[Andy McDandy]

Bill Gates used to get a lot of stick, mainly for existing, and being a target for any complaints about Windows. But compared to Musk, Jobs, the lot of them, he's how to do it right. Quietly and with no fuss spend a huge chunk of your fortune on curing a terrible disease.

[davidjay]

Bill Gates used to get a lot of stick, mainly for existing, and being a target for any complaints about Windows. But compared to Musk, Jobs, the lot of them, he's how to do it right. Quietly and with no fuss spend a huge chunk of your fortune on curing a terrible disease.

And get accused of wanting to control the world. Which, oddly, never happens to Musk.

[RedSparrows]

Musk is fighting 'them'.

'Them' being ?????

But it's all you need. You can be as weird, controlling, hypocritical and dumb as you like, so long as you're not with 'them'.

That's it. That's modern conservatism. A fucking travesty.

[davidjay]

It's a strange world. It doesn't matter how rich, or powerful, or well-connected you are, you're still opposed by the ruling establishment.

[Youngian]

Bill Gates used to get a lot of stick, mainly for existing, and being a target for any complaints about Windows. But compared to Musk, Jobs, the lot of them, he's how to do it right. Quietly and with no fuss spend a huge chunk of your fortune on curing a terrible disease.

After leaving Microsoft for philanthropy, we discovered Gates wasn’t tediously dull, it’s just that talking about software is. His critics however are very dull.

[Crabcakes]

It's a strange world. It doesn't matter how rich, or powerful, or well-connected you are, you're still opposed by the ruling establishment.

Because they’re the only ones who dare tell you what to do. Musk wants free reign to sell people cars with “auto driving” based on crappy low-res cameras and then have no regulation on him and no obligation to give refunds, all the while working his staff 25 hours a day and dictating who they vote for on pain of termination of contract.

You can see why Musk wants to do sci-fi stuff like go to Mars - he wants to bring about a cyberpunk dystopia because he’ll be one of the people who live in the skyscraper penthouses above the smog clouds. And nothing makes rich sociopaths feel better than knowing they have deliberately made life for other people worse.

As ever, the cruelty is the point.

[Bones McCoy]

The bullies at his S African boarding school didn't throw him down enough stairs.

I observe that there are two types of bully.
* Those born with a surfeit of power, but who lack the maturity to wield it.
* Abused who gain a modicum of power, and who know only how to hand it down.

Musk comes across as an example of the later.
One who spent his childhood and early years thinking "One day I'll show them all".

He's Scarlett O'Hara.

[Andy McDandy]

Boarding schools and apartheid South Africa have a few things in common. Both highly ordered environments where almost any problem can be addressed by kicking down until it gets fixed to your liking. And where your security depends almost entirely on keeping the lower orders in line.

[Bones McCoy]

If Brazil can, so can we.

Elon Musk says X will pull operations from Brazil after ‘censorship orders’

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... k-x-brazil

Elon Musk announced on Saturday that the social media platform X would close its operations in Brazil “effective immediately” due to what it called “censorship orders” from the Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes.

X claims Moraes secretly threatened one of its legal representatives in the South American country with arrest if it did not comply with legal orders to take down some content from its platform. Brazil’s supreme court, where Moraes has a seat, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Andy McDandy]

"If you don't obey the law, we'll arrest you" isn't exactly a sinister threat. More like how a legal system works.

[Youngian]

Don’t need no one you fuggers, I’ll take you all on.
James Wood like Musk, can start a fight in an empty room.

[Tubby Isaacs]

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/08/20/ad- ... ons-reign/

I’ll just remind people that Elon’s pitch to investors to help fund some of the $44 billion takeover of Twitter was that he would increase revenue to $26.4 billion by 2028. And, yes, the plan was to diversify that revenue, but his pitch deck said that ad revenue would generate $12 billion by 2028. This would mean basically doubling the ~$6 billion in ad revenue the company was making at the time Elon purchased it. But now that’s been cut to maybe $1.5 billion and probably less.

The rich are good at scrambling, but sounds like he's in a bit of a hole. And any downturn in the economy would presumably see advertising in general hit hard.

[Bones McCoy]

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/08/20/ad- ... ons-reign/

I’ll just remind people that Elon’s pitch to investors to help fund some of the $44 billion takeover of Twitter was that he would increase revenue to $26.4 billion by 2028. And, yes, the plan was to diversify that revenue, but his pitch deck said that ad revenue would generate $12 billion by 2028. This would mean basically doubling the ~$6 billion in ad revenue the company was making at the time Elon purchased it. But now that’s been cut to maybe $1.5 billion and probably less.

The rich are good at scrambling, but sounds like he's in a bit of a hole. And any downturn in the economy would presumably see advertising in general hit hard.

Having an unpredictable edgelord at the helm might also impact income.

[mattomac]

That’s why he is trying to sue them.

It’s mostly a threat to others, though recent adverts seem to be substack promotions from the hard of thinking.

[Philip Marlow]

The boy ain’t right.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

If you can't see that by looking at him you need Specsavers.

[Philip Marlow]

Someone has replied to Elon’s latest tweet at Taylor Swift with this and it’s now stuck in my head.

[Watchman]

Everyone in the tinfoil community goes on about Bill Gates and vaccines controlling you, but surely Musk has control of all Tesla drivers, because they all act like cunts

[Philip Marlow]

Your regular reminder that there are people who think this jackass is some kind of intellectual visionary.

[RedSparrows]

Is the tyranny monster in the room with you now, Elon?
Oh yes, he is. He's orange.