The Mass Political Rejection of Elon Musk
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- čas přidán 13. 06. 2024
- Why did so many people suddenly turn on Elon Musk?
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0:00 - Intro
01:39 - Polarization
03:39 - Equality & Power
06:54 - Outro
Sources:
Elon Musk: Ashlee Vance - amzn.to/3DnCjuX
On Political Equality: Robert Dahl - amzn.to/3DjGyYI
American Politics & The Promise of Disharmony: Samuel Huntington - amzn.to/3Jnvj57
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Links:
www.americansurveycenter.org/...
www.aei.org/op-eds/the-gop-is...
www.theatlantic.com/technolog...
www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/te... -
www.cnn.com/videos/business/2...
I see a lot of people saying they don't like Elon because of the particulars of his personal life or business practices. That's fine and that's certainly been the focus of some people for a long time, but I don't think that's what's driving this mass wave of antipathy towards him (which was what this video focused on and tried to explain). The approval/disapproval ratios for Elon fall down partisan lines (seen in the CNN poll in the video). When Elon identified with the left (7+ years ago) it used to be the opposite: the left mostly approved of him and right mostly rejected him. When Elon recently openly supported Republicans and spoke out against the left, the poles switched and the left heavily rejected him and the right heavily approved of him. The swings correlated closely with the timing of his statements, born out by many polls (like the CNN poll in the video, or this one: morningconsult.com/2022/06/23/elon-musk-favorability/). You'd have to deal with what I'm saying here if you think politics aren't the driving reason for the polarization around him.
I think it's worth adding that from our current understanding of political/moral psychology (see Haidt or my 'Drawing That Explains Political Divides' video), we decide that we don't like a person, a party, or an idea, then from there we tend to look for evidence/reasons to confirm that we're right. So if we decide we don't like Musk, we look at his life and career selectively to see negative things (like potentially unsavory business practices) and vice versa; if we decide we do like Musk, we look at his life selectively to highlight the positives. You can see media all over doing exactly that. Left-leaning media highlights the negatives, right-leaning media highlights the positives (or interpret aspects of his life in an especially positive or an especially negative way). Once people on the left decided that Musk wasn't 'on their team,' they looked through his life and brought up evidence to condemn him, and vice versa for conservatives. They looked at him and brought up positives. That's why I didn't go into those kinds of details in this video, because I think they take a back seat to the politics, which, according to polls, seem to be the initial determinant for how people view Musk.
Last thing - I've seen countless comments claim the intro had factual errors (almost always very vaguely), but I haven't seen a single person prove there actually is an error there. I've done my research and don't believe there is one (and no I did not claim that Elon founded Tesla, which is a complicated subject. I just said that he 'developed and led' it, which is true). So despite the many complaints, as far as I can tell, the intro still stands.
- Ryan
Understood Ryan - but this so called "philosophy" - which is really just a PR image he manufactured is what he used to get the left on board. When his actions have shown that he is anti-worker, anti-competition, and really not as smart as everyone made him out to be - THAT is why the left turned on him. His moving to the right is because of the rejection by the left based on his ACTIONS not purely because he aligns with the right.
So the push back isn't purely because of the left/right divide, you still need to look at how Elon's actions have run counter to the narrative he pushed for so long. He doesn't care about the planet or its people, he cares about money.
He has the ability to recruit smart people, Elon himself isn't far above any other tech bro if you give them a few million to invest in startups.
You see this happen with any public figure who starts changing their political position. I remember a couple of years ago talking to a more liberal friend about how I was starting to see a more conservative bend with Russell Brand - someone I knew they truly admired and loved. They blew it off as preposterous, and told me I didn't know what I was talking about.
Flash forward to today, and they loathe him. Won't even entertain talking about him.
Granted, he still holds a lot of the views he did THEN, but because he jumped onto, what they considered to be, more conspiratorial, "anti-Democratic Party" platforms - he immediately became their enemy.
@@mlineberry25 well yes Russell Brand is a walking contradiction. He pushes a lot of far right conspiracy QAnon adjacent narratives, while playing at being some sort of enlightened anarchist? 1. He's impossible to understand because he talks in overlapping metaphors and 2. His political positions don't seem to align to his other beliefs.
I used to watch him also - probably same thing happened to me as your friend - Vaush poked some giant holes in some of his videos and he lost credibility for me.
He only recently came out as a right winger. The left started to see through his bullshit a few years ago. That is likely why he started to try to seduce republicans. The left caught on to his grift and saw he is an image, not a genius (A celebrity business man like ... Crump? I might have forgotten the exact name, but it's on the tip of my tongue and a few NFTs)
Very good points! Also, we're in a bear market which explains a lot of hate behaviors. Musk is a bull market hero so one shouldn't be surprised if he becomes the bull market villain, even if he's doing the right thing.
The only statement I might have added clarity to, which you did touch on, but I feel needs more contrast for it to hit home, is that typically, successful people are almost always more powerful. It's only when they publicly state their views do people have negative reactions to them. Almost nobody currently has an unfavorable opinion of Larry Fink, Blackrock CEO, yet his corporation owns massive shares in almost every multinational business headquartered in America with tons of authority to sway political scales... but he largely keeps his mouth shut.
Nobody hates Larry Fink because no one knows who he is. If you ask people what they think of BlackRock and then tell them what BlackRock does, they’ll think that they’re evil.
@@thisisjeffwong my point exactly
So. Should society force their journalist or state media to force a mic to their (Powerful people) face with some important questions?
Oh, there are people who hate fink alright.
You mention Larry Fink "keeping his mouth shut". (I don't know if that's true or not.) But he doesn't run Twitter. And that makes all the difference. Running Twitter means that you inevitably run up against all sorts of activists and political interest groups and must, therefore, defend yourself politically. Jack Dorsey said political stuff too and was drawn into political issues (or at least the people under him were). So if a billionaire runs a corporation that sells, say, toys, pop, and even investments, he's unlikely to be drawn into politics as much as someone who runs a corporation that has always been riddled with politics and strong emotions. In any case, as a CEO, are you sure that Larry Fink keeps his mouth shut?
Depending who you ask, you would think Musk either cured cancer or burned down an orphanage
This is truly the core of the issue here.
This seems like a really over-simplified view on the matter that ignores several factors. It's not merely being powerful, it's using that power in retaliatory ways. It's advocating one position, and then acting directly contrary to that just a few weeks later (ie: hypocrisy). It's making policies that anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the system would know are stupid, and ignoring experts who can tell you exactly why those policies are stupid (and what the likely ramifications are), and then being surprised when those ramifications manifest. It's pretending you're smarter than everyone who came before you, while spectators have popcorn and bingo cards waiting for you to step on every single land mine that every single social media company that ever existed has stepped on at one point or another, and wondering whether you're going to learn from those who came before, or if you're going to keep blundering through guided only by arrogance and pride.
Saying that success doesn't generate hatred, only power does, ignores the most obvious counterexample. Mark Zuckerburg is also widely hated, yet he never really did anything promoting any sort of political views. He's hated because of how his decisions affected people's ability to make use of (and be used by) the platform he ran.
Thank you for this comment.
Can you give a real-world example of an actual decision or action which hurt or disadvantaged anyone?
The intro of the video was the story of Musk told by a stan. Chapman didn't tell the real story, just Musk's ambitions.
He's certainly made mistakes as ceo of Twitter. But how does that justify hate? Does it even really matter? Most people don't give a shit about Twitter. If your life is that affected by Twitter going from a bunch of rich assholes to a different rich asshole, it says more about you than it does elon.
Hyprocrisy is holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously. He changed his mind on certain TOS based on new information. That is not hypocrisy 🤦♂️
And he called the Thailand rescuer a pedophile when he was not just for disagreeing with him
That British guy kind of started it by telling Elon to stick his mini-submarine where the sun does not shine. Then Elon outdid him with "pedoguy". It seems to me Elon could then still have apologised but instead he hired a PI for $50,000 in the of finding evidence that the guy was in fact a pedo...
Not a great episode for Elon indeed.
@@ronald3836 he is pedophile fixated , do you who else who does that , actual Pedo’s that same goes for arsonists , they can often be right there assisting the community putting out a fire he lit 🔥, he has an addiction to wanting to be the hero
@@ronald3836 being told you can shove that where the sun does not shine , is the Australian way of saying out that idea away , it will not work , and if he thinks only landowners can vote then I can tell you that he will fall on the wrong side of many people he is one of those people who think landed white privileged males should only have power to vote on policy in his little Twitter world , much like it was here in Australia as a colony actually it is still written in the Australian constitution , only lords and ladies should be part of political discourse , but the the modern term Edge lord that term has broadened , were wanted to get rid of it but thought that was far to funny to change and left it alone
I think it's more than that. It's comparable to saying that people hate Trump because he's a conservative, even though lots of people hated Trump long before he got involved in politics.
spot on
Counter argument; before Trump went after Obama he seemed pretty loved by the mainstream left
@@individual7046 meh the mainstream left has always been fine with a president that bombed people. Antiwar folk were pretty bummed with Obama pretty quickly.
Trump was VERY popular before he began asking to see Obama's birth certificate.
czcams.com/video/yosAVMB47-Y/video.html
*90's Democrat Conservative
This is barely even a surface level take tbh, and for the most part buys into the myth Elon wants to sell himself as rather than the reality.
