After spending the past two weeks down in the weeds on this column, writing about incels and all that weirdness, I wanted to spend the last two articles of my first semester as a student at the University of Connecticut and writer for The Daily Campus talking about some brighter topics. Although it may not seem like it sometimes, we at the Opinion section do actually have other interests than politics and cultural issues. Yet, when I was thinking of my pitch for this week, I saw the recent tweets by Elon Musk and simply could not resist the blood in the water. Musk is an insane sociopathic man-child, and I don’t think how he affects the world are discussed about enough.
For those unaware, on Nov. 16, X (formally known as Twitter) user @breakingbaht tweeted a typical white supremacist conspiracy regarding Jewish communities. The belief is that Jewish people are controlling non-white communities all across the globe, bringing them into the United States and organizing them to dismantle and displace the white race. That is absolutely insane and a sign of someone who does exist in the same reality as you and I. As bad as they are, conspiracies like this come up all over the place on Twitter. This is why a lot of big advertisers are trying to get off the app before they become associated with actual Nazism. What’s even worse though, is that Musk responded to the tweet and said it was “the actual truth.”
Words cannot encapsulate how bad this is. For starters, this ideology is what drives people to homicide – which already occured in 2018 at the Tree of Life synagogue. Now, we have a man who owns one of the largest social media sites on the planet and holds 150 million followers on the app while promoting his terroristic ideologies. This is not to mention all the other work he does trying to destroy any traditional media organizations he can, defaming them as leftist propaganda institutions. I won’t even bring up how he lamented the melting of old Confederate statues as examples of white extinction. He has transcended normal conservative politics and exists firmly in a state of conspiracy. His actions have peddled antisemitic white supremacist insanity, with enough of a platform to actually put out those ideas to an incredible amount of people.
This is also a good time to note that Musk, as a single private individual, holds power over some of the strongest military assets that exist today with virtually no oversight. I am of course talking about the Starlink satellite system (which I have written about the risks of before) and how his control over it can literally change the course of modern wars. Originally, I made this point because of Musk’s oversized and fragile ego, which directed him to restrict access to this vital resource because he couldn’t handle being criticized. Now there’s another equally valid point that his actions during a conflict could be influenced by the latest baseless racist theory that he heard on 4chan.
The rest of this article goes out to all the people who have bought into his cult of personality because, more than anything, Musk is sustained by the love he craves so dearly from the public. This image that he tries so hard to put forth is not real and he is not the idol that he wishes he could be. He is not cool. He is not self-made. He is not a rebel. He is a narcissist with a fragile ego. He is one of the most powerful men on earth and he will never be your friend or someone that relates to you. Without the support of his fans, he is nothing. Despite all the money and power, he is still just an empty man without real human connection.
Yep