Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[Admiral Yi]

And what's this "counter-narrative" that Musk deems so deeply necessary? That women/minorities/LGTB+ people should shut the fuck up and know their place? We might have a laugh here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbXRVPE-wS0&t=4s

I can't speak for Elon but I think the counter narrative looks something like this.

[viper37]

because I just have no interest in using twitter to get in culture war battles.

So, what are you using to get in culture war battles?  

 

[The Larch]

Trump Hosts Holocaust Revisionist Nick Fuentes and Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago

Fuentes and West are the latest figures with known histories of extremism and explicit antisemitic remarks to meet with Trump since he announced his 2024 presidential candidacy earlier this month

Truly a meeting of the minds.

[OttoVonBismarck]

because I just have no interest in using twitter to get in culture war battles.

So, what are you using to get in culture war battles?  

 

Honestly--I troll more far right conservative family members in family emails, several of whom have "canceled" me, which is funny considering I thought only the left did that, and I engage in healthy levels of trolling on various message boards. Us Gen X-ers who got into the early internet unfortunately got adept at forms of communication (email, message boards etc) that are less popular with the younger generations.

My usage of Twitter is really more like an old RSS reader than what I think Twitter is "intended" to be. I think a lot of the "wars" on Twitter take place in the Tweet-replies, and frankly for most people I follow on Twitter, I literally never read replies--I read the Tweets from the actual person I follow and then move on to the next Tweet.

[celedhring]

And what's this "counter-narrative" that Musk deems so deeply necessary? That women/minorities/LGTB+ people should shut the fuck up and know their place? We might have a laugh here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbXRVPE-wS0&t=4s

I can't speak for Elon but I think the counter narrative looks something like this.

I loved the show but this scene is indeed problematic (although part of the show's point was that these guys were heroic, but could also be a bunch of assholes).

Look, if people want to have some kind of banter culture at the workplace, that's fine, I just think it has to be consensual, is all. "Don't call people what they don't want to be called" shouldn't be such a cultural fault line.

[Maladict]

Look, if people want to have some kind of banter culture at the workplace, that's fine, I just think it has to be consensual, is all.

I think that can only work if the workplace more or less mirrors the general population. But then again I don't think banter culture will develop there.

[Admiral Yi]

I loved the show but this scene is indeed problematic (although part of the show's point was that these guys were heroic, but could also be a bunch of assholes).

Look, if people want to have some kind of banter culture at the workplace, that's fine, I just think it has to be consensual, is all. "Don't call people what they don't want to be called" shouldn't be such a cultural fault line.

Of course it's problematic; it's counter narrative.

I actually find it problematic for a different reason.  Dennis Leary completely undercuts the discussion of insulting each other in a comradely way by saying when she starts performing well they'll stop insulting her.  It's either one or the other.

And did you notice when they talked about the racial slurs they didn't say what they call Black Sean?  Although in the scene with the sensitivity video they did run through black slurs.

I like the scene because it's a bunch of dudes trying to deal in good faith with a change to their environment.  They may be simple minded but they are making an effort.

[Berkut]

Here is an example of problematic woke culture:

https://www.ktvh.com/news/national/high-school-football-player-loses-scholarship-offer-after-singing-rap-song-with-racial-slur

High school QB says The Most Forbidden Word, and has his scholarship offer revoked.

Context of him saying said word? He recorded himself singing along to a rap song where The Word That Must Not Be Uttered Under Any Circumstances By White People was in the lyrics.

Now he has responded appropriately - he has apologized for such gross insensitivity and agreed that he definitely deserved to have his scholarship pulled, so I imagine he will get another scholarship offer somewhere else and will be just fine.

But this is just more grist for the "OMG TEH CANCEL CULTURE IS OUT OF CONTROL!" mill.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I guess my question would be--football scholarships have a very strong discretionary element, and people frequently lose them for doing things the coaches or athletic administrators decide is not to the best interests of the school. They are a special perk or benefit, not an entitlement. Is it your assertion that people who pay for these special perks and ordinarily apportion them out should have formal limits on how they deploy their resources? Imposed by whom? And to what degree?

Mind what you're asserting here isn't a right to free speech, but a negative right to receive financial benefits from someone else and for that someone else to be required to endorse or support your speech even if they strongly disagree with it.

[Berkut]

I think taking any negative action against some kid because he sang a song is idiotic.

I think the school has every right to yank his scholarship for stupid reasons*, but that doesn't make the reason less stupid.

*Of course, it isn't stupid from the schools perspective - they aren't yanking his scholarship because they actually think this is evidence of his lack of moral character, but because it simply isn't worth the inevitable blowback from the uber intolerant crowd that is going to start screaming about how the University of Florida gives scholarships to racists if they don't.

