Elon Musk is rattled, brittle and aggrieved. It is an unbecoming disposition for the world’s richest man. Jeff Bezos may have the smaller rocket, but is clearly living his best life. He’s a happy cowboy, a smoocher and a canoodler, but why not? John Wayne has been dead long enough, right?
“Here is what Elon Musk proves beyond a shadow of the doubt. There is no flower in the world more delicate than the male ego.”
Shocker? Isn’t this exactly how most oligarchs and plutocrats operate? Especially when they run their companies like autocracies? Musk isn’t just a billionaire CEO; he’s also a brand.
Musk isn’t just a CEO, he is the face of X, Tesla and SpaceX. Never mind, he isn’t a genius at all. He’s mostly failed upward and was more the beneficiary of improving market dynamics, than any genius or business acumen. The real genius are all the dedicated scientists and engineers, and financial experts that keep his companies operating in the black, in spite of Musk, yet they all remain anonymous.
Furthermore, Musk almost ran PayPal into the ground before he was fired and Thiel took the helm. He also benefitted from good investments in companies like EBay (right place, right time).
Back in the 1933 there was the “Business Plot,” in which our country’s richest billionaires or plutocrats tried to exact a coup against FDR and install a puppet (Major General Smedley). Smedley would later testify before Congress in 1934 since he was essentially a whistleblower who refused to go along with the conspiracy. He was later be ridiculed and laughed at as a fraud; never mind he won two Congressional medals honor.
That said, Plutocrats operate with hubris and arrogance. They are extremely paranoid, and in most cases, have delusions of grandeur. Musk himself could use a Prozac the size of Texas.
Bottom line: plutocrats and oligarchs don’t be believe the rules or laws apply to them; hence the Orange Mussolini or tangerine terrorist that is about to win the Republican nomination for president. They only believe in free markets when they have monopolies in their respective markets and industries. They would choose authoritarianism over democracy any day, as long as it works to their benefit, yet cry fowl whenever someone else operates like they do.
So again, is anyone truly shocked? And Space Cowboy to describe Musk is apt! After all, he definitely is out of this world, and not in a good way....:)
I could say a lot about where we are today but I was raised in the 50’s on cowboy BS and fell for it. I was a kid. But it didn’t take me long to learn that it was all about men. Oligarchs, etc. ALL men. ALL rigged the game and lied big time to gain money and power. Powerful, evil women? RARE! RARE! RARE! Women and children continue to be savaged by men. As this continues we are doomed!
Time to take the helm sisters, would we do any better? Will we ever know? I’ve put my $3.-5 dollars down repeatedly, voted every time, raised my kids, sheltered a few others, built my own far from the maddening crowd and self sufficient. It won’t bother me to be w/o all these marvels of whomevers and I can finally not have to worry what password I forgot ,being hacked, who to trust. This whole shebang is out of control , shouted by the outcriers of every email ,post, sales pitch. I was amused , now exasperated, a room filled of exhausted, most say disregarded , made little to no difference and it’s Saturday already...the week flew by leaving a few more jobless (rightfully) after chalkboard screeching for ridiculously too long..garnering the limelight for another 10 seconds..I grew up in the theater and then we all knew the stage persona vs the everyday buckle down and toe the needs...the only ones now are the abject impoverished -they don’t have the time to play games. I grew up secure, with icons of the mostly trusted , stable politics and worldly advances.
Things of the past . A rough road ahead is the news.
“The management of the human ego has always been humanity’s greatest challenge, and so it remains today.”
Here I add another golden nugget of wisdom into my book of knowledge. That is why I stay with this tribe. I learn to respect my own dignities and that of others like me. This is place that helps me to navigate through the landscape of human failures celebrated by media sensationalism.
Elon and his self medication(s), along with his narcissism, have taken / exposed him as the devil that he is. I truly hope that Twitter goes down in flames, all of his investors get screwed out of the billions in funding and it gets shut down permanently. Let another iteration from a decent human take its place.
I have no problem with self-driven creative people who become wealthy, but so many regard themselves as better than others and above the law.
Sometimes I wonder if I just need to accept that the prevailing philosophy of the world is social darwinism and that every now and then the law is applied to pull us back from the abyss. (But I'm still hopeful the rule of law will prevail and Trump will go to jail. We'll see.)
I wish Musk, Trump, and Bezos would just shut up and run their companies. They'd be nothing without the most powerful military in the history of the world protecting them and their assets. It would be good for them to remember that.
