Multiple righties have posted Obama and Clinton with their arms outstretched in still photos and been like “see they did it and nobody cared” which is doing exactly what this opinion piece is doing: ignoring that it was a full sig heil and he did it twice! On video!
i'll have to take your word for how bad this is - even if the links are free, i'm not giving WaPo and NYT any engagement - fuck that - these people are actively scrounging for "hate clicks" at this point and i am not playing along.
Thank you. The basic fallacy of suggesting the impossibility of evil while acknowledging the comparison to actual thing she regards as evil is maddening.
Seriously, all you need to know about Megan McCardle is that her pen name was once "Jane Galt," which she took as an homage to one of the stupidest fictional characters ever.
Maga is a facist movement. They are evil. They, however, are the reason we do not currently have a functioning democracy.
When lawful government is restored. When maga is suppressed and dismembered like the facist movements of old. That is when America will be reborn. That is when Democracy lives
Funny how the Republican Party is purging everyone who isn’t MAGA, and just spitting in the faces of elected Democrats trying to do their jobs, yet y’all will still blame Democrats for the failure of democracy because they can identify Republicans are fascists
Tbh these first days are as if TGF wants to push the decency boundaries so much that dems or minorities revolt and then get crushed by force under military rule justifying a new Russian like constitution. We are entering a very dark chapter of US history and there will be blood.
Yep, and @mcmegan.bsky.social opines as if there is no public record of who Elon is and what he believes. Speaking of "missing context", how about we consider *that* context? What is that context? Fervent support for Germany's neo-nazi AfD party, inciting mob violence and offering "civil war" /1
as inevitable in England, wanting to toss far aside right British pol Nigel Farage for not being far right enough, blaming every disaster on "DEI" (read - anyone who's not a white male), telling everyone who crosses him to "go f*** yourself, or calling them a "pedo", advocating for the /2
prosecution of Dr. Fauci (for what - trying to save people's lives?). I could go on. Elon is a global fascist menace. The evidence is all out there for us to see. The Nazi salute is unsurprising given *that* context, and we should not be woefully naive about it or to make excuses for it. /3
Ok, dropped WAPO, so can’t read it , but I guarantee you if I had said things that mistakenly gave people the impression I might be a pedophile, I would think twice before applying for youth leader at my church.
I really think anyone defending Musk's Nazi salute should be asked to record themselves doing the exact same motion and post it to social media. If it was just an "awkward gesture," then that shouldn't be much of a problem, right?
Exactly. Rather than consider that evil exists at the highest levels of our government, we close our eyes and pretend we are not seeing what we are seeing.
Agreed; I used copy link and then Paywall Reader (https://paywallreader.com/), only to see it's by Megan McArdle. I had pity on my few remaining braincells and didn't read it.
I'm all for applying Hanlon's Razer, however knowing Elon's past comments I find it particularly hard to believe someone can both know who Elon is and still say this. We already know he bought off ADL the first time he was really called out for antisemitism, the "you said the actual truth" comment.
Yeah, that was… something. I would love Ms McArdle to go to her local synagogue and do what Elon did, and then use that weak ass explanation.
We all saw what we saw. There were folks in the audience seig heiling back to him. They knew, we all know.
FWIW it’s an understandable reaction to think “but he’d be insane to do that on camera, there MUST be some other explanation” if you’re not attentive to how thoroughly pickled in adolescent online edgelord culture Musk’s brain is, & how ubiquitous “ironic” fascist symbolism is in those circles.
I'm an Old, so I date the first signs of journalism failure (and other failures) to the Reagan administration. See: "On Bended Knee: The Press and the Reagan Presidency," 1988.
Musk is horrible. However, this is another distraction. While everyone is attacking Musk, I’m seeing little about how Trump not only accepts this behavior, but SEEKS it and champions it. Musk is a threat, sure, but Trump is in power and he enabled this.
No doubt Elon views the verboten-ness of the Nazi salute as “woke” and wanted to stick it to the “woke mob”. And he did it with great gusto and a sense of pent-up aggression. Let’s face it - he’s a fascist. He’s telling us he’s a fascist; maybe we should listen.
Unfortunately, that’s the relevant “context” here. Absolutely everything about Musk’s public behavior the last couple years screams that doing a Heil with a gossamer thin patina of deniability is EXACTLY the kind of thing he’d regard as a hilarious troll.
Elon next week: "It really bugs me how many black people complained about my heartfelt gesture. They kept trying to negate what i said about it. Just negating it over an over. Just a bunch of n-"
Exactly. And trying to explain this context to those unfamiliar with it can be a herculean task, which only serves to encourage more and more of this shit from these feeble-minded jackasses.
No, not a troll. This is how you get it out there. This is how you begin the transition from a gesture that's considered an unacceptable symbol of lethal white supremacy to one that's in widespread use as a political statement and identifier, even if it remains objectionable to some. Gradualism.
Agree; similar to the “ok” symbol a few years back, expect to see more rightwing turds doing the “sieg heil and it’s the same but I’m saying love and friendship so it’s not” move. It’s a bolder version of the same shtick.
