart and very successful, who often said “99% of the human race are idiots.” My friend and I have for many years refused to believe this, but, sadly, it’s becoming more and more believable that at least a sizeable portion of our electorate are, if not “deplorables,” at least certifiable idiots, doom-scrolling toward the demise of our democracy.
