I don't grok @elonmusk polarization. Can't we all agree that he's an iterative engineering entrepreneur whose companies are usefully commoditizing previously out-of-reach technologies to the benefit of many, AND that he's an out-of-touch sociopath evincing the worst of humanity?

On one side there are the fanbois, who twist themselves into pretzels trying to excuse every horrible thing Musk says or does. They create explanations more convoluted than a Star Wars fan trying to create continuity between the movies and their own personal headcannon.

On the other side, we have the haters who loathe Musk so much that they can't get past all the horrible things he says and does. In their minds, he's never accomplished anything, never worked hard, never done which requires effort. They're also orthogonal to reality

In the real world, Musk does useful things. He has changed entire industries by effectively walking into verticals that incumbents loudly claimed could never be more efficient than they already were, and slapped his dick around until change happened. That legitimately has value.

The flip side of that is that Musk is a redpill whackjob.

I don't know why anyone on this planet expects that any billionaire - no matter what they do, did, or where they're from - to be anything other than a monster, but there you have it.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The growing hyperpolarization of Musk has me thinking a great deal about "polarization" as a human undertaking. Right now, today, extreme and all-encompassing phenomenon is very much a USian phenomenon, but they're hardly the only culture guilty of it. It's worth study.

The current USian instinct to polarize EVERYTHING has lead to making individuals into loci for their personal beliefs and partisan tribal associations. This is - to me at least - utterly bizarre.

Yes, some things and people are binary...but damned few. Don't other see this?

Most situations - and most people - exist in the messy middle between comfortable, simplistic narratives. I spend a lot of time wondering what people get out of such polarization.

I grok that the rich and powerful benefit from polarizing the masses...but why cooperate?

If hyperpolarization is all about feeling as though they are part of a tribe, then why the need for absolutes? Why would anyone want to belong to a tribe that demands ideological purity? "Believe what the party says, regardless of evidence, _or else_" never struck me as enticing.

If the hyperpolarization is rooted in selfishness that's equally baffling. The fanbois surely know that @elonmusk is no more going to give them money/a job/what-have-you than he is going to respond to this threat offering me a VP position at SpaceX. That's not how people work.

I also can't imagine that denying the things Musk has accomplished will somehow fill the emotional void that being on the shitty end of the extreme wealth/influence gap creates. That's ALSO not how people work.

Fulfillment comes from self-acceptance, not external validation.

Just like any billionaire, Musk is going to keep on doing Musk things, oblivious to all of us, from his most ardent fanbois to his most bitter critics. He is no more aware of the overwhleming majority of people obsessed with him than he is of my cat. We're ants to billionares.

Musk can't be shamed. No billionaire can.

Unlike some, MAYBE he can be reasoned with, if you can get an audience. But that's a big maybe, and it would REALLY depend on how you handled him. I