RE: Elon Musk, Social Media Rage, & The Death of Nuance

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RE: Elon Musk, Social Media Rage, & The Death of Nuance

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steevc in FreeSpeech • 9 days ago

I think that Tesla have done a lot to increase EV adoption and SpaceX have done amazing stuff in space. Musk is a very successful businessman, but I can still detest him as a person for several reasons. There's his support for extremist politicians and activists, his sexism and racism, his attitude to his trans daughter, the car crash that was 'DOGE' which is likely to cause massive death and suffering. Of course some will like him for those and others are getting rich from his business dealings.

I have no idea if he is happy. I've heard he works hard, but seems to spend a lot of time tweeting. I guess you can say he's driven.

I despise Trump for similar reasons and it's interesting how the two of them have fallen out. Maybe it's just a clash of massive egos. Labels like 'fascist' may not be helpful if you are into strict definitions, but there are some nasty and powerful people in this world when we need more hope.

I think that much wealth can screw you up. Bill Gates is pretty flawed, but seems to be trying to do some good. He gets abuse for that from some. It just feels like some of the mega-rich are just accumulating wealth and maybe it's so they can abandon this planet for the rest of us to deal with.

I got off Twtr and am unlikely to buy a Tesla, but I doubt Musk will care.

9 days ago in FreeSpeech by steevc

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jacobtothe 9 days ago

Critics of DOGE tend to just assume federal programs are necessary and beneficial, so anyone trying to end them is anti-social. The simple fact is, returning the federal government spending levels to those of Clinton would nowadays be seen as catastrophic austerity. The basic idea that government spending brings prosperity is a gospel which cannot be questioned.

Bureaucrats who rely on people not looking too closely at their offices like to equate themselves with whatever vague ideas the public has, too. For example, the Department of Education is only a few years older than I am, but people think without it, we would have people walking around spouting flat earth theories and claiming ancient aliens built everything. Wait...

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steevc 9 days ago

Of course government spending has to be kept under control, but taking a chainsaw to it may not be the best approach. As I understand it the cuts to USAID left a lot of projects in the lurch and didn't save anything like what he promised. Losing research and inoculation programmes are predicted to lead to many thousands of extra deaths. This is from the guy who said he would help cure world hunger and then didn't. I know it's not easy or cheap, but it is a worthy goal.

Foreign aid has also been cut in the UK and there is talk of spending more on defence. Issues with climate change, water and land usage will lead to more conflict and can't be fixed with weapons or 'AI'.

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jacobtothe 9 days ago

As I understand it, USAID is more government officially laundering money and funding its interventions abroad than it is about helping those in need. Besides, charity and foreign aid are not constitutionally authorized federal activity. Our government is robbing us to buy political favor elsewhere? Hell no.

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steevc 9 days ago

Buying influence abroad is common. Just look at what China is doing. That said, plenty of countries struggle to supply basics we take for granted and saving lives is worth something. The cost of USAID is a fraction of the latest conflict with Iran.

There is probably enough wealth to solve a lot of issues, but it's not distributed.

Of course there will be corruption, but that is happening within the US too.

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kgakakillerg (1) 9 days ago

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kgakakillerg (1) 9 days ago

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bpcvoter3 (1) 9 days ago

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