I think frankly a big big part of the reason he's so hated now is that his "genius" persona has been cracking hardcore. He was never some messianic genius savior of mankind to begin with, but the facade keeps getting more and more transparent.
Anyone who thinks they would have allocated resources as efficiently as elon is a nonce.
The people selling this "myth of Elon" tend to discredit themselves when they repeat half-truths and obvious lies, the diamond mine lie being one of the best examples.
@@erikschafer5176 Diamond mine? His father owned 50% of an emerald mine in South Africa.
While I think this doesn't quite explain Elon it does do a lot to explain what's happened with other public figures like J.K. Rowling.
Absolutely, the problem with Elon is that every time he Tweets and retweets something he sounds less like a brilliant disruptor and more then a generic Twitter reply guy who watches too much Fox News (at best) or at worse someone who listens to Alex Jones on a regular basis.
Everytime he does that it deteriorates the myth of Elon Musk and exposes him to more criticism.
“Let the clown into the castle and he doesn’t become a king… the castle becomes a circus.”
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Evelyn Hall, The Friends of Voltaire.
I think the reasons you give are accurate, but don’t give the full picture. I also think a lot of people take issue with your opening characterization.
Critics of Musk have long pointed to the fact that he makes overly optimistic promises. Be it the hyper loop or a lot of the timelines he has set for Tesla and SpaceX. It seems like he cant deliver on what he has said. The same goes for his recent promises regarding Twitter.
It is easy to become cynical regarding people who don’t live up to expectations, especially if they themself set those expectations.
I was rolling my eyes at the hyperloop bs and certain of his other grandiose ideas, and I don't really think he's a good person. (Except for his rough edges, he's roughly as good as it gets at that level.) This does not explain the visceral hatred a certain type of person has for him. They aren't disappointed in him. They last thing they want is for him to deliver on anything or to demonstrate any redeeming features. Certain people are as egotistical as Musk is but with far less to show for it.
I see this a lot, mostly with politicians. Elon is overly optimistic, but I almost wonder if it is partly because of his aspirations to achieve many milestones at once instead of focusing on specifics. I have come to brush the overt optimism off, but am usually open to see how it will go. Actions speak louder than words, and that's what's important to me.
@@somexp12 Well, he is mainly hated on Twitter, where he is the most public individual on the platform. It would be like wondering why Biden or Trump is the most hated Dem or Rep. After all, there are more extreme people on both sides. That seems to just come with the position.
It does also seem like Musk himself is showing a similar kind of hatred for I certain portion of the political left. Saying that "the woke virus must be defeated or nothing else matters". He contributes to that pool of hate himself.
Elon Musk is a fraud, people didn’t realize he didn’t found Tesla, he invested in the company, then kicked out the engineers that invented Tesla, called himself the founder. He is a rich boy, good at marketing himself and power grabbing, treats his employees such as the real space engineers behind his success as shit, he ran several companies to the ground, and twitter is going to be another failure. His so called visions are so ridiculous, hyper loop is a joke, you could invest that much money on a functional subway system, what a waste.
@@microsoftpain I think the politician label is very accurate. In the beginning, they make a lot of promises to get elected (get you to invest or buy). Then, when they fail to deliver, people become cynical and start to question if they really believed what they were saying all along.
I know you are speaking from a social/political angle, which is great especially when you distinguish between success and power, but it also requires further elaboration from the scientific/engineering community that highlights how Elon craves for the power to be legendary by overhyping his past and future success.
As a scientst, I have no problems with Elon Musk as an visionary entrepreneur, as we engineers need someone who can sell an idea to the mass audience. But I have massive issues with Elon Musk when he oversells or downright balantly lies about his image and products. For example, his Boring Company's hyperloop is downright impossible/impractical. If he wanted an underground high speed electric transport, well, we already have that, and it's called a subway! But that doesn't work for Elon because he wants to the power to be viewed as the inventor and find reasons to use Tesla based products.
As for Neuralink, I acknowledge that animal testing is always going to be ethical debate. But to kill that many animals and push for FDA approval is just downright insulting for biomedical engineers who work hard to adhere with animal testing regulations and develop products that would be safe for consumers. If he cared about success, then he would worked with thought leaders in neural chips such as Miguel Nicolelis from Duke University. Instead, he stole their work and pushes for impossible deadlines, showing his power hungry tendencies.
Lastly, it does not help when his overselling of ideas takes finite amount of funds away from more scientifically projects/ideas. If he really cared about innovation/success, then why would start a fund to help innovative companies? Oh wait, Musk always cares about his powerful image as "an inventor", which is not true (PayPal is something he did NOT develop. Even his code had to be scrapped entirely).
I agree with your criticism on the broing company. But when you start talking about how he should run his company or how he should spend his money. You lose me.
You can criticize what he has done with the money, but to say if he does not do it this way, my way, he is morally devious; that is a problematic statement.
He does not have to patner with any specific professor, or build any fund. He can do with his money as he leases, legally.
I do not like him, Because I beleive he is a pathological liar, but I like fair criticism.
I have a problem with people telling someone how to spend thier own money , in what I would call an authoritarian manner. You can criticize what he has done, or politely give solutions to how he can do better. But demanding or taking a demanding tone is were I draw the line.
Yup. Plus the fact that he named chief engineer for spacex. I am sure he understands quite a bit about rockets and he is likely not the only CEO who understands their product from a technical perspective. But you won’t see any CEO also naming themselves chief engineer. As a CEO you are already in the driving seat and you can dive as deep as you want into the technical aspects. So why get a titular role? Because he is insecure and wants to proactively build the image of a tech genius. Again i am not saying he isn’t really smart. But there is a difference between being really smart and basically asserting that you know as much, if not more about rockets as your employees with phds and decades of experience
This is why I can't stand him
@@anjolatope-babalola2338 I understand why you think my last point might be demanding especially when we hear politics how "billionaires need to pay their fair share". To be honest, I am not expert on billionaire finances, so I will not comment on that because it is pretty complicated issue
However, my angle is more towards knowing your limitations and leaving the experts to do their work and collaborating. Even if you're a world class engineer from MIT, you won't know everything and collaborate with specialists. Heck, even the landmark nuclear fusion project (ITER) was funded and developed by multiple nations. Hope that clears things up for you
Also, biotech companies, that where I usually work, are some of the most heavily regulated industries, so there's a systematic way of running it. If Elon chooses to make his own rules and not follow scientific protocol, then good luck selling your product without legal trouble. Again, science and engineering is not something you can do a whim
I am not sure what you consider fair criticism, but I like to think that I acknowledged his strengths as a visionary and elaborated his weaknesses as a scientific leader. Also, because he is working on the STEM, he absolutely deserves the strict scrutiny as a scientific/engineering leader just like any other tech CEO like Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg would receive
@@hansonlee5847 I agree he does not know his limitations. But my criticism still remains, you can't dictate to people what to do with thier money.
Your insight is good though.
This channel is becoming the restaurant that's only open for 4 hours a day, 2 days a week. I'm legit excited for the new video
I have to disagree here: The same arguments are valid for other people like Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel, but neither of those gets the same level of hatred.
I think it has to do with the following that Mr. Musk has. There is a distinct and very vocal fandom around him that, frankly spoken, is incredible annoying and often insulting. You can draw parallels to the "Cryptobros" if you want. A similar divisive movement that has huge overlap with the Musk-Fans.
The rejection of these people directly leads to the rejection of Elon Musk himself.
It might help that Bezos owns the Washington Post ;-)
Even this video, that tries to explain hatred of musk doesn't cover any of the valid criticisms of musk. The fanboys in the comment section are almost as one sided as political nuts.
@@dhayes907 does the existence of valid criticism mean that nothing positive can be said? I don't know your view on this, but most who don't like Elon seem to be irrational about it, happily accepting and amplifying false rumours.
@@ronald3836 certainly not. I have a lot of criticisms of musk myself, but I give him credit when its due. But this is an internet comment section with a CZcams level debate going on. Its not the best place for nuance and middle ground.
@@ronald3836 I follow common sense skeptic though who has done several in depth criticisms and I didn't see any of those points rebutted in this video.
This video triggers my oversimplification detector a little bit, but I don't see anything wrong with it on a surface level.
I think the way he frames Musk in the beginning is overly charitable. It feels like a PR statement describing an angel.
However, the actual analysis has good points.
@@cognitivedissonance9938 Yep. Pity he did that as it really made me feel like there was some bias in his argument, which for the most part was okay. Should've just made a video 'why do people hate billionaires' and tried to make the argument separate from the Musk fiasco.
@@cognitivedissonance9938 Overly charitable? None of what he said was a lie
@@jazzhill why billionaires? Why not just rich people in general?
@@azraeldemuirgos9518 In the opening minutes, he is almost described as a messiah. Only wanting what is best for humanity, selflessly sharing his patents, being a self thought rocket engineer. All with soft music okaying in the background.
If he wanted to create a more neutral image, he could mention how he was born into a wealthy family. It would give perspective, he was not a self made man.
On the more negative side, Ryan could mention some of the projects where Musk over promised and under delivered (hyper loop) and how he used it to slow down mass transit in California.
You really lack imagination if you think you need to strait up lie to create a false image. All you need to to is highlight the positives and ignore the negative or controversial.