Trump's ego got the best of him. Had he continued to be a wealthy real estate tycoon/businessman he would be coasting along just fine without the legal jeopardy that he finds himself in. People stroked his ego telling him you are great, yes, you should run for President! NY probably wouldn't have gone after him for his shady business practices however he became such a high exposure in your face obnoxious person that they decided to investigate his behind the scenes business practices. I doubt that he ever thought that he would win the presidency but once he did he loved the power. Be careful what you ask for. Egos, money and power........The demise of many men.
When some ass hole tells me to go F*** myself, I listen. And if my company had one dollar of advertising revenue from that slime ball it would be gone forever. I would have no problem with telling my shareholders a precise explanation of my actions. "Sorry folks for the good of the company and all of the shareholders I told Elon to go F*** Himself."
The DOD needs to find another rocket company, because as a shareholder of sorts, I'm fed up with my money going into his pocket and everyone else should be too! Hell, he doesn't even deserve to be in this country, IMHO.
Right on, Bill! Did you ever read or listen to Steve's 'Dear Elon' substack newsletter from a little over a year ago? If not, you might enjoy it. I hope this get to Elon Musk soon.
Thank you for that and Steve as well. He did a much better job than I did in my comments about Elon. The guys an ass hole and I have no use for him (Elon). This just makes my day a little better.
It improved my day, too, Bill! I wish Steve would have reposted this New Jersey 'Dear Elon' for all to read today. I know that for some of us, repressing how we feel is bad for our health. Bring it, Steve, and your comment, Bill, rocks too!!!
I have to speak out to keep my sanity, it helps and most everyone in my circle knows me and where I stand. I served my country in the late 60’s early 70’s so I deserve a voice. Have a great weekend and on the bright side we got rid of one crook today, so there’s that, but lots more to go on that front.
Elon (many refer to him as Elmo) is an arrogant and somewhat unhinged ass. I don't see how the US Government can continue to do business with this punk.
I think we need to pull the covers back on the American cowboy metaphor/ myth. They carried guns to protect the herds from predators. They weren’t fearless gunslingers. Some may have been drinkers who went to bars.
The job of a cowboy is moving meat to market. Period. Nothing noble or glamorous about it. Get the cows to the market for slaughter and repeat.
Growing up, I watched cowboys portrayed as killers of native Americans. We played “cowboys and Indians”. If there’s any truth to this activity, we can add murderers to their job description.
Surely there’s a better and more appropriate metaphor for those among us who stand out because of their independence and ability.
David, I'm so glad you spoke out on this 'cowboy myth'! I've seen way too much fake-cowboy even out here in rural Montana. There are some real heroes and most of them don't wear a cowboy hat and pointy boots. They look like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden (and probably you!)
The perverse portrayal of the cowboy grew to become THE icon of the American male mythology. When you examine the level of emotional development exhibited by the cowboy through the fictional offerings, the cowboy is about that of an eight-grade punk.
Last night I watched a 1958 Jan 17 episode of The Beaver..Beaver was at a party and the father showed him his gun collection, one a shotgun that might have killed and Indian..I gagged.
Yes, that is it, Leave it to Beaver, thank you. I was surprised to see an appropriate place I could write about it and could not think of the name of the show.
Netanyahu met with him because he’s like a drowning man who will cling to anything to avoid his fate. Their meeting served them both, the antisemite Musk, and the Jew who, since it takes two to tango, from the Israeli side was most responsible for Oct 7, they each benefited from a cooling of the rancor. Strange bedfellows indeed 🤷♂️
Another overly wealthy nut job. I'll never understand how Musk or Rupert Murdock got to be American citizens. Neither deserved it and they both are hell bent on ruining our democracy. The U.S. Government needs to divorce themselves from Musk and they need to stop the lie machine over at Fox.
Also, thank you for calling out the truth about Henry Kissinger, which was so carefully disguised over the years. Your point- intellect does not replace or supersede moral judgement. Neither does money or power.
To me, Musk is a text book example of what we Americans often do with rich and (apparently) successful business people. That is, we assume they have a high level of skills and competence in every field imaginable including public affairs and government. We then give them center stage and all the attention their gigantic (and in Musk’s case, meglomaniacal) ego can possibly ever want. The problem is, we Americans don’t seem to realize that success in one area doesn’t always transfer to another and give one sufficient expertise to participate in the dialogue of that subject or arena. So in this case, we elevate Musk because he’s been successful with electric cars and rockets (when they’re not exploding) and allow him to comment about foreign affairs, diplomacy, and everything else under the sun because he acts all knowing and thinks he is. Truth be told, he’s a fraud and a dangerous antisemite. Where I’m from, we categorize the knowledge level of people like Musk this way- “he doesn’t know s**t”. The sooner we realize that Musk doesn’t know anything about all these topics he wades into with his pontificating tantrums, the better off we’ll be.
