There are zero intended ironies or satire in the previous comment. Any ironies you read are inferred, and I'd love to hear what you feel makes things ironic!

I don't think that it's intellectually honest to look for good reasons for musk's gaffes. That's what I'm criticizing - the boot licking rationalizations.

Looking for reasons, fine. There are reasons for every bad decision. But they might not be justifiable. When a decision of his is widely panned and hurts a bunch of folks, then giving him the benefit of the doubt and justifying/rationalizing for him is the same as being a credulous tool, and probably serves as part of the general infrastructure of enablement that helps Elon - and other powerful people - do social harm. We have to take a stand sometimes, and likewise those who justify harms should be considered less than honest.

I don't mind if I lose some social capital for saying so, since I don't value the credibility of anyone who would ding me over this or consider the statement at all controversial. I'm arguing against rationalizers and justifiers, not honest analyzers.