Nah, power forces you to operate in a different paradigm as does absolute power to an absolute degree. It's a known psychological factor, called "professional deformation" or even "occupational psychosis".
It was its own HN thread, but got flagged to death within minutes.
If truth mattered to Trump and Musk, they would not have been elected. This whole administration is built on lies.
The recession will be astounding, many people who have 401ks will not be able to retire; there will be no government benefits.
This is turning into forced austerity, like with Greece after the global recession. But for what? Anti vax sentiment? Trans women playing sports?
This didnt need to happen, but I will say also that the Democrats have a hand in this outcome by letting Biden run un-primaried, and not actually solving the economic woes of the working class, instead being captured by various activist groups.
The list of astounding and gross things the have happened that nonetheless, somehow, leave a bunch of people going "I dunno, seems OK" or "eh, it's not a big deal" is growing longer every day, and it's really starting to have not just negative, but downright nasty effects on my feelings about those same people. I guarantee a bunch will shrug this off, too. Hell it's not even the clearest evil action this week.
There was a real line drawn, I think, with the pair of unambiguous nazi salutes on national TV. There's not much room left for even absurdly-generous plausible deniability. Folks still nodding along or going "gee, I dunno" about that are making a choice with eyes wide open. At least I don't have to second-guess how I feel about them now.
> somehow, leave a bunch of people going "I dunno, seems OK" or "eh, it's not a big deal" is growing longer every day
The death of morality by a thousand tiny social cuts. The human fear of peer-rejection is deeply embedded, and with enough time... Well, no cult becomes successful without doing that.
To quote some advice on corrupting a man from senior devil Screwtape:
> No doubt he must very soon realise that his own faith is in direct opposition to the assumptions on which all the conversation of his new friends is based. I don’t think that matters much provided that you can persuade him to postpone any open acknowledgment of the fact, and this, with the aid of shame, pride, modesty and vanity, will be easy to do. As long as the postponement lasts he will be in a false position. He will be silent when he ought to speak and laugh when he ought to be silent. He will assume, at first only by his manner, but presently by his words, all sorts of cynical and sceptical attitudes which are not really his. But if you play him well, they may become his. All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be. This is elementary.[...]
> Sooner or later, however, the real nature of his new friends must become clear to him, and then your tactics must depend on the patient’s intelligence. If he is a big enough fool you can get him to realise the character of the friends only while they are absent; their presence can be made to sweep away all criticism. If this succeeds, he can be induced to live, as I have known many humans live, for quite long periods, two parallel lives; he will not only appear to be, but actually be, a different man in each of the circles he frequents.
> Failing this, there is a subtler and more entertaining method. He can be made to take a positive pleasure in the perception that the two sides of his life are inconsistent. This is done by exploiting his vanity. [...] You see the idea—the worldly friends touch him on one side and the [religious colleague] on the other, and he is the complete, balanced, complex man who sees round them all. Thus, while being permanently treacherous to at least two sets of people, he will feel, instead of shame, a continual undercurrent of self-satisfaction.
-- Screwtape, senior devil, in The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Yeah, to me, there is no benefit of the doubt. Musk supports AfD, which seems to this American about as Nazi a party is as legally allowed in Germany. He has, of course, reinstated all kinds of far right voice to his shitty little social media platform, while simultaneously banning anyone/anything he deems too woke. Then, bro pulls a full fledged Nazi salute on national TV.
I don't know if it is appropriate to call Musk a Nazi: that term is so rooted in a specific era and place. I would certainly call Musk a neo-fascist, just as I would call Trump a neo-fascist, and also the entirety of his cabinet:
There are a lot of people on HN who doesn't want to hear about politics (which everything involving Elon Musk inevitably is) and it doesn't take many flags to kill a submission.
>It should be utterly obvious that a Zelensky-controlled poll about his OWN approval is not credible!!
Oh, the irony hits hard on that one.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Power reveals who the person always was.
Nah, power forces you to operate in a different paradigm as does absolute power to an absolute degree. It's a known psychological factor, called "professional deformation" or even "occupational psychosis".
Does this surprise anyone?
Truth right down the memory hole.
Guy is a serial liar; here is a danish astronaut calling out Musk's lies about the ISS-stranded astronauts:
https://x.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1892517170384392664
It was its own HN thread, but got flagged to death within minutes.
If truth mattered to Trump and Musk, they would not have been elected. This whole administration is built on lies.
The recession will be astounding, many people who have 401ks will not be able to retire; there will be no government benefits.
This is turning into forced austerity, like with Greece after the global recession. But for what? Anti vax sentiment? Trans women playing sports?
This didnt need to happen, but I will say also that the Democrats have a hand in this outcome by letting Biden run un-primaried, and not actually solving the economic woes of the working class, instead being captured by various activist groups.
Following that spat with the astronaut, Elon tweeted: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892621691060093254
> It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the @Space_Station.
> It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility.
> Let’s go to Mars.