You touched on one of the major reasons people both dislike, and distrust him with the claim "he educated himself in rocket science". He doesn't hold any educational credentials that back this claim up. His more recent interviews regarding Space-X have clearly demonstrated he is either a) extremely poorly educated in "rocket science" b) dangerously inept at basic maths, c) a pathological liar, or d) all of the above.
He has consistently lied about both his education, and his roles in his business ventures throughout his career. People like the idea of meritocracy, and Elon is a glaring counter example someone clearly not earning & or deserving their level of success/power. Without getting too far into his morality or politics, there are enough genuine reasons he makes people's skin crawl.
Hes a physics major bruh. You gotta be clueless(no offence) if you think that ain't worth a lot, when it comes to rocket science.
My prof has a physics degree, and he runs a startup that specializes in Radar solutions for cities. Something you would expect someone with an engineering degree to do.
Once you get to the point where you know the math behind shit like wave functions, you probably can just buy out a few books and learn basic material science.
Actually, he litterally has the credentials to be a CERN researcher. Im pretty sure hes well off enough to understand the engineering decisions that take place in companies like Tesla and SpaceX. Maybe not Neuralink, but most definitely these two.
Also, your acting like educated people use their education in their field most of the time.
Most people I know, barely would apply the shit they learn from University in real life.
For a lot of practices, you can genuinely do fine with a basic knowledge of the subject.
Lastly, hes litterally a CEO. All he needs to know, is a broad overview of the product.
He takes it a step further, which is why he manages his engineering teams so well.
Knowing the shit you manage is underrated asf. You dont want managers treating a rocket engineering team like they would a software engineering team.
The truth is, people are mad that in reality, LIFE IS A MERITOCRACY.
It just so happens that they dont have as much merit as they think they have.
@@honkhonk8009 bruh you drank the cool aid
@@elowin1691 Life isn't a meritocracy, there's too much chaos for that. Plus cheating works, and definitely cheating as merit is silly. That being said, people can be smart at one thing and not another. And Elon definitely exhibits a lot of autistic characteristics which tend to lean towards being good at STEM and bad at people.
@@honkhonk8009dude Elon musk only has a Bachelor of Arts in physics, which means he does not need all the physics basics to complete his studies. And how do you know he did all the more advanced maths and physics courses necessary for engineering and advanced physics? There is a difference in barely getting the courses and really understanding the maths to master it in practice, do you know how well he did/does? I am studying both, so I know those who barely touch upon the hardcore physics stuff for a BA and those who are really into the complex physics (BS). And he is not a successful „engineer-by-freetime“, so where did he accumulate the knowledge necessary to build cars, rockets etc.? He is not the engineering mastermind, just the money man.
@@honkhonk8009 Eh, I'd argue it's all still subject to the Dunning-Kreuger effect. It's easy to pick up on elementary pieces of knowledge, especially if presented in an easily accessible manner (wave functions, newtonian mechanics, high-school level algebra). Building on top of that is a bit more difficult and applying it even more so.
Musk has a physics degree? Great, he has some high-level understanding of how a rocket may work: not as high as the layman "tall thing shoots fire go space :)", but also probably not as low-level or in-depth as an engineer at an aerospace firm. When it comes to whether or not he qualifies as someone who designs, builds, or refines rockets, though, I'd like to see how he's applied and built upon this bachelor-level knowledge. (what specific contributions he's made, how he's done them, etc.)
This is coming from a Musk/SpaceX fanboy btw, I've been eagerly watching Starship's construction process for the past few years and I wouldn't mind getting a better look at how Musk personally has played a role in the technical development in any of SpaceX's spacecraft.
I think a major point you missed on this was his failure to live upto his promises, coming across as a con man in many ways. The other aspect also be his ineffective rhetoric in how he approaches the social aspects of his beliefs. Blackrock and their ilk have caused more irreparable damage to US politics but no one even bats an eye or knows the CEO's name (Larry Fink). People need to remember regardless of which side of the aisle they fall on the gap between these ultra rich moguls and them is so immense and not really a new thing. The scale might be bigger but this is the era of the oil barons revisited via tech all over again. The real question is when and why did people loose hope in the institutions which have been slowly corrupted and hollowed out by political intetrests.
I wish he had spent a little bit of time investigating the negative headlines about Elon to determine if any had merit… the video seems to imply that all criticism of Elon is political in nature, I agree that some are but he has done and said some things that are worth criticizing
It is important to remember that political ideologies are not static, and that individuals can and do change their views over time. However, it is also crucial to hold public figures accountable for the positions they espouse and the impact they have on the public discourse. We must be diligent in examining the arguments and evidence put forward by those in the public eye, and not blindly follow anyone simply because they are well-known or successful in their field.
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of all of us to engage in critical thinking and to carefully consider the implications of the ideas put forth by those in positions of influence. This is especially true in the age of social media, where the spread of misinformation and propaganda can be rapid and far-reaching. It is up to us to be vigilant in seeking out the truth and to hold ourselves and others accountable for the positions we take.
The problem is the same "information" or "truth" can be interpreted differently.
ps. Cui bono
I'm pretty sure ChatGPT wrote this
@@SilverBullet2345 I used it for grammar, spellcheck and clarity. But the content is my own.
Just dropping a comment for the algorithm. Keep up the great work Ryan! Excited to see that video on democracy and ancient Greece :)
I don't care what side of the politic side he is, his own actions has sold him as an asshole and a manchild, and I believe that's why many people hate him.
Wouldn't you think he is not an A-hole and manchild if you agreed with him though? I'm not criticizing, just musing :)
@@the8u9 I actually liked him some years ago when I didn't know much about what is he's actually doing behind scenes and his behavior toward employees, started to not like him, then he began to act like a 2005 forum mod on twitter, then bought it and act in even more childish manners.
So yeah ahahha
@@MakiNoAtorie I see so it's literally just based on his personality and behavior not his ideology. Gotcha :)
That doesn't make sense. Elon hasn't done anything to Make you believe that outside of being a conservative... You're just another close minded bigot whose part of the problem...
Love these vids, keep up the good work
Holy cow, the thing about "power" and "success" is such a cool take. Good video.
People don't have contempt for success, but for growth in hubris and arrogance. He's flying toward the Sun instead of Mars.
I don't know where the hockey stick inflection point occurred, but it seems to me it was around his acquisition of twitter. For me, my abrupt change in regard for the man occurred when, simultaneously, I saw him as much less successful and much more powerful.
Ryan, I'd just like to take this opportunity to say that you have helped so immensely in my understanding of various political and sociological concepts because your videos are such a great starting point for individual research - that, and your commitment to being the voice of objective reason among a community of mostly left leaning online content creators
I'm working on becoming as understanding of both sides and uncompromising of everyone's right to speech as you are, and that's a start away from radical leftism for me
thanks Ryan!
your misunderstanding*
@@brendankolar1370 huh?
His videos are usually fairly balanced, I appreciate them. I feel disappointed in this video because the argument here is so weak. It hinges on its fragile premise that the popular image of Elon as this genius innovator pushing mankind forward is true. By setting that up, of course the only way Ryan's able to explain why the public opinion has fallen is some haphazard "people hate him because he has power and they don't" construction. It's almost as if like this video was completely thought up and written in the shower after Ryan heard of a whisper that some nebulous group of people might dislike Elon, rather than being a response to a tangible criticism of his business practices and influence on society. It especially rings hollow as it's an argument with a liberal stance made at a time when even liberals are starting to develop negative associations with the man's name.
@@brendankolar1370 Anything more than a little 'zinger' like that? Maybe you can expand on what is being misunderstood here.
What is radical leftism? I've heard of radical liberalism but never radical leftism?
I agree with the premise of this video particularly the fear of power dynamics particularly in America but don't you think you should've a;so addressed the actual criticisms of him? For example his treatment of employees (stealing credit for their creations, working conditions, sensoring of whistle blowers, ext), sabotaging public transportation projects in Vegas and Los Angeles for his incredibly stupid boring company tesla tunnels, or more recently the banning of dozens of critical journalists on twitter? I understand why you went with this approach but I feel the discussion on this topic would be a lot more productive if the actual criticism were addressed rather than framing the whole video as democrats hate republicans and vice versa. Regardless it was a great video. Have a good one!
Best comment I've found that describes my feelings here. I feel the OP intentionally ignores all the valid criticisms of Elon Musk in order to make the larger power dynamic point work.
The beginning of the video where he describes all of the great things Elon has done and then contrasts it with the MSM's treatment of him is pretty deceptive imo. There are a lot of reasons for this criticism that don't simply stem from 'he has too much power'.
That other stuff aside (there are issues with those claims, but I wouldnt consider Musk a good person), these would not be the first "critical journalists" banned from Twitter. Twitter has a history of putting its finger on the scale, with far worse excuses than the "doxxing" that Musk alleged. It would suppress stuff merely for not flattering the biases of whomever was manning the station. It was governed by the intuitions of one of the most conceited sub-population of Americans.
It's far from perfect having one guy calling the shots, but it was already so bad that putting anyone short of Satan would be a likely improvement.
Around the 4 and a half minute mark is the entire premise of this short video: the more he speaks about his opinion, the more people set their political sticks in the mud about him.
