Silly. Really? Using his fame to call a rescue diver a pedophile is silly? Is a prank?

Fuck that. Elon Musk is a narcissistic asshole.

He actually won at trial by claiming it was just a prank.

> Musk testified that Unsworth had proposed a physically impossible act that could not be taken literally. Likewise, he said, the pedo guy phrase couldn’t be taken literally. “Mother-effer doesn’t literally mean incest,” he noted.

He also, after apologizing, doubled down and called him a child rapist a month later.

In an e-mail to BuzzFeed marked "off the record", urging the journalists to investigate Unsworth's past, which the journalists then published while excusing themselves by saying "OTR doesn't mean OTR unless we agree too!". Musk accused Unsworth of taking a child bride, based on information from a con-man who tricked Elon into hiring them as a private investigator.

I think the full context paints a bit less evil picture than your summary. Also an unexpectedly convoluted story in itself.

I second the narcissism diagnosis, and I'd like to add that naming his son after a formula (and a silly one, for that) is a proof - it's not going to be fun for the son when he grows up.

He's perfectly capable of that for sure, there's a streak of it in him that comes out from time to time, but I don't think it's his definitive trait and there are other times when it's not obvious at all. On that issue he definitely got it wrong.

The thing I like about Elon, is that when he is attacked for not being perfect, everyone goes back to this one thing that happened.

If the worst thing you can bring up about him is that he called a rescue diver a pedophile this one time, he's pretty reliable. This is what, in space, we call an anomaly. They happen. It's ok, until they become a pattern.

Besides that fact that human perfection is not a meaningful concept, I personally consider that episode just a symptom of his personality - nothing more or less than a narcissist, who craves attention. I actually find it a genius, in a perverse way, in the fact that he turned the attention in a business model (although this approach is nothing new). Don't get me wrong, I credit him as a successful enterpreneur - just much inferior than the one he projects (and that a non-small audience believe he is).

Oh, if it was the only bad thing he done - but the work conditions are terrible at his factories, he actively sabotages unions, he is absolutely just sells this engineer image of him: he is NOT a founder of tesla, he simply bought the title, he takes credit for his workers’ accomplishments, the only thing he engineered in tesla for example is some design work. He also sells himself as a self-made millionare, while his father has an emerald mine in South Africa.

So basically he is a narcissist scammer.

His tweets show a trend of narcissistic behavior, the pedophile incident is merely the most egregious.

EDIT: Thanks, @brianlweiner

EDIT2: For the downvoters, whom I can only assume don't agree that he shows narcissistic asshole behavior:

Yeah, I lift a little … pic.twitter.com/UAJdv8qSw1

We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.

I’m not at risk [of contracting Covid-19], neither are my kids

Everybody dies

Tesla stock price is too high imo

Pronouns suck

If I am a narcissist (which might be true), at least I am a useful one

Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.

FYI you probably meant 'egregious'

In this case both seem to apply.

The "pedophile diver" remark was the culmination of a series of tweets and actions where Elon "designed" a vehicle highly unlikely to help rescue the kids trapped in the cave and tried to convince the rescuers to use it while ignoring their judgement on the matter. It's not a little mistake, it's the culmination of an extended narcissistic rampage. He seems completely incapable of admitting that he might wrong about something when faced with pushback.

Are you honestly trying to tell us you've never called somebody something mean? Never said anything you've later regretted? Give me a break, people are imperfect.

People are imperfect, but people who truly delight themselves in their own imperfections have a problem and aren’t role models. Give _me_ a break, after thousands of years of forming groups humans are going to forget how to toss the assholes out? Nope.

Saying he "called somebody something mean" is a somewhat reductionist way of referring to a months-long ordeal that included hiring a (fake) "private investigator" and trying to push his "findings" to the media.

If you or I spent $50,000 to smear someone because they weren't sufficiently servile to us we might face some social and legal consequences but of course the rules work differently for "heroes" like Musk with virtues such as money.

If he'd taken back the statement, I'd agree that it was an outlier and forgivable. But he didn't; he doubled down on the pedophile label.

Call me crazy, but I don't think narcissistic assholes are typically repetitive top donors to the ACLU without even mentioning it until they're called out on shit.

A narcissistic asshole would atleast make it known or brag about it when doing so :)

I never thought of Elon Musk as a narcissist, and I always assume most Elon Musk hate is political.

But the fact that he has supporters on the internet point out how he made public donations to the ACLU makes me begin to think maybe he is a narcissist.

Edit: I mean this specifically in the context of narcissism being a condition where a person tries to control the image others see of himself. Being able to make strangers say, "He's not a narcissistic asshole, he donated to the ACLU!" makes me think that's specifically an image he tried to project of himself onto others and succeeded for some.

But I don't know the man, so I'd rather think it was just a donation.

I'm not a musk supporter in the slightest. I really don't have much of an opinion of the dude other than the fact he mostly seems like a dude.

I don't exactly call this situation "controlling his image"

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.inverse.com/article/46184-a...

Sorry for the amp link - but maybe slightly look into things before posting. I don't think hed've ever said a damn thing about it if somebody didn't go "well why don't you donate to them"

> I don't exactly call this situation "controlling his image"

> https://www.inverse.com/article/46184-aclu-respond-to-elon-m...

So this all spawned from a Twitter thread in which he starts off with a link to a song by a band he likes and then says, "I hope the kids are ok." You've convinced me he is a full-blown narcissist, thank you.

If you wanted to change my mind, you failed at, "maybe slightly look into things before posting." Change your attitude and word usage when you engage with an already-neutral comment.

Saying "I hope the kids are ok." Implicates being a full-blown narcissist?

Absolutely breaking HN rules here, RIP me, but you're fucking insane and your mind wasn't going to be swayed any other way to begin with lmao. Impossible to tell how you've gotten to the point you are with that line of thinking, but I'd suggest seeking help for it. That's just outright toxic.

> maybe slightly look into things before posting

> suggest seeking help

Sure thing bud. Keep the personal insults coming, and then say I'm the one breaking the rules.

My apologies if it was not clear - I was saying that I am the one breaking the rules in what I was going on to post.

I think he never said a single intelligent thing on Twitter. It's 50% memes and 50% bullshit/lies. Prove me wrong.

Most of his SpaceX tweets are usually pretty informative, but there's a good amount of memes and jokes in there for sure.

This just shows not everyone is perfect, and never will be. Twitter unfortunately makes it simple for people to output their unfiltered thought. I feel like we'd find something uncouth about anyone if we knew all of their unfiltered thoughts.

What is "perfect"? What do you think about Steve Wozniak? Is he "imperfect" because he is silly?

> Twitter unfortunately makes it simple for people to output their unfiltered thought.

That's one of the best things about the platform.

Perfect is completely subjective, which is my entire point. I personally enjoy the quirks of Steve Wozniak.

> That's one of the best things about the platform.

I disagree, we're lacking critical thought in many places and very influential people not thinking critically about what they are about to tweet is not helping anyone.

> This just shows not everyone is perfect

I'll bet he knows intellectually what is and isn't diplomatic or good PR for himself and his companies on Twitter. He simply doesn't care to worry about it.

No one is perfect because everyone has a different definition of “perfect.”

Plenty of folks find his trolling and irreverence endearing.

Exactly what I was trying to get at.