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Comment by losvedir | Hacker News Reader

I think people who (still) support him don't think it was a sieg heil, and just chalk it up as an awkward gesture.

Personally, I can't imagine why he would throw one, so a priori it seems like an unlikely gesture, though I admit it's strange what he does in the video I saw.

The most awkward part of it is the beginning of the gesture where he clutches his chest like he's having a heart attack. I've tried searching for what a sieg heil actually looks like and had a hard time finding videos on YouTube, but I don't think grabbing the chest is part of it, right? Can someone clarify what the gesture really is? The couple I saw from Hitler were just a swift raising of the hand from the waist.

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An "awkward gesture" that has no other meaning in western culture. Which he made twice. It's not something you can do by accident.

> I can't imagine why he would throw one

That's pretty naive. He's a white south african who recently said that Germany's furthest-right party should "get over" being guilty about what the nazis did.

> It's not something you can do by accident.

There are countless memes online showing pictures of other famous people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortwz doing similar things.

Anyway, even if it was a nazi salute, what would that even imply about him other than the childish edgelord aspect which is already well publicized? That he wants to gas the jews?

Still pictures though, right? Not actual videos of someone making the full gesture twice in a row.

What would it imply about him? He’s now a quasi-governmental figure aligning himself to the far right. He’s messaging to others on the far right that the federal government will tolerate them. Doing so will embolden them to take action.

> He’s messaging to others on the far right that the federal government will tolerate them. Doing so will embolden them to take action.

Well that's definitely more plausible than the antisemitism...

That said? Musk is exceptionally bad at understanding how his words and actions will be perceived and seems to make no effort to send correct signals. While also being a frequent troll who likes raising his middle finger to the "woke".

It being a big "fuck you" seems far more in keeping with his character than it being a subtle Machiavellian communication.

It appears it is something one can do by accident; Musk did. We seem to have here an accusation by insinuation that Musk is adhering to an ideology which he clearly does not hold. It isn't obvious what the anti-Muskians want done about this. It puts me in mind of when people were calling Trump a liar while he was on campaign - apparently unaware that he was running for political office! I suppose in the end when Mexico didn't pay for the wall they felt a sense of vindication.

I can understand partisan politics, but this is just sillyness. Can there at least be actionable accusations made?

Faulty logic that presupposes Musk made a nazi salute by accident to then evidence that as proof that one can do so by accident.

As for his ideology; Musk boosts many far right comments and addressed a rally of the German far-right AfD party, just before Holocaust Remembrance Day, telling them that Germany should get over "past guilt."

Both his grandfathers were proudly outspoken pro-apartheid, antisemitic public figures. It's how he was raised.

Are you suggesting the Germans shouldn't get over their past guilt? Everyone reasonable moved past that more than 50 years ago. I know some Germans; if they don't want to feel guilt over the Nazis that is healthy. Germany should not be defined by the Nazis. It wasn't this century, it wasn't these Germans and the circumstances today are unrecognisable compared to 1930s from an ideological perspective.

> Both his grandfathers were proudly outspoken pro-apartheid, antisemitic public figures. It's how he was raised.

Oh well then. Extending his arm straight didn't reach me, but racist grandparents? Nazi confirmed, my bad, I'll go invest in Jew ovens. Now everyone can move on; no point anyone bringing it up again.

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