Prior to this, people, much like Trump, disliked him in passing. As long as he was a billionaire over there, then it didn't matter as much. Of course, there were some people who hadn't cared for him and had legitimate criticisms. But not nearly to the extent in which they do now.
I think it'd be worthwhile to track the "think pieces" on Elon post twitter, and maybe even post Rogan might be interesting.
This video could have been 15-30 minutes....proply even longer, but Ryan seems to want to make a succinct point about polarization, and he does that I think.
@@jazzhill The problem with this logic is that Elon has always treated his employees that way, his work ethics and code has never changed, yet the hatred towards him has grown Exponentially, before, even with his attitude, the media loved him, now they don't, that's what the OP is focusing on
All your criticisms of Musk are valid, yet they are not the driver for the increasing animosity towards him from the public. The media began antagonizing Musk in lock steps only after his announcement to acquire Twitter. The average person's disdain for Musk only ramped up because he disagrees with Musk's politics and resents Musk for taking over a platform that used to be under the control of his political tribe.
The whole issue really *is* just "democrats hate republicans and vice versa." There's nothing intelligent about it. It's pure tribalism.
Elon musk also sabotages real energy saving alternatives to transportation like electric trains
I heard those half assed tunnels he built in Las Vegas were a way to delay or block the construction of underground trains(metro)
if he's all for progress then why is he against a more cost efficient, energy efficient and more eco-friendly forms of transportation?
its all a grift
@@Ar1AnX1x Underground trains are generally very, very expensive. Do you have evidence that an electric train would have been cheaper and more eco-friendly than the Tunnels and Teslas provided by the Boring company ??
@@katies6287 dude, cars are some of the least cost effective and least efficient technology we have, Metro and Trains in general are far cheaper and superior in almost everyway, and by cheaper I mean long term, building it is expensive but long term they are completely and utterly worth it, you can search for studies if you don't believe me, I'm not gonna do your research for you.
even cost and eco-system aside, those tunnels are just terrible in every other way as well, they're dangerous, have a one line traffic and feel terrible being in there too, I donno how anybody can like something like that, not mention its a budget version of what he said it would be, just like how he said they'd be on mars by 2020, he just says things and his fans just never hold him responsible for anything, he can promise the world, deliver nothing and you people would just defend him for no reason.
@@Ar1AnX1x " cars are some of the least cost effective and least efficient technology we have, " True, but Boring has plans to replace the electric cars with electric buses.
Sometimes trains are the most cost effective way to go, and sometimes they are not. Depends on the number of people expected to use the trains, and the route's length.
@@katies6287 does it even matter he gave up on the project and wasted time, money and land that could've been used for actual public transportation
Oh man that tease at the end. Cant wait!
I think it's important to mention that the discontent towards Elon Musk started *waaay* before he bought Twitter or began to sound openly conservative. I don't doubt his recent actions made him far more hated by the mainstream public too, but criticisms towards Elon were already well established before that point.
(Civil) engineers have long mocked Musk's ridiculous plans like the hyper loop (which is just an overly expensive unsafe underground car lane), labour right activist have frequently pointed out how horribly he treats his workers (e.g. anti unionization efforts) and journalists have long been writing articles about how Elon got his wealth (primarily from the money made by his family during the Apartheid, which he just invested in companies to get richer etc.)
Ever since people started to paint this absurd picture of Elon Musk as some kind of genius inventor, others have pointed out how he invented almost nothing and that he just (under)pays the people that actually do the work/inventing. Elon is just the shitty money man, he isn't Tony Stark and people have known that for years.
I get that this video choses to emphasise another angle, but I felt it was necessary to give a little more context for people that think the Musk hate is just a recent thing that is solely based on superficial partisan reasons.
No one claims that Musk wasn't HATED before he took over Twitter. All public figures are hated by someone - often by many people. Especially by people on social media who haven't got anything better to do. What is new, however, is the upswing in hate and its purely political nature. That is, those who never even thought about Musk and never knew all the exquisite detail you've just given, believed he has crossed a political line, and now all their tribal guns are blazing.
Exactly. My viewpoint of him has nothing to do with Twitter or Tesla in Texas. It has to do with his mythology around him that has been propped up by fanbois all around. His hyperloop was stupider than shit but he and others acted like it was his idea. It is a 100 years old idea and made popular in 1950s Sci-Fi to which he mentioned he likes that era. This issue is you cannot people off at 3000 miles per hour across the country and not expect human burger meat at the other end. The arguments were all over online with people defending the idea. In the end he told a bio that he never meant to build it as it was just to kill the high speed rail project. That is what we call a dick move when his Boring Company could have been building tunnels in urban areas for high speed rail. People tout this guy as a visionary and progressive when that was just a dick move. You then having the hiding of complaints about Tesla service etc. Why make Tesla only charging units and not make them universal from the beginning? How many of those who give him praise, rail about Apple being proprietary and not doing what the industry as a whole is doing.
The Space Shuttle is a reusable MANNED rocket. Amazon has reusable MANNED rockets. The idea is not proprietary to Elon. Yet people act like it. We also had batteries that could get you 300 miles to the charge in 2000 before Tesla left the ball sack. It cost $20K-$30K to get your car converted then.
I used to think more of him till I found out he did not create PayPal nor Tesla. He ousted the two founders and in the settlement got to call himself a founder when he was not one.
I do not disagree he took Tesla and SpaceX to greater heights but at the same time they filled a vacuum. US Automakers are taking EVs more seriously not due to Tesla but due to govt intervention. Their small trucks are already coming out and by the time Tesla's comes to the market the last of the big boys will be releasing theirs. We already have European EV semi makers in the US testing, mostly for the short haul which EV semis seem more practical for. Tesla Semi is how many years behind? And sketchy at that.
With SpaceX, NASA infused money into them when it lost its only way to get shit into space, the Space Shuttle program got shut down by Bush. Roughly half of the funding for the Falcon 9 was from NASA and SpaceX was on the verge of bankruptcy when NASA gave it the ISS contract. Tweet I saw last year was Musk saying they needed to up their launches in that they are not making revenue.
Where is the driverless Taxis he assured was going to be the thing by 2018? Where are the two starships that were supposed to be taking supplies to Mars and then a year later two more to take humans to Mars? That was supposed to happen before Covid and the lockdowns.
And the back to the hyperloop, he told a reporter that it was easy to do. People simply give this guy a pass for shit that never happens.
@@sbgsbg3933 That she was going to revolutionize the medial industry. There also was a bit of girl power in that because she was one of few female CEOs and here was one with a startup and worth billions as well.
Do you realise that the "how he got his wealth" articles were hit pieces full of half truths and whole lies? Some of these "journalists" don't care one bit about truth, unfortunately.
Paging @Thunderfoot...
You left out a lot of context in your initial read in of elons traits. The space/sustainability stuff isn't wrong if you just consider it an aspect of his public perception, but to state it firmly as true ignores his very public history of lying about those very same projects and showing his lack of understanding on subjects like climate change at the very same rocket science you said he taught himself. This feels much more slanted than you are framing it.
I agree, but I think Ryan was more just trying to prove a point that if Elon hadn't decided to be so open and abrasive about his political views in the last few years, people would largely just see him as Ryan describes him at the start. Because he's such a polarizing figure now, people have found reasons to dive into his personal history and realize maybe he's not as perfect as many thought
@@SpongeBobaFettif that is the case, i think Ryan should have made that clear later in the video. It seems like he presents the opening characterizations as objective.
@@cognitivedissonance9938
So you can prove he lied? Do tell
@@ogzombieblunt4626 No one is saying he lied. We're all here because we like Ryan's content. Its just that musk is a complicated figure with a long history in the public eye and this glance at him really only focuses on some aspects of his public perception for some of the time he has been a public figure and that misses some large criticisms that the initial read in could have benefitted from. It makes it feel either lacking or kind of partisan.
@@ogzombieblunt4626 You lack imagination of you think you need to lie in order to create a false or half-true picture of a person. I am sure there are public figures you dislike. Even those people must have some good qualities. Now, imagine if the opening of a video explaining why they are hated start with only those positive qualities and never explicitly mentions any of the negative things they have done.
Would you not feel like a false image was presented, even if they never lied?
I think there is a very, very important qualifier here: I don’t think people hate the powerful as much as they hate power apportioned unjustly. A kind, just, generous, wise ruler will be loved, whereas a stupid, erratic, petty, narcissistic, arbitrarily harsh ruler will be hated (generally - sigh - if you see what I’m getting at), even if they have the exact same amount of power. Probably because people want to believe that society exhibits some sense of justice and fairness and power is only apportioned to those that deserve it.
Thing is, power is. They just dont like how its allocated, because their delusional and think the Universe must bend towards their ideals of "just" or "fair".
Elon musk is competent and shows it so. As a businessman, he knows the technology he markets to a good degree
@@honkhonk8009 I’m not sure your first point is valid for the most part. Yet, there exist instances in the not too distant past where we have seen financial bad actors punished for what were ultimately deemed bad bets. Some would say it wasn’t fair to not punish Wall Street for their malfeasance.
As for the technical competency of Musk, that is debatable.