PS his purchase and operation of a social media company is another illustration of how his electric car and rocket knowledge doesn’t transfer to another field. Musk has destroyed Twitter.
Mostly, I agree. However, this passage: "What he has created with X is a digital Bavaria circa 1938. It is a square filled with menace, evil and loads of Nazis. It serves no purpose beyond the wealth of its owners, . . ." overstates the case. There are still a great many other things going on within the world of Twitter (fuck "X"). Not only does it still provide space for folks to share brief reflections on things which matter to them, but it is also used by various NGO's and special interest groups to circulate information, links to further information and links to petitions they think useful and important. Some examples. First, the United Farm Workers union almost daily posts Tweet-videos illustrating the back-breaking, overlong and underpaid labor of farm workers. (It's a shame more unions haven't seized the opportunity to illustrate the work, pains and struggles of their workers, generally out-of-sight and unknown.) Second, it has provided groups opposed to ecologically devastating policies - like wildlife-killing contests - one opportunity to mobilize opposition. Third, it has provided a vehicle for the widespread distribution of a TON of anti-Trump, anti-fascist memes and arguments, including a huge array of amusing images, mocking Trump and bolstering opposition to him and his aspirations. Fourth, it has also provided a vehicle for alternative information as well as disinformation on current issues such as the conflicts in Palestine. Finally, like one finds in some cartoon strips, Twitter sports a variety of beautiful images and heart-warming stories that help restore one's faith that not all is lost - which helps stave off misanthropy and despair.
“Here is what Elon Musk proves beyond a shadow of the doubt. There is no flower in the world more delicate than the male ego.”
Shocker? Isn’t this exactly how most oligarchs and plutocrats operate? Especially when they run their companies like autocracies? Musk isn’t just a billionaire CEO; he’s also a brand.
Musk isn’t just a CEO, he is the face of X, Tesla and SpaceX. Never mind, he isn’t a genius at all. He’s mostly failed upward and was more the beneficiary of improving market dynamics, than any genius or business acumen. The real genius are all the dedicated scientists and engineers, and financial experts that keep his companies operating in the black, in spite of Musk, yet they all remain anonymous.
Furthermore, Musk almost ran PayPal into the ground before he was fired and Thiel took the helm. He also benefitted from good investments in companies like EBay (right place, right time).
Back in the 1933 there was the “Business Plot,” in which our country’s richest billionaires or plutocrats tried to exact a coup against FDR and install a puppet (Major General Smedley). Smedley would later testify before Congress in 1934 since he was essentially a whistleblower who refused to go along with the conspiracy. He was later be ridiculed and laughed at as a fraud; never mind he won two Congressional medals honor.
That said, Plutocrats operate with hubris and arrogance. They are extremely paranoid, and in most cases, have delusions of grandeur. Musk himself could use a Prozac the size of Texas.
Bottom line: plutocrats and oligarchs don’t be believe the rules or laws apply to them; hence the Orange Mussolini or tangerine terrorist that is about to win the Republican nomination for president. They only believe in free markets when they have monopolies in their respective markets and industries. They would choose authoritarianism over democracy any day, as long as it works to their benefit, yet cry fowl whenever someone else operates like they do.
So again, is anyone truly shocked? And Space Cowboy to describe Musk is apt! After all, he definitely is out of this world, and not in a good way....:)
I could say a lot about where we are today but I was raised in the 50’s on cowboy BS and fell for it. I was a kid. But it didn’t take me long to learn that it was all about men. Oligarchs, etc. ALL men. ALL rigged the game and lied big time to gain money and power. Powerful, evil women? RARE! RARE! RARE! Women and children continue to be savaged by men. As this continues we are doomed!
Marie, I could not agree more! You hit the nail on the head. Keep speaking out -thanks.
Time to take the helm sisters, would we do any better? Will we ever know? I’ve put my $3.-5 dollars down repeatedly, voted every time, raised my kids, sheltered a few others, built my own far from the maddening crowd and self sufficient. It won’t bother me to be w/o all these marvels of whomevers and I can finally not have to worry what password I forgot ,being hacked, who to trust. This whole shebang is out of control , shouted by the outcriers of every email ,post, sales pitch. I was amused , now exasperated, a room filled of exhausted, most say disregarded , made little to no difference and it’s Saturday already...the week flew by leaving a few more jobless (rightfully) after chalkboard screeching for ridiculously too long..garnering the limelight for another 10 seconds..I grew up in the theater and then we all knew the stage persona vs the everyday buckle down and toe the needs...the only ones now are the abject impoverished -they don’t have the time to play games. I grew up secure, with icons of the mostly trusted , stable politics and worldly advances.
