Elon Musk: Always A Douche

[Tonitrus]

Perhaps he just thinks that Nazis will be more pro-rocketry.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Just as a thought experiment.

Imagine that Elon Musk was an actual covert agent of the PRC and that he was charged among other things with sowing dissension and division in US society, degrading US state capacity, degrading the ability of the US to defend Taiwan, and doing what he could to block hostile actions to the PRC.

Would his conduct differ in any way from what he has been doing the last few years?

He would probably be more subtle.

[Grey Fox]

Like Minks just said, he's a PRC stooge.

[HVC]

I sometimes wonder how Berk's doing

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Just as a thought experiment.

Imagine that Elon Musk was an actual covert agent of the PRC and that he was charged among other things with sowing dissension and division in US society, degrading US state capacity, degrading the ability of the US to defend Taiwan, and doing what he could to block hostile actions to the PRC.

Would his conduct differ in any way from what he has been doing the last few years?

He would probably be more subtle.

not necessarily...  see wolf-warrior-diplomacy.

[Neil]

Just as a thought experiment.

Imagine that Elon Musk was an actual covert agent of the PRC and that he was charged among other things with sowing dissension and division in US society, degrading US state capacity, degrading the ability of the US to defend Taiwan, and doing what he could to block hostile actions to the PRC.

Would his conduct differ in any way from what he has been doing the last few years?

I've seen people unironically using this line of argumentation.  The idea that anybody who dissents from established opinion as a foreign agent is so seductive, and I remember is flying the other way after 9/11, and even earlier. 

The idea that Musk's brand of tech-boy selfishness could only be attributed to foreign intelligence just mystifies me. 

[Syt]

I think it's tricky to judge. Could be that he's just his naturl bull-in-a-china-shop self. Could be that he's a useful idiot who believes himself smarter than he is by taking certain stances. Could be that he's acting certain ways in order to protect his business interests in China or keep his Saudi friends happy (I.e. a form of self censorship). Could be that there's actual pressure exerted on him.

Either way, with his entanglement in various foreign businesses he seems to pose a significant security risk to any government that seeks to employ him.

[Sheilbh]

Either way, with his entanglement in various foreign businesses he seems to pose a significant security risk to any government that seeks to employ him.

Yeah - although his billions of Federal contracts pre-dates his involvement with Trump (can't help but think of a Ross Perot - also a tech guy, preaching government "efficiency", directly intervening in presidential politics and making a lot of money from government contracts).

In terms of his Saudi friends - because I'll never stop banging on about this (and it's also played an important role in prosecutions in the UK after the riots) - it's worth flagging that Twitter used to sometimes fight government and law enforcement requests to identify individuals wanted by states for things they'd been posting. For all he goes on about free speech absolutism, X has basically stopped fighting those requests entirely. They roll over even for requests (not court orders) from law enforcement, government agencies. I think for some groups - especially people who pay for X or try to monetise from it - Musk's changes have actually increased their legal risk because X absolutely knows who they are.