@@honkhonk8009 I don't really understand what you mean by your first paragraph: societies are not organised by "the Universe", they're human impositions: for instance the implementation of a system of law is "making the Universe bend towards our ideals of "just" and "fair"". Different people and societies will have different ideas of what constitutes fairness and justice, and this is why they have or advocate for different laws.
I feel as if you're working from the premise that conservatism is the natural order of the world and that leftism is some bizarre unnatural perversion, when any political system is the same in as much as it seeks to assert its own model of what it sees to be right on society. You don't specify you're talking about the Left but contextually you seem to be - if you disagree with their position, okay, but the Left are not doing anything qualitatively different to the Right in this regard.
To the previous victims of Twitter, Elon's retribution is pure catharsis. You can't claim that Musk is stupid, erratic, etc. when you're a nobody who has never done anything worth mentioning and would obviously prefer the previous status quo.
I don't even use Twitter, but considering what an abomination it was prior to Musk, he literally could not do any worse. And he hasn't.
Leftists didn't cry about power being doled out unjustly back then. What, is it more "fair" if the power is held by a "diverse" group of 1000 people who all share the exact same opinion and ostracize critics? No thank you.
@@far2ez539 "You can't claim that Musk is stupid, erratic, etc. when you're a nobody" Well, that's not true, which is precisely why ad hominem is a fallacy. One's personal characteristics are irrelevant to the truth value of a claim one makes.
"Leftists didn't cry about power being doled out unjustly back then"
An October 2021 report ("Algorithmic Amplification of Politics on Twitter", Huszár et al., if you want to look it up) found that contrary to popular belief it's actually /right-wing/ politicians and news sources that were disproportionately amplified on Twitter pre-Musk, not left-wing, most dramatically in Canada, where right-wing voices were amplified over left-wing by a factor of about 5.
From the abstract:
"Our results reveal a remarkably consistent trend: In six out of seven countries studied, the mainstream political right enjoys higher algorithmic amplification [on Twitter] than the mainstream political left. Consistent with this overall trend, our second set of findings studying the US media landscape revealed that algorithmic amplification favors right-leaning news sources. We further looked at whether algorithms amplify far-left and far-right political groups more than moderate ones; contrary to prevailing public belief, we did not find evidence to support this hypothesis."
In the US, Republican/right-wing voices were amplified by a more modest doubling vs. Democrat/leftist voices. The only country in which Twitter was not algorithmically biased towards right-wing voices was, for some reason, Germany.
Thus, the idea that Twitter was left-biased is actually the opposite of the truth when subjected to analysis.
Always a pleasure to listen to.
San Francisco, my home town, my family's home town since 1867, is so full of crazy people who weren't born in California that have totally flipped from being happy and enthusiastic pro-American and lovers of innovative and imaginative and ambitious people, to a town of incredibly snobbish elites who've chased middle class people out (except for the Chinese) and replaced them with 1/2 of the homeless druggies and crazy people that live in the USA. And our "Governor" likes to remind us of two things:
It's gonna happen whether you like it or not
As California goes, so goes the nation
It's no wonder Elon is pulling his company out of Calunicornia and going to Texas.
Ryan, I have watched many of your videos lately and I’m grateful for them. I’m thankful that someone so knowledgeable is willing to share that wisdom with us. I love to learn and, even more, I love to learn truly valuable lessons. Amazing!
Love the new haircut, Ryan! Another great video!
This video is great, ur channel is so under appreciated.
I reject him as a political influence because he hasn't demonstrated any particular intellectual expertise politically & in my observation the tendency of wealthy folks who - without intellectual credentials in the field-- lean right--is predictable, widespread, and even logical. In that sense this is "old news"!
The amount of quality you put into your videos is astounding, thank you deeply. Not just the research but also your demeanor and personality do not go unnoticed. Being informative about the culture war without anger is needed and you are a living archetype of this. You would have well over a million subscribers if you could create videos with a decreased turnaround time but I understand it's not worth risking quality. Hopefully there's a way to get your message to a bigger audience without sacrificing what makes it great. Cheers to your success (without power😁)!
This video has a lot to be desired. The quality is lacking compared to earlier videos. Plus the injection of opinion over substance reveals an aire of arrogance and a departure from actual documented facts regarding Musk's troubles.
Ironically this was one of his worst videos
@@amitsunoko7270 i don't see anywhere what you are saying. Can you show me an example?
@@amitsunoko7270 has a lot lacking for you, sometimes the truth hurts I giess
I’ve had a problem with Elon for a long time, but as soon as he shared his political views, all I could think of was how now everyone would hate him largely for the wrong reasons.
Regarding the video, I appreciate you giving both flattery and criticism. In these very polarized times, it’s easy to think either Elon is 100% Jesus or 100% fraud when - as for everything - there’s a complicated story full of good and bad.
His political views arent extremist in the slightest. Their still very liberal.
He said it himself. Hes a lifelong Democrat voter, but with how cities are being run again, he's going Republican because these other policies just dont work.
@@honkhonk8009 I very much doubt that based on his behavior over the last 5+ years. I think he is revealing who has been and what he has believed all along.
@@honkhonk8009 yeah I don’t necessarily think his views are “extreme” either, but in fact, because he’s not 💯 woke/progressive, he is the enemy in the eyes of that side’s most partisan members. Again, goes to show what a polarized time we live in.
@@honkhonk8009 nobody cares about someone’s personal political views. Elon could be the most progressive guy on earth, doesn’t change that he endorsed the anti choice anti gay Republican regime in 2022.
Political views do not matter. Political actions do matter.
@@Charles-pf7zy I dont think repealing Roe vs Wade by itself is "anti-choice". Its something RBG wanted.
Alot of people would rather the SOC not be a pseudo-congress, and would rather not let unelected officials pass defacto laws like that.
I think its more concerning that we need a federal law to keep states from voting against abortion, instead of states deciding this shit for itself.
Also, the republican party doesn't seem very anti-gay. They dont engage in LGBT politics very much. And when they do, i notice that they make sure they make the distinction between "groomers" and "normal gay people". I see this a lot with extremists even like Tucker Carlsonn. I wouldnt say the party is anti-gay in 2022.
The thing is, for a lot of people like me, the Republican party seems to value personal-liberty a lot more ever since Trump. I dont like the fact everything I do is illegal, if not relentlessly regulated by the government.
Im liberal, and I believe in maximizing personal liberty. I dont think federal micromanagement is very effective, and that's something that Democrats have been pushing for too long.
We don’t really know what he believes in; developing those companies made him the wealthiest man on earth so that might’ve been the motivation. so, the beginning of the video paints him in particular moral tones. Given that the rest of the video speaks of partisanship, the start of the video is the proxy for “here’s what we know objectively about musk without reference to his politics” - that’s why I find that moral coloring problematic
I don't mind short and concise. It saves my time.
Daddy's Emerald Mine somehow doesnt come up?
I've already argued this with some dinguses here in the comments. They seem to completely lack the understanding that his family's wealth gave him an enormous advantage in terms of accumulating wealth. Most of us would have to work multiple lifetimes to have the starting money Elon did. He made some good investment decisions early on and continued that pattern. That's about all he's actually good at.
Almost like none of that money came to the US and he was forced to sleep in his office and shower in the gym. Btw that mine was in Tanzania and closed before aparthied even began. But yes keep spreading misinfo.
This is no different that anyone investing their money and seeing returns because you increased the productivity of that mine and the workers. Which increases standard of living for the entire nation. Nothing about this is remotely immoral.
@@brianfox771
Elon had 0 starting money when he moved here, you ok?
@@ogzombieblunt4626 if increasing productivity of harvesting natural resources is conducive to increasing the standards of living in a given country like you say, then why are the countries that produce the most natural resources often the poorest/least developed in the world?
Naw. People were able to accept him and ignore is low personal and business practices because it wasn't front and center and his status as an industry disruptor was marketed so well. We could ignore him calling people pedophiles, having multiple relationships, harassing his startup staff and competitors. But his callous handling of twitter employees and the business as a whole has not sat well with people on all sides.
All the nonsense you said about harassment and having multiple relationships and saying mean things on Twitter, that’s stuff that only terminally online idiots care about. The rest of us see a rich guy who has made big steps toward popularizing electric vehicles and advancing rocket science. And you need to touch some grass.
You're living in a super lefty bubble then. Lots of people are plenty fine with how he discarded Twitter employees, who were vastly overpayed for what they were actually doing, AND half of which were nothing but political activist censors.
You only see one side.
@@ericschmuecker348what’s the other side may I ask cause he has now fired majority of his employees when he started owning x and has been not so nice to his daughter and some of his ex’s in the past few years.
Naw, you focusing on "callous handling of Twitter employees" instead of the fascist-like abuse of power by pre-Musk Twitter as an institution of influence for the Left says everything about your motivations.
the problem of extreme left and right are both lacking of compassion, understanding of others. Elon takes that to the extreme. Everyone works for him knows him as the slave driver. He takes the high ground that everyone should be operating at his level, either he truly believes that, or it's simply a pretense. And he thinks everyone should think like him.
It's the issue of ideology metastasizing into tribalism.
Tribal "us versus them" is downright programmed to suppress compassion. "Dehumanizing the enemy" and so on.
USA's political 2-party system has such an iron grip because of this issue.
If you can get a voter into that tribal mindset, nothing but that party label matters. Everything the other side does must be opposed, everything "mine" does is excusable.