Things of the past . A rough road ahead is the news.
What happened?
It appears to have reached that point.
Awesome!!!! Should be posted in a medium with wider circ
“The management of the human ego has always been humanity’s greatest challenge, and so it remains today.”
Here I add another golden nugget of wisdom into my book of knowledge. That is why I stay with this tribe. I learn to respect my own dignities and that of others like me. This is place that helps me to navigate through the landscape of human failures celebrated by media sensationalism.
And we love having you here, Jeanine!
Steve
Thanks
Elon and his self medication(s), along with his narcissism, have taken / exposed him as the devil that he is. I truly hope that Twitter goes down in flames, all of his investors get screwed out of the billions in funding and it gets shut down permanently. Let another iteration from a decent human take its place.
Yes. Decency. I'd love to see more of it.
I have no problem with self-driven creative people who become wealthy, but so many regard themselves as better than others and above the law.
Sometimes I wonder if I just need to accept that the prevailing philosophy of the world is social darwinism and that every now and then the law is applied to pull us back from the abyss. (But I'm still hopeful the rule of law will prevail and Trump will go to jail. We'll see.)
I wish Musk, Trump, and Bezos would just shut up and run their companies. They'd be nothing without the most powerful military in the history of the world protecting them and their assets. It would be good for them to remember that.
Trump's ego got the best of him. Had he continued to be a wealthy real estate tycoon/businessman he would be coasting along just fine without the legal jeopardy that he finds himself in. People stroked his ego telling him you are great, yes, you should run for President! NY probably wouldn't have gone after him for his shady business practices however he became such a high exposure in your face obnoxious person that they decided to investigate his behind the scenes business practices. I doubt that he ever thought that he would win the presidency but once he did he loved the power. Be careful what you ask for. Egos, money and power........The demise of many men.
Gee would earth let that happen?
When some ass hole tells me to go F*** myself, I listen. And if my company had one dollar of advertising revenue from that slime ball it would be gone forever. I would have no problem with telling my shareholders a precise explanation of my actions. "Sorry folks for the good of the company and all of the shareholders I told Elon to go F*** Himself."
The DOD needs to find another rocket company, because as a shareholder of sorts, I'm fed up with my money going into his pocket and everyone else should be too! Hell, he doesn't even deserve to be in this country, IMHO.
Right on, Bill! Did you ever read or listen to Steve's 'Dear Elon' substack newsletter from a little over a year ago? If not, you might enjoy it. I hope this get to Elon Musk soon.
https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/dear-elon
Lisa,
Thank you for that and Steve as well. He did a much better job than I did in my comments about Elon. The guys an ass hole and I have no use for him (Elon). This just makes my day a little better.
It improved my day, too, Bill! I wish Steve would have reposted this New Jersey 'Dear Elon' for all to read today. I know that for some of us, repressing how we feel is bad for our health. Bring it, Steve, and your comment, Bill, rocks too!!!
I have to speak out to keep my sanity, it helps and most everyone in my circle knows me and where I stand. I served my country in the late 60’s early 70’s so I deserve a voice. Have a great weekend and on the bright side we got rid of one crook today, so there’s that, but lots more to go on that front.
One down, more to go...dominoes! Have a great weekend :-)
Loved that essay!
👍👍
Time to take another look at those government contracts with Musk.
Elon (many refer to him as Elmo) is an arrogant and somewhat unhinged ass. I don't see how the US Government can continue to do business with this punk.
Right On!! Thanks.
I think we need to pull the covers back on the American cowboy metaphor/ myth. They carried guns to protect the herds from predators. They weren’t fearless gunslingers. Some may have been drinkers who went to bars.
The job of a cowboy is moving meat to market. Period. Nothing noble or glamorous about it. Get the cows to the market for slaughter and repeat.
Growing up, I watched cowboys portrayed as killers of native Americans. We played “cowboys and Indians”. If there’s any truth to this activity, we can add murderers to their job description.
Surely there’s a better and more appropriate metaphor for those among us who stand out because of their independence and ability.
David, I'm so glad you spoke out on this 'cowboy myth'! I've seen way too much fake-cowboy even out here in rural Montana. There are some real heroes and most of them don't wear a cowboy hat and pointy boots. They look like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden (and probably you!)
