Mutterings about Musk

Going to try to get into the blogging thing again (ha!) what with anew PM, an election coming up and all that.

So today I thought I'd start small and simple, by merely tackling the world's (second) richest man.

I am not suggesting Elon Musk literally light this fire.  But he is doing it, figuratively by allowing knobends to howl bollocks on Twitter

I'm no fan of Elon Musk.  You don't want to know why, but I'll tell you anyways, because that's what blogging is.

To me, his helming of tesla has not been 're-writing the narrative' or 're-framing the debate' about electric vehicles.  Instead, the companies pursuit of flash, style and higher end consumers has essentially re-affirmed the prejudices surrounding EVs.

Tesla had an opportunity to completely change our relationship with vehicles.  Having licked the technology far more effectively than any of their competitors, they could have produced the electric vehicle we actually need - a cheap, no frills but functioning car that the typical consumer could a) afford and b) want to drive.

Instead, they kept on (and keep on) releasing increasingly absurdly over-specced, overpriced vehicles that are brilliant to drive but not actually sifting the dial much in terms of mass take up of EVs.  We don't need cars that people with a spare $100K can afford, because even the second- or third-hand value of that vehicle will make it unobtainable to the average driver.

(Incidentally, I do not hold with the stereotype of  Tesla owners as smug narcissists who wants to demonstrate wealth through toys.  But I suspect that's how Elon Musk views them, because that's the sort of person he is, and he can't imagine anyone one else being different.)

Oh, and the whole 'pedo guy' thing.  What can you say about someone who manages to taint the story of the Tham Luang rescue of 2018?

This tirade was prompted by this:

Search for the word “climate” on Twitter and the first automatic recommendation isn’t “climate crisis” or “climate jobs” or even “climate change” but instead “climate scam”.

Clicking on the recommendation yields dozens of posts denying the reality of climate change and making misleading claims about efforts to mitigate it.

(Snip)

Tweets containing “climate scam” or other terms linked to climate change denial rose 300 per cent in 2022, according to a report released last week by the nonprofit Advance Democracy. 

So, yeah, Musk managed the unthinkable and made Twitter worse.  Respect is due.

Of course, Musk would say this is neither his fault, nor his problem.  He is, after all, a 'free speech absolutist' - expect when people tweet the location of his private jet.  Because, apparently, tweeting the whereabouts of his private jet is dangerous.

But allowing climate denialism to spread isn't.