Just found your channel immediately subscribing
While voicing politics in a position of power is sure to drum up criticism, I think it is fair to say that he deserves some of the recent criticism for his execution as CEO. From the very start he was rash in his decision making, backpedaling on countless policies and strategies at Twitter. He quickly reversed the launch of Twitter blue. Within a 24 hr period he banned and unbanned journalists for talking about Elonjet. Finally, he drafted a policy that suspended accounts for linking to other social media profiles, consequently suspending prominent users who were initially supportive of him (Paul Graham). This entire policy was quickly scrapped. These are just a couple examples of incredibly rash decisions that led to a net negative impression of his capability running Twitter, worrying shareholders at his other businesses. The reality is, he's probably best served at his existing companies and should probably hire someone to run Twitter that's more capable of being deliberate and committed to the job. Overall, I think Musk has done an incredible job running companies, and I admire the work he's done, but based on the last month, Twitter doesn't really feel like the right fit for him.
He has done an incredible job of running companies ?
You don't think traits & characteristics carry-over? Are we saying that his rash decision-making & childlike behaviour, which's borderline abusive in the perspective of the employees is entirely due to the fact that he is inexperienced in running a social media company?
No, nobody changes their style of management & strategic approaches overnight --This should be an indication that his role in the successes of SpaceX & Tesla is severely exaggerated, it should be an indication that his engagement in SpaceX & Tesla was not a result of "for the betterment of mankind", amongst many other morally reprehensible & financially questionable things, none of which has to do with politics.
Non-entrepreneurial souls don't understand that running tech businesses require lots of experimentation, so inevitable mistakes.
@@phazon6179 And by experimentation you mean promising stuff that you've seen in a sci-fi movie once to be delivered in impossible quantities and time frames?
@@phazon6179 ah I see, he’s just a “cut above”. Wtf is with peoples idol worship? Western civilization is about equality, not hierarchy
@@Charles-pf7zy boy stop drinking the woke Koolaid and read history. You'll never reach equality. Even communists tried and it was the biggest failure of all times.
I think this was over simplified, and missing a fair amount.
Not exactly wrong regarding what was said, but not a whole picture.
Half truths make whole lies.
He clearly didn't actually look at the real valid criticisms of musk before making this video. Tesla shareholders are passed that he liquidated shares to buy twitter. It tanked the share price. Many people had their retirement locked up in tesla.
I 100% agree. Most of his videos are milk toast and don't really get into the meat of things. For many, it isn't just his politics, but how he is weaponizing our political divisions for his own economic gain. In all, I think a lot of people can see that he just isn't a good person. Others don't like him, just because of his fans.
He also lies a lot. For example first telling us his father had an emerald mine, then denying it and telling us that he doesn't know why people keep saying that and how he doesn't know how this "theory" came to exist.
I think some of it also stems from his Asperger's. He doesn't do _group think_ which sets him apart from other normies and opens him up to attack. His Asperger's is also likely the origin of success because he thinks out the box and doesn't follow convention.
Ha, no, his success largely stems from being an Apartheid emerald mine magnate trust baby. You've been duped by his PR campaign he paid so much into to make him look like a real life Tony Stark.
@@brianfox771 Lots of people inherit money and do nothing with it but spend it.
@@brianfox771 So that's 100% nonsense, but far lefties unfortunately don't care about truth. (Nor do far righties for that matter.)
@@blutey And Elon's parents did not even die...
@@ronald3836 His parents don't have to be dead to have a trust. Regardless if I got some of the nuance wrong, he comes from a wealthy family that makes their money from emerald mining, that in the past benefited from cheap labor borne from Apartheid S.A., no matter how they felt about it. He started off enormously wealthy compared to the average Westerner, and threw money at a project that luckily for him became a massive success. He sold his stake in Paypal becoming obscenely wealthy and repeated that formula until he became the wealthiest in the world. Arguably, that is the only thing he is actually good at. The rest is PR, hype, and persona crafting.
I’m sad nothing was mentioned about surplus value
Has he ever said/done anything explicitly right wing, or does he just express distaste with the left? Because those aren't necessarily the same thing.
Well, Elon Musk unbanned Andrew Anglin, the editor of the Daily Stormer, while people on the left like theomniliberal had to wait for months to be unbanned.
Union busting is right-wing. Musk illegally threatened workers’ stock options if they chose to unionize. He fired at least 18 employees as a result of a union organizing campaign at a plant in Buffalo.
Yes. He tweeted everyone needs to vote for Republicans in the 2022 election. He reinstated on Twitter people banned for hate speech, support for Nazi ideals, and other hateful conduct, which incensed the left. Most recently, he used the common right-wing trope to attack George Soros, even though a fair amount of Soros criticism rests in antisemitism (although there is legit things to critique him on.) Also recently, he lent support to the idea that several right-wing shooters were either "psy-ops", faked, or simply didn't believe evidence of they were right-wing despite the shooter having a swastika tattoo on his chest. He's clearly reveling in the insanity on the right, so the people on the left have many, many reasons to be pissed at him.
Honestly neither from what I’ve read/heard. He just likes to joke around with people who ask for it.
hes retweeting posts from scientific racism accounts lol @@basement_culture
Love your content Ryan. Keep up the good work.
I just want to know why Elon get away with not paying Twitter office rent while if I miss a payment of rent/mortgage I face far worse consequences than him.
Well, I guess you could figure that out by reading the contracts.
There are nuances to every situation with double standards, and the nuance is familiarity.
Charisma
He's a big rich capitalist so he's more important than us normies and poors.
@@No-cg9kjwhat a chatbot reply
the only reason you have to roll an ad for elon, is to hold up a radically centrist narrative. the least you could have done is actually do research on elon's career outside of his own company's website's About-pages or not leave out details you're actually aware of... (or clarify later)
OMG, right?!?! Exactly what I was thinking. lol.
The only person I've ever supported on Patreon. Thank you for your work, Ryan!
fake praise. nobody cares who you supported on patreon. the only reason you want people to get on patreon is because you aren’t getting anything from youtube not with that pathetic number of subscribers that you have.
Hello Ryan,
I think we can initially have a sense about a person, and then look inwardly to see why that is; not to ‘justify’ our first impression or make a case. Perhaps some science says otherwise, but currently I’m not loosing any sleep over it.
~Thanks for your thought provoking videos!
.
Politics are only the half of it because even people outside of the US find him polarizing.
Probably changed once he knew his child was stolen from him.
He might have a grudge against the Bohemian Grove society for that reason, just like Tom Cruise stayed with Scientology to distance himself from the "Eyes Wide Shut" group leading Hollywood.
I think anyone who owns a platform that is this important to politics as Twitter is, should be expected to be non-partisan due to their ability to make the discourse unfair by silencing one group more than the other. Even if they aren't doing so, there's no real way to tell that they aren't which is why maintaining a non-partisan exterior is especially important.
Yep also the concept of non-partisansgip has to be examined. People can't become more and more radical, spew hatred and deny whole groups of people the right to exist and just claim free speech just because their side has become so radicalized. A liberal society has to be open for different opinions but this also has limits where it exits liberal discourse and drifts into facism. If you let this run rampant under the guise of free speech you will get actual facism, which will end free speech and liberal society. This is why this radical free speech talking point is so dangerous.
Is this even possible, everyone has bias, no one is complaining the Jeff bezos, a liberal, owns Washington post
He only bought Twitter because it had an obvious bias, with the espoused mission of opening it for everyone. People already knew he had political views before he did that, so suddenly going non-partisan would only have made people more suspicious of him.
Sounds wonderfull, but why go after Elon Musk?
He may be biased to politicians like Andrew Yang, but he's done 10x more to get balanced and COHERENT opinions from right and left wingers, than most other platforms.
@@azraeldemuirgos9518 Actors on the right have consistently complained about Bezos’ ownership of the Washington Post. A better point may have been how the magnitude of political influence of the communication medium plays a role in the volume of discontent of partisanship ownership of media platforms both social or otherwise.
Did he start Tesla no. Are his ideas for going to Mars remotely realistic based on his metrics no What about that loop in Las Vegas is supposed to be self driven cars is that working no honestly A CZcams Jenna called the common sense captic
I think you forgot one major reason people hate musk
He doesn’t shut up.
Also he is a rich billionaire with a weird need for public approval.
Great video!
For every person that is concerned about his politics or power there are multiple who blindly follow their narrative. I know many people that don't like Elon because they heard or read bad stuff about him. There's a multiplying effect at play as a consequence, ironically, of social media and our bias and failed traditional media. Drama and controversy sell, so this effect is not minor.
Yes
This video entirely ignores the many, many broken promises and vastly exaggerated claims regarding his projects that would be tolerable if he had cultivated an imagine as a savvy businessman, but less so when he presents himself as the tech-savior of humankind.
One immediately big issue is claiming that electric cars are driving any real change to sustainability when it’s just increasing pressure on the dirty grids,and is still a stop gap at best when roads are considered. If he actually cared he’d be pushing real solutions like mass high speed rail
Do you think the left is more vocal than the right.might creat a distorted perseptsion
Hating him is a trend just like loving him was a trend few years back
I agree to an extent, but he has objectively changed his behavior.
