Hacker News Reader

Comment by neaden | Hacker News Reader

It's because he is a bully and enjoys feeling powerful by being snarky to someone less powerful to him and then having a bunch of people compliment him for doing it. Like I wish that wasn't the reason and was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for awhile but it's pretty clear at this point it's just because he likes to do it.

View on HN

Feels absurd to see Elon's behaviour being a mimicry of the 90s/early 2000s forum mods power trips: be snarky, assert your dominance and power over the users, ban the ones that disagree with you. It's the same exact pattern of behaviour, what has gone so wrong in Musk's life? I really can't comprehend.

Pretty sad existence, even with all of his toys.

It's specially weird because with those mods you always assumed they were people with little to now life outside that forum, hence the tripping on such small amounts of power.

Elon has enough money that he could quit today and have enough money for 10 lives of pure hedonistic bliss... and yet chooses to spend his days on his phone, posting shitty memes and being a dick on Twitter.

It's mind boggling, really.

His attitude can be summed up as:

He was massively bullied as a child, now it's his turn!

Funny how the people he chooses to bully are almost always the traditional enemies of fascists: the disabled, trans people, racial minorities, political dissidents, etc.

The dream of the oppressed is to be the opressor. Not to break the cycle, nor retribution.

> He was massively bullied as a child

He was not.

He was bullied to the point that he had to spend 2 weeks in hospital, according to his own words.

He might be lying, but it's just as likely that he's 'having my turn!'

That particular incident was the result of him teasing a classmate about their fathers' recent suicide and that classmate pushing him down a set of stairs as a result.

Elon's father has talked about it in interviews. It seems Elon was the bully in this specific incident.

I know kids can be brutally insensitive sometimes, but this is extreme behavior even for a child no?

Yes, mocking a classmate for their parents’ death is extreme behaviour, even for a child. I would not be surprised to learn it constitutes fighting words.

And no one can put him in his place as we have a society that lets a singular asshole take over industry (space) or institution (Tesla, Twitter) and make it their personal play thing. It’s obvious to everyone now that these companies are strategically well positioned and succeed despite Elon’s social shortcomings which validates all of him. There is no means to say well you were an exceptional capitalist but also a dick head who made people feel like shit, so we are taking back the investments made.

If we are displeased with the society we have built (and most everyone seems to be, in one way or another), we are welcome to change it. The laws of physics do not stand in our way.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com