The list of astounding and gross things the have happened that nonetheless, somehow, leave a bunch of people going "I dunno, seems OK" or "eh, it's not a big deal" is growing longer every day, and it's really starting to have not just negative, but downright nasty effects on my feelings about those same people. I guarantee a bunch will shrug this off, too. Hell it's not even the clearest evil action this week.
There was a real line drawn, I think, with the pair of unambiguous nazi salutes on national TV. There's not much room left for even absurdly-generous plausible deniability. Folks still nodding along or going "gee, I dunno" about that are making a choice with eyes wide open. At least I don't have to second-guess how I feel about them now.
> somehow, leave a bunch of people going "I dunno, seems OK" or "eh, it's not a big deal" is growing longer every day
The death of morality by a thousand tiny social cuts. The human fear of peer-rejection is deeply embedded, and with enough time... Well, no cult becomes successful without doing that.
To quote some advice on corrupting a man from senior devil Screwtape:
> No doubt he must very soon realise that his own faith is in direct opposition to the assumptions on which all the conversation of his new friends is based. I don’t think that matters much provided that you can persuade him to postpone any open acknowledgment of the fact, and this, with the aid of shame, pride, modesty and vanity, will be easy to do. As long as the postponement lasts he will be in a false position. He will be silent when he ought to speak and laugh when he ought to be silent. He will assume, at first only by his manner, but presently by his words, all sorts of cynical and sceptical attitudes which are not really his. But if you play him well, they may become his. All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be. This is elementary.[...]
> Sooner or later, however, the real nature of his new friends must become clear to him, and then your tactics must depend on the patient’s intelligence. If he is a big enough fool you can get him to realise the character of the friends only while they are absent; their presence can be made to sweep away all criticism. If this succeeds, he can be induced to live, as I have known many humans live, for quite long periods, two parallel lives; he will not only appear to be, but actually be, a different man in each of the circles he frequents.
> Failing this, there is a subtler and more entertaining method. He can be made to take a positive pleasure in the perception that the two sides of his life are inconsistent. This is done by exploiting his vanity. [...] You see the idea—the worldly friends touch him on one side and the [religious colleague] on the other, and he is the complete, balanced, complex man who sees round them all. Thus, while being permanently treacherous to at least two sets of people, he will feel, instead of shame, a continual undercurrent of self-satisfaction.
-- Screwtape, senior devil, in The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Over-indulgence of misinformation led to this.
Yeah, to me, there is no benefit of the doubt. Musk supports AfD, which seems to this American about as Nazi a party is as legally allowed in Germany. He has, of course, reinstated all kinds of far right voice to his shitty little social media platform, while simultaneously banning anyone/anything he deems too woke. Then, bro pulls a full fledged Nazi salute on national TV.
I don't know if it is appropriate to call Musk a Nazi: that term is so rooted in a specific era and place. I would certainly call Musk a neo-fascist, just as I would call Trump a neo-fascist, and also the entirety of his cabinet:
-an EO declaring that Trump's interpretation of the law is the only valid one for anyone in the Executive Branch (https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/02/trump-signs-order-declar...)
-ex post facto vetos (by DOGE fiat) of money previously apportioned by Congress
-the abandonment of Ukraine, while carving it up with Russia for land and mineral rights, and lying about the causes for the conflict.
-the undermining of NATO and bolstering of Russia (https://www.ft.com/content/ac1dcb02-4c5f-4a36-935a-f7ef0a934...)
-firing of inspectors general (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/us/politics/trump-fires-i...)
-firing of election security teams (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/business/trump-foreign-in...)
-vows of retribution against political opponents and weaponization of the DOJ (https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/this-is-not-restoring-...)
This is an terrifying consolidation of power in complete violation of the intent of the American Constitution. Welcome to neo-fascist America.
1 reply →
It's for helping the super rich get richer and more powerful. Some tiny crumbs for socially backward people as reward for helping them do it.
https://xcancel.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1892517170384392664
https://www.npr.org/2024/08/24/nx-s1-5087892/nasa-starliner-...
That reply… wow. What a disappointing timeline we ended up in.
I'm surprised it took him this long. I guess he was too busy tearing down American institutions.
> It was its own HN thread, but got flagged to death within minutes.
Pardon me, who's flagging these posts?
I don't know who, but I am terribly concerned about the destruction that technology has caused in the wrong hands.
It reflects badly on all of us who tried to and try to do good.
Technology "wants" to liberate and empower people, but is horribly used to manipulate and exploit them.
See KK
https://kk.org/thetechnium/what-technology/
There are a lot of people on HN who doesn't want to hear about politics (which everything involving Elon Musk inevitably is) and it doesn't take many flags to kill a submission.
3 replies →
Musk’s weird fanboys, one would assume.
If this isn't (yet another) reason to leave or avoid X, I don't know what is.
Yup. Anyone still there tacitly endorses this nonsense, especially including the feckless “journalists”, too scared to lose their follower counts.
Keep in mind, post hoc community notes lets misinformation run wild lomg before corrections are made, instead of active moderation or other delisting.
It makes people think its an effective counter and i posit it simply makes people smug while the misinfo spreads faster.
> post hoc community notes lets misinformation run wild lomg before corrections are made
That's the whole point of them.
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