Moves like open sourcing patents to speed up ev infrastructure made it easier to dismiss rumors of his “unusual” management style at PayPal as being a kind of Jobsian “reality distortion field” that was ahead of the curve and got results.
Now fast forward to him lying about Tesla solar roofs and then learning he hired a PI to backfill the “pedo guy” allegation and it’s easy to see why opinions were right to change.
There are respective reasons, but there is certainly a weight of social inertia pulling the conversation in a certain direction as well. I think dismissing it as purely a trend is somewhat reductive.
i mean the fact that hes a pathological liar would be a good start, or the fact that the world keeps giving him credit for things that he buys.
i wish i could put money into a lottery machine and be credited for it. that'd be so cool.
I would love to see your objective view of Donald Trump. His skills and weaknesses, his political ideology and influence going forward
One of my biggest problem with Elon Musk is that he doesn't hold any real believes.
He criticizes someone for something, then proceed to do that exact same thing.
He says he believes in something, then proceed to do the exact opposite of what he believes in.
The fact that he has power doesn't affect what I think of him but I think it gives him more abilities/reach to use deception (IDK the whole story but apparently now he talks with some government officials, IDK who or why but I think it's kind of worrisome).
A true Aaron Burr
It’s not so much about politics for me. A few days ago he publicly mocked and fired a wheel chair bound disabled employee and that’s when I was able to finally place my finger on it . He’s cruel. I think you nailed it.
@@jvanek8512 what a deflection holy crap. Being disabled doesn't make you a good person and mocking a disabled person for having a disability makes you a terrible person. The two aren't mutually exclusive
@@eragonship4929 I mean yes and no. I think example wise Elon was making fun of the guys disability because Elon thought he was using it as an excuse. Doesn’t necessarily make it right, but at the same time it isn’t as though he’s just doing it because he hates disabled people. More that he thinks the person is lazy and is using his disability as an excuse.
@@randomteenageboy5002 right I forgot that when someone uses their disability as a reason they have to use speech to text while still remaining productive, the reasonable thing to do is to mock their disability. Let me do that next time I misunderstand someone's disability
Elon has since apologized because of course he was in the wrong yet here you still are
@@eragonship4929 I mean it wasn’t how you paint it when he “mocked” the guy based on his disability relating to text to speech. He just thought the guy was lying about how serious the disability was due to him “tweeting up a storm”. Now he did apologize and admitted he was wrong, but looking at a moral argument it isn’t as though Elon was mocking the guy. Just calling him out on him faking his disability (or what he thought at the time, later disproven).
I never said if Elon Musk was right or wrong, just trying to show what could’ve been his logic at the time
There may be more to the story than what we are aware of which could make you wrong about him being cruel. However, something I believe most people can agree on regardless of their political leanings is publicly mocking the man after dismissing him is unprofessional and lacks decorum regardless as to what the reasons for his dismissal may have been.
Elon's politics is a big reason why some hate him but really it's his needy egotistical behavior and his duplicity about saving humanity that revealed him as just another billionaire.
Exactly starlink for Iran to fan the flames of revolution but not for China, n.korea or Russia...
Frankly you fail to see the irony of it all. Most people with the biggest impact on humanity were insufferable aholes.
Just another billionaire is a term only a fool would use, as to become a billionaire one must move society in a direction may it be forward or backward.
For instance If you were to die by the end of your life, there is a 99.9% chance the impact you brought upon this world would not come close to that of Elon musk as of this moment.
Yet this empty disdain spreads in the sewers of the internet like festering rats while men with their whole lives on camera try their best to pursue their obsessions with great benefit to society.
Do you think the same of Jordon Peterson ???
Duplicity? Please explain.
No, I think people are jealous of him.
I have a question. What do you think of Gad Saad's new book, The Parasitic Mind? Or have you not read that yet?
Balanced and thoughtful, thank you!
Because he wants to put a chip in my head and he posts 10 year old reddit memes.
sometimes succinct is better
sometimes he straight up steals Memes that were replied to him and uses it as his own
and when the guy who created the meme asks him to at least credit him(his own fans btw)he blocks them LMAO
@@Ar1AnX1x no one gives a fuck about crediting memes especially on twitter
@Bogda Nov do you understand the present non-viability of a brain chip?
@@arekhautaluoma4276 Do you understand that this is only being used on disabled paraplegics?
Surgery done for cosmetic reasons is just mutilation.
No ones putting this shit on cus they think its cool.
The person of Elon Musk would be easier for me to stomach if he were at least KIND instead of awful while being racist, power hungry, dishonest, hypocritical and being all those of things to such extremes.
Thank you for emotionally preparing me to look at musk in the best light possible at the start and then making 2 awfully broad claims so that I can make up my own "why", from my own biases and then write a comment on how insightful this video was. 7 minute video about abosolutely nothing, is it satire?
I Don't mind your shorter content, adds variety
I love your channel so much Ryan, you always have an objective approach to things. I feel like I'm consistently just getting one side of the story from the media I consume, but when you make a video about something I feel like I'm getting the full context.
Al Jazeera is actually way better than American news.
@@gwho Sadly true...
If you think this video gave anything close to full context you should broaden your horizons. Everyone is jealous is hardly a solid take on this one. He doesn't even mention how many people lost money when elon tanked the tesla stock.
@@dhayes907 "Everyone is jealous" was not the point of the video though. At least personally, what I got from this video was that choosing a political side is the main reason for the hate on Elon Musk.
But yes, this video is nothing close to giving full context. I also don't know anything about the story of Elon manipulating stock for example.
@@monkeeseemonkeedoo3745 Team politics junkies always try to make every issue about politics. Its kind of infuriating.
I have been watching you videos lately (you can thank YT algorithms lol). Over and over again, I have been anticipating a political view. Time and time again, you have proven to stick to the facts without forcing a way to view about the topic presented. I find this approach incredibly relieving in todays political environment as it has allowed me to learn the topic while being allowed to see how I see it and how others might. Keep up the great work because I am looking forward to your future content. *subscribe*
I find the opposite with him in a positive way. He does a deep and neutral analysis of the situation, but then from this analysis he develops and adopts a unique and original position which he argues in favour of. So it’s not just neutral research videos like almost everyone else. It’s a little more academic. I love it.
Po, ja 9
.0
He’s a guy with big dream, but he’s a man who’s never need to worry about money.
It's also the hypocracy & lying that he does far more then other billionaires.
Another great video. Truly don't hear this kind of objectivity near at all these days.
Ryan made som good points and observations, but do you really think his framing was objective or unbiased? Especially the opening minutes where he describes his character?
@@cognitivedissonance9938 imo he was giving reasons why on the surface Elon wouldn’t seem like a guy so many would hate. As for what Ryan’s actual opinions of Elon are, he’s doesn’t seem to be on the “Elon bad” side, but he’s definitely not a fanboy either. Giving him the benefit of the doubt based on his other work, I’d guess Ryan has a more nuanced view of Elon. It’s also hard to pinpoint exactly what he actually thinks, which is very refreshing and pretty rare in media.
It baffles me how many people in this comment section think they know whats going on in the world, but don't realize that tesla is a publicly traded company. Elon tanked the share price overnight liquidating shares to buy twitter. He lost a lot of money for a lot of people. But no, this is about free speech and envy, money has nothing to do with it.
Another great video, thank you. Speaking of Elon Musk, please consider a video on Effective Altruism and Longtermism. I would be interested in your iunderstanding of these concepts.
As would I.
Longtermism is fascist and evil. It’s a cover for the rich and power to behave selfishly while claiming they are empathetic to people that don’t exist
But the twitter files are good. We cant forget this cmon. Sure he isnt a good man. But the twitter files are so important
Is nobody going to talk about echo chambers?
I am guessing you studied sociology or anthropology. I appreciate how you speak about values/identity without making a value judgement yourself
Okay but what about how he treats his employees and businesses and avoids paying taxes? Don't people hate him for that?
How does he treat his employees?
@@oentrepreneur Like worthless, replaceable machines?
@@oentrepreneurfire them if they don’t stroke his ego like an emperor
You can think of Elon Musk typically as your average boss not great or worst but I think everyone can agree he is one of your great guys when it comes to innovation and problem solving, so yes there are cases that highlight the "bad things" due to the nature of politics ofcourse the other group will do their best to almost or never acknowledge the good side of him no matter how high the ratio of good against the bad might be which could be a problem or dangerous as it can affect the perception of him by the public.
No Elon Musk cannot avoid paying taxes especially with his status. Someone who is literate enough to comprehend financial statements or review income statement can inform you.
@@Ice-Cream-for-Life lmao no way you believe that
I think this is a worthwhile summary, but I imagine you wouldn’t disagree that this topic really requires a bit more of a deep dive. I think there’s something to be said of someone gaining too much power and influence when they start to profess political agendas, whether Elon had bought Twitter in his current positions of antagonizing the left, or when he was beloved by centrist liberals. As much as a cess pool as Twitter has always been, and how much I don’t believe their teams did enough to make it less of one outside of algorithmic based auto-moderation, Jack never really became an outwardly antagonistic CEO inside the company.
I don’t think the right ever had a major problem with Elon. But prior to his antagonism of the left, the left through positions of power began to criticize his hoarding of wealth and how abhorrent it actually is. And to their point, he bought one of the largest, most influential social media platforms and is famously crafting it in ways that are meant to increase his influence, rather than a place of free speech. It makes you spew at the idea of what sort of world leader he would make.