It’s both. He’s “trolling,” as evidenced by the fact he denies it was a Nazi salute (albeit with a wink), but also signaling that it’s now acceptable to use the Nazi salute. Just classic Pepe the Frog, alt right sh*t
I think he can get away with pretty much anything. Only thing he really has to worry about is alienating Donald, and that will take a lot given that Donald feels he owes his election victory to him. Trump is a well-known Hitler admirer, but even he doesn’t pull the old sieg heil like Elon did.
Or for some idiot to think that when he actually was doing it deliberately. He don't need any help in fucking up, buddy, he is going that nicely all by himself.
They've literally straight up told us they live for kayfabe shit, only I think it's fake kayfabe. They act like they are just trolling the media and the libs when they are actually very fucking serious. Pretending not to be is how they get away with it.
Also, the way to pressure someone into accepting unacceptable behaviour. “We’re all just having a bit of fun. None if it is serious. Do you really want to be the big buzzkill? Come on, do one with us!”
Musk and Trump make a great couple. One throws a Nazi salute, the other imitates giving a BJ to a microphone yet they are both “victims of conspiracy theorists”. 🧐
Even though he boosts Nazis on his platform, supports the German neo Nazi party, supports a president who pardoned Nazis, and makes Nazi salutes on stage, we can't assume he is insane enough to actually be a Nazi.
Also he seemed to be high as a fucking kite during the inauguration. Both in the audience and when giving his speech. I'm sure he regrets doing it the way a drunk person regrets telling someone off, but I'm also positive he knew exactly what he was doing.
This is the issue though. The right/far right have long believed that the left is evil. My father used to call a certain female politician “satan”. And he meant it. Therefore anything they do or say is justified. The left/moderates still operate in a world of treating all people with fairness.
Standing behind the Presidential Seal, the world's richest man is throwing sieg heils to an approving crowd.
Yeah, this is very bad, and indeed, it's unnerving to ponder what the future holds. But burying our heads in the sand is not a solution. Time to face the facts and FIGHT for our democracy!
The missing context is that Elon was speaking at a rally for an extremist right wing politician and also has a long and documented record of making anti-Semitic, pro-fascist statements.
Comparing this to raising your right hand at a wedding is absolutely facile.
"Because if we insist on believing that our opponents are evil personified, then the necessary work of democratic compromise becomes an unthinkable deal with the devil."
Musk did it as a flex on big media and orgs like ADL.
He knows, because he has wormed his way to near the Trumps maga control center, that the "Cant say the word Nazi" has gone out the execs of these orgs.
He is flexing, signaling that they are his bitches.
Context? Oh sure, the RIGHT is 'big on context'. The German press and every historian has recognized that gesture for what it was: a FUCKING NAZI SALUTE!
It's amazing how people refuse to accept the existence of the fascist movement in front of their face because doing so would imply that it's important to support the Democrats
The context is that this individual is a supporter of AfD in Germany and posts far right frog memes on his twitter account. Thus, in the name of Sherlock Holmes and all that is deductive, this was a Hitler salute.
Absolutely no one should be paying for WaPo subscriptions or clicking/sharing their articles unless you are intentionally trying to fund fascist state media
A few opinion writers ground their opinions in empirical data, state their assumptions and their biases, and honestly grapple with difficult subjects. Others like McCardle think of themselves (and thus their own opinions) as inherently smart and babble self-assuredly across a page.
Comments
Just ask for the VIDEO for context.
https://bsky.app/profile/hannibal.bsky.social/post/3lgbvsfv5mc2i
Once again, the one way street.
Dems: Do all the compromising.
Incredible.
But what if a lot of them clearly are though?
Worse, Musk has more money than Adolf.
Beware, Musk.
Beware.
When lawful government is restored. When maga is suppressed and dismembered like the facist movements of old. That is when America will be reborn. That is when Democracy lives
https://youtu.be/r752os2uUgI?si=ql2CKViKxa8ZUMHs
If that's not the case, the onus is on Musk to provide a convincing explanation why these aren't straightforwardly connected.
I also would use my finger to make a mustache, for the full 'comedy' effect.
Stupid.
We all saw what we saw. There were folks in the audience seig heiling back to him. They knew, we all know.
Also, Nazi salutes aren’t trolling. It’s a message to other Nazis that their time has come.
they're fascist juvenile assholes
They were only following orders; I didn’t do, others did
He’d have to feel emboldened and utterly untouchable, free of there being any consequences for such a gesture.
And…well…
Amazing media don't recognise/interpret this "gesture" in light of that.
The universal defense of something that was absolutely not a joke.
Yeah, this is very bad, and indeed, it's unnerving to ponder what the future holds. But burying our heads in the sand is not a solution. Time to face the facts and FIGHT for our democracy!
🤦♂️
Comparing this to raising your right hand at a wedding is absolutely facile.
"Because if we insist on believing that our opponents are evil personified, then the necessary work of democratic compromise becomes an unthinkable deal with the devil."
In what cave has she been living?
He knows, because he has wormed his way to near the Trumps maga control center, that the "Cant say the word Nazi" has gone out the execs of these orgs.
He is flexing, signaling that they are his bitches.
FARMER B: "Don't worry, it'll let up soon."
FARMER A: "What on earth makes you say that?"
FARMER B: "Because the river would overflow its banks if it didn't."
How humiliating.
What would you call what they're doing to immigrants, women, vets, cops instead?
What if we don't just "think" they're evil? What if they actually are? Personally, I'd rather err on the side of caution.