[DGuller]

I think this is time for yet another reminder that freedom of speech is not just a First Amendment, but it's a concept and a value.  Think of how shitty our life would be if the First Amendment existed and was perfectly protected, but in any other entity holding any kind of power over us fully exercised its control over our speech.

[HVC]

While it sucks personally for the kid it's not not the rule changed overnight and the kid got caught out. It's been what, at least 30 years since it became a true liability for white people  to say that word in public. Then this dunce goes and records himself doing it, that's a double strike of idiocy.

And like berkut said he did the public apology song and dance and will probably get a scholarship somewhere else.

[DGuller]

I also think that when it comes to such idiotic decisions, there is a concept in play that's well-familiar to Soviet people.  I don't know it if has a name, but I call it a pyramid of fear.  It's best explained by an example.

Let's say that you're in Soviet Union among a group of friends, and you make some careless political statement.  None of your friends really think that you wish to do any harm to Comrade Stalin, they don't even think you have any wrong thoughts, and none of them wish to do any ill to you under some BS pretext.  However, they also know that what you said can you interpreted as such, and if they don't act on it by reporting what you said to the proper authorities, and someone else does, then now they're going to be facing questions as to why they did nothing when you said such things about Comrade Stalin.  Someone's going to report you, because they expect some other friends to do the same calculus and conclude that someone's going to report you anyway, and they better be the first ones to do so.

The same dynamic plays up the chain.  The friendly neighborhood NKVD officer isn't really a butcher he's portrayed to be, but he has to think about himself.  He knows you didn't mean any harm to Comrade Stalin, but he has the same dynamic going on with his colleagues and his bosses.  If he lets you off with a warning, then someone may have some questions to him as to why he's so lenient with Stalin's enemies.  No need to stick your neck out for someone, just do what is expected of the loyal Soviet citizen, and let fate work out the rest.  Eventually you go to the gulag for your careless comment, and at no point of the process did anyone in the chain who played a part in sending you there believed that you actually did anything wrong or had any wrong thoughts.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I think taking any negative action against some kid because he sang a song is idiotic.

I think the school has every right to yank his scholarship for stupid reasons*, but that doesn't make the reason less stupid.

*Of course, it isn't stupid from the schools perspective - they aren't yanking his scholarship because they actually think this is evidence of his lack of moral character, but because it simply isn't worth the inevitable blowback from the uber intolerant crowd that is going to start screaming about how the University of Florida gives scholarships to racists if they don't.

Okay, and my question would be how much do you follow college sports? Football scholarships get yanked all the time over all manner of things--BYU will yank a football scholarship if you're caught with a girl sleeping over in your dorm room (and may even expel you.) Is there a reason you think the song issue is worthy of special focus, or do you want to see scholarships in general not revoked? If so, are you more concerned about a situation like a football player losing a scholarship over a song that a university doesn't want its players singing, or with say, a college expelling a female student for reporting a rape? (Because she was cavorting with a male in private.) Do you think there is a reason you're posting about one and not the other? Which one do you think is more injurious?

[Berkut]

The guy is one of the top QB prospects in the country.

He is going to be fine, I am sure. He has more opportunity for incredible success than 99.99% of the other 18 year olds in the world. If he doesn't succeed, it almost certainly won't be because he didn't go to throw a weirdly shaped ball around at the University of Florida in particular. He performed his public act of contrition for doing absolutely nothing wrong at all, and will be fine.

My point is not about the impact on HIM. He is only an example because it is happening to someone in this case relevant enough to make the news.

My point is that it is a pretty decent example of how the <insert another term or uber woke here> left does in fact over-react to things that sane human beings pretty clearly see as completely ridiculous. And the impact that has on our politics and social structures. In a sane world, the University of Florida would have ignored this entirely, but I understand that they cannot.

You should see the twitter threads on this kid. People calling him a racist, and how he deserves to never be allowed to go to college, etc., etc. I bet most of them don't even know the circumstances - he said the word, so he must be excised from society. 

The last time we went around with this, someone said something like "No white person should ever use that word, ever, never, under any circumstances at all". I asked them if that included actors saying while playing a role, and they went ballistic about how that is totally different. I was just listening to The Stand on audible, and the word is used in the book there, and the guy narrating said the forbidden word several times. Is that totally different as well?

Should he be cancelled as well? I am pretty sure he is white. Is that acceptable use? If it is, how is singing a word while you sing along with a written song different from saying the word that you are reading out of a book? If I was reading The Stand out loud, should I be cancelled if I actually SAY the word and someone hears me? What if nobody hears me? 

It's all just absolutely silly. And it feeds into the narrative that Musk and the right then exaggerates - that the left has gone bonkers and this is what they care about.