I think it’s worth giving great consideration that where we are at with the polarization of Elon Musk is less because of the political polarization trends we face in America, and more his temper tantrum in real time over being criticized for hoarding so much wealth - which I suppose you can argue is at least somewhat in tandem with America’s increasing political polarization.
My bro looking fresh with the haircut.
Well, no. It has more to do with
- unethical employment contracts
- subsidies for companies which are unprofitable yet hyped
- flipping the Doge coin market
- buying Twitter to fix it's bias then reinforcing the same bias for his own ends
And I'm sure there were others.
It's pretty sad how surface-level this analysis is when his other videos are so thorough.
@@arekhautaluoma4276 Have you also seen responses to him?
@@masscreationbroadcasts Yes, there are some very good responses to this video that offer far better critique as you have too.
Given his chaotic purchase of Twitter and his equally impulsive governance of the platform, he's outed himself as someone who achieved success without skill. Someone good at business would not do the things he did with Twitter. I don't think it's power that people respond negatively to, its incompetent successful people.
also the dishonesty of the guy, he lies about everything all the time.
He sells you aspirin (which is useful) while telling you it'll be a cure for cancer next year.
He’s been extremely lucky his entire life with the purchases of companies that he has made. I’m unaware of a major benefit he has added to any of the organizations he’s purchased other than capital. Let alone his capital all originating to his family. Those circumstances make him off putting to most imho.
@@williamcrabtree9368 the benefit he made to organizations was his marketing skills, nothing else
@klark311919919 Elon is no genius, but he's intelligent and workaholic individual.
IMO his "marketing skills" ain't that good. If you watch his interview, you can see how poor his communication skill is. It must be difficult for him to sell his ideas to investors.
He always overpromise and underdeliver, which is extremely bad, since managing your customers expectation is critical for marketing and customer relation.
You may disagree with his politics and his quirky/weird personality, but there's no denying that he earned his success. I mean ofc luck play big role in his success, as in other wildly successful individuals, sure, but he's also very good programmer (or at least he was, when he was younger), decent engineer, and very effective manager.
_"Someone good at business would not do the things he did with Twitter."_
Elon did terrible job running Twitter, but that doesn't mean he's bad at business in general. He's far from perfect, but he's not that bad either. He's definitely above average.
After all, he's the founder of SpaceX (the largest and most successful private space/rocket company ever), and leader of Tesla (which is one of the largest car company in the world). In a way, he is comparable to Henry Ford and Kiichiro Toyoda (Toyota).
_"I don't think it's power that people respond negatively to, its incompetent successful people."_
Elon bought Twitter with his own money, *NOT* using taxpayers money. There's no reason for you or anyone else to be annoyed by his "incompetence". If anything, you should laugh at him, instead of feeling annoyed.
Well.. except if you are an avid Twitter user who disagree with his new policies (which means you hate the *power* he exercises over Twitter), or maybe you're one of his investor who helped funding the buyout (which means your weariness is due to the *power* he has over your investment).
Another point. Disproportionate power in society without accountability is the concern here. Powerful people have the potential to cause enormous harm. If Musk, and others, were obligated to temper power with wisdom then society would have more confidence. Individuals are all flawed; a requirement to establish some guidelines or consensus such as through regulation borne of thoughtful broad-based analysis would limit the damage done by even well-meaning individuals. The Musk-generated chaos at Twitter is a perfect example. I do not know if his actions at Twitter are caprious or malevolent but they have been distructive in a way that was preventable with regulation.
Most powerful and rich, usually exploiting the workers.
You explain complex thoughts so well, and all of your videos are so interesting. You are truly one of my favorite youtubers.
I really admire your capacity for holding an insightful and objective stance. Thanks for sharing your views with us!
Sorry for bothering but where do you get your background musics???
Grateful for your intellect Ryan. I appreciate your content immensely. Thank you kindly.
Look at your opening statements again, they’re all things Elon claims he is, and those claims, if true, are certainly admirable. But for some reason, uncharacteristically of this channel I should add, you seem to just take these claims as fact.
I couldn’t care less about politics, I don’t even know which side is Elon on, the problem I have with him is the endless lying, for his own financial benefit.
Glad I'm not the only one noticing this.
Agreed. This feels like an incredibly biased video.
Those are just the facts...
@@blondymonk1535 In so far as they are not phrased as opinions, sure. Regarding whether they're True or not, well, that's another matter.
I've got problems with the first minute of this. And have now watched through the whole video. The first minute is a fairly superficial assessments of his business career, unobjectively from Elon's perspective. A lot of dislike for him comes from actual knowledge of his inauthenticity in regards to his 'understanding' of science. Common Sense Skeptic has done many elaborate deep dives into how Elon obtained his companies, having not actually invented his claimed 'inventions'. I know that politics are your background, and I love your analysis. That being said, if we take away the politics from this, there has always been direct, often scientifically backed criticism of Elon Musk. I think this is far more important than how different political leanings perceive him. I'd rather see an assessment of Musk's claims, goals and work - ultimately, this is what I consider important in guiding the perception of someone - not always analyzing it through a present political lens.
***Edit - I'm aware this is not as well structured of a comment as it could be. I'd like to add - Elon lost my respect many years before he started blabbering about politics - simply because he has a bad habit of misrepresenting his past, horrible habit of missing deadlines and lying about the viability of his plans. All his plans to go to Mars sounded so cool when they were announced - when I was 10 (that's in 2001). Now I'm not so sure how you can bank on a 'backup Earth' that can't...even....presently....sustain....life.
He did not develop Tesla he bought the idea for the Tesla from somebody else who would already produced the first car that he had nothing to do with. His genius is promotion it is not engineering the truth is lots of people can do engineering that's why he pays so much attention to The narrative of his life it is a construct he actually said he admired Edison more than Tesla but let's all remember that Edison was a ruthless human being
Wait so the state of affairs where public schools, universities, social media, tech,mainstream news media, Hollywood, media and music all lean heavily to one political spectrum is a conception of equality by the American people? Am I dreaming?
if that was the case then how come elections have been so close in the past few years ? Clearly the right have plenty of opportunity to spread their dogma just as much as the left do, possibly more , if you think of all the religious organisations that are now skewed radically to the right.
Its rare that people who are involved in the arts are right wing, because the arts are generally open to new ideas, experimentation, they explore emotions, investigate concepts, take risks and are more accepting of those who are different. The right loath most of these concepts with a passion. Most social media can hardly be called liberal, the amount of right wing hate sites and right wing disinformation on social media is rife. There is a VERY large right wing media, in most western countries , the murdoch empire, most of the british and Australian press regularly feature stories that demonise migrants and other minorities. I was a teacher, the idea that most teachers are left wing is far form accurate, curriculum might now slightly skew towards social justice, but in the past that was far from the situation , amny text books of thew past concentrated on portraying the good points of countries who had colonies, and ignored or underplayed the downsides.
@@reverendbarker650 1. The elections have been close because of the incompetence of the left and their very bad policies, not because of any strategy from the right. The right basically seats back and let the left look stupid and say "see!"
2. Besides some fringe websites and some newspapers, the entire media apparatus is dominated by one spectrum of the political aisle. The same is true for education. In fact, the most seemingly innocuous position is considered controversial now i.e. Professor Amy Wax saying middle class bourgeois values are a good thing has her fighting for her job.
3. The new orthodox is if you do not believe that racism is the cause for the plight of black Americans, gender is a social construct, gun control is a good thing, progressive taxation, etc.... You aren't just someone who holds wrong ideas; you are a desperately wicked person deserving of cancellation.
When twitter was left wing and suppressing right wing voices/ former president, the mainstream media was elated. I actually long for the day when right wing people start treating left wing people the same way. Keep in mind that I am not even right wing. I just find the modern left in America completely intolerable and dishonest. What happened to the Biden laptop? Why is it okay for BLM to riot and destroy neighborhoods? Why are major cities so unsafe and dangerous? Public schools are absolute failures where the vast majority of children cannot read or do math at their level but the mainstream narrative is that learning about social justice and isms is more important than basic reading, writing and arithmetic.
American politic basically has three factions: The Democrats, who are centre right conservatives (being broadly in favour of the reasonably liberal but also very plutocratic system that is the status quo), the Republicans, who are basically accelerationist plutocrats riding heard on a mix of deplorable far-right awfulness and a few stray demographics the Democrats drove off by using them as scapegoats a few decades back, and the radical left, which is basically the reality that the Republican propaganda machine uses as the basis for it's false depcition of the Democrats, which is often every bit as biggoted and deplorable as the far right, just with different standards of what is and isn't an acceptable target (and being a bit more capable of subtlety in their methods) and a different set of buzzwords with which to lable the 'other' and pretend to virtue.
Most of the American news media falls into the 'Democrat' camp (they only really care about what makes money for their bosses, and scandles sell, but they won't generally go out of their way to be dishonest unless the truth would harm their boss's bottom line). Fox is blatantly the Republican propaganda organ and should be given about as much credibility as Pravda. The radical left has much less of a hold on the news media, but substantial influence in the entertainment industry.
Social media, on the other hand, is just a great awful mess of echochambers and intentional rage factories when it comes to politics.