Thank you, Lisa. We need better role models, like President Biden and Nancy Pelosi. 😎
The perverse portrayal of the cowboy grew to become THE icon of the American male mythology. When you examine the level of emotional development exhibited by the cowboy through the fictional offerings, the cowboy is about that of an eight-grade punk.
Yes, 'punks' with big hats. It really gets stupid. Put a hat on a chimpanzee = Musk!
All hat; no cattle..... those are the cowboys I see
And he had it on backwards LOL 😂
Last night I watched a 1958 Jan 17 episode of The Beaver..Beaver was at a party and the father showed him his gun collection, one a shotgun that might have killed and Indian..I gagged.
You mean “Leave it to Beaver”?
Yes, that is it, Leave it to Beaver, thank you. I was surprised to see an appropriate place I could write about it and could not think of the name of the show.
Hi Dale, the Native Americans, Buffalo, Wolves were slaughtered or driven out.
Thanks for sharing here. I've never seen the show you mentioned though.
Wow. That’s pretty typical of that time. Sad.
Whata about El Zorro? We knew Zorro.. he's no Zorro
Jeff and Elon....both of these buckaroos give me the creeps.
..yet Herzog and Netanyahu met with Musk in Israel a few days ago..Hmmmm!?
Perhaps the richest man in the world is beyond consequences...
Netanyahu met with him because he’s like a drowning man who will cling to anything to avoid his fate. Their meeting served them both, the antisemite Musk, and the Jew who, since it takes two to tango, from the Israeli side was most responsible for Oct 7, they each benefited from a cooling of the rancor. Strange bedfellows indeed 🤷♂️
Musk is a puffer much like Trump. My $$$$ is on Mickey! ;-)
Another overly wealthy nut job. I'll never understand how Musk or Rupert Murdock got to be American citizens. Neither deserved it and they both are hell bent on ruining our democracy. The U.S. Government needs to divorce themselves from Musk and they need to stop the lie machine over at Fox.
Excellent analysis.
Also, thank you for calling out the truth about Henry Kissinger, which was so carefully disguised over the years. Your point- intellect does not replace or supersede moral judgement. Neither does money or power.
"Male fragility" - one's inability to comprehend/accept that brut strength never outlasts perseverance and endurance.
To me, Musk is a text book example of what we Americans often do with rich and (apparently) successful business people. That is, we assume they have a high level of skills and competence in every field imaginable including public affairs and government. We then give them center stage and all the attention their gigantic (and in Musk’s case, meglomaniacal) ego can possibly ever want. The problem is, we Americans don’t seem to realize that success in one area doesn’t always transfer to another and give one sufficient expertise to participate in the dialogue of that subject or arena. So in this case, we elevate Musk because he’s been successful with electric cars and rockets (when they’re not exploding) and allow him to comment about foreign affairs, diplomacy, and everything else under the sun because he acts all knowing and thinks he is. Truth be told, he’s a fraud and a dangerous antisemite. Where I’m from, we categorize the knowledge level of people like Musk this way- “he doesn’t know s**t”. The sooner we realize that Musk doesn’t know anything about all these topics he wades into with his pontificating tantrums, the better off we’ll be.
PS his purchase and operation of a social media company is another illustration of how his electric car and rocket knowledge doesn’t transfer to another field. Musk has destroyed Twitter.
Jeff and Elon....all hat, no cattle.
Mostly, I agree. However, this passage: "What he has created with X is a digital Bavaria circa 1938. It is a square filled with menace, evil and loads of Nazis. It serves no purpose beyond the wealth of its owners, . . ." overstates the case. There are still a great many other things going on within the world of Twitter (fuck "X"). Not only does it still provide space for folks to share brief reflections on things which matter to them, but it is also used by various NGO's and special interest groups to circulate information, links to further information and links to petitions they think useful and important. Some examples. First, the United Farm Workers union almost daily posts Tweet-videos illustrating the back-breaking, overlong and underpaid labor of farm workers. (It's a shame more unions haven't seized the opportunity to illustrate the work, pains and struggles of their workers, generally out-of-sight and unknown.) Second, it has provided groups opposed to ecologically devastating policies - like wildlife-killing contests - one opportunity to mobilize opposition. Third, it has provided a vehicle for the widespread distribution of a TON of anti-Trump, anti-fascist memes and arguments, including a huge array of amusing images, mocking Trump and bolstering opposition to him and his aspirations. Fourth, it has also provided a vehicle for alternative information as well as disinformation on current issues such as the conflicts in Palestine. Finally, like one finds in some cartoon strips, Twitter sports a variety of beautiful images and heart-warming stories that help restore one's faith that not all is lost - which helps stave off misanthropy and despair.