here's the thing, a lot of folks are defending elon saying that at least he made innovation happen. this is why we need a systemic analysis that shows us how he was set up to succeed, with his money, privilege, and access already given to him.

the man was enrolled in a prestigious prep school in south africa and grew up with emerald mine money, before graduating from pretoria, which was a whites-only school until the end of apartheid in the 90s... he attended in the 80s.

we push the myth of the great innovator drop-outs, such as musk leaving his phd program to pursue business, but we ignore the money and safety nets that are required to do that. i worked in equity & education, and so many of my students simply never had that as an option.

yes, you can pursue these ventures at the risk of not being able to feed yourself, but for some (especially those who have to give money back to their families to survive), we're not afforded that dream as readily. we're not equipped with the resources early on to know how.

but let's also talk about investment and entrepreneurship. about how it's a predominantly white and male space. brilliant ideas and innovators are everywhere. i've worked with black and brown youth throughout north america and have seen it. but silicon valley doesn't reflect that

why? because so often investors, venture capitalists (VCs) choose who to give money to based on connections and identity, not ideas. i'm not just the one making it about race and gender, they are. the ideas and applicants are there. but who bites?

listen to the story of arlan hamilton in the vc space. listen to the sexual discrimination faced by ellen pao at kleiner perkins that extends across the industry. these are well-documented stories and histories. systems of wealth that can select who succeeds, who fails.

did elon make tesla as well-known as it is today? perhaps. but we have to look at how it happened, and why he had all the right cards already to do it. and why so many others with brilliant ideas are not afforded the same chances and visibility that he is.

we also have to talk about what the costs are. is innovation and entrepreneurship worth the exploitation of workers that we see happening right now? is it worth attending the sex parties (fuelled with epstein money) that emily chang describes elon going to in her book, brotopia?

silicon valley, and the atmosphere that allowed elon to be what he is today, is a boy's club. it makes it far easier for some to succeed than others, and explicitly puts down the inventions and innovation of so many, especially black, latinx, and indigenous women.

i know this thread won't be as popular as the last one, and i don't need it to be nor do am i here just for the numbers. i'm just tired of people supporting this great man myth around elon, when so many others have done the work -- without exploitation -- and are ignored.

anyways, this is a tweet of i retweeted that a lot of folks are liking, and i think it's applicable here. we can't forget that these systemic issues exist even within tech and investment. https://twitter.com/EmmaDabiri/status/1259948656649797632?s=20

here's emily chang's brotopia, by the way. she's a journalist, anchor, and executive producer for bloomberg tech and talks about this all in depth in her book. elon is specifically named.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotopia 

after elon called out emily for exaggerating the story of the sex party, another tech entrepreneur, paul biggar, stepped up to verify it. this is what you have to participate in as part of an official vc party here. if you're not down with it, you're out. https://link.medium.com/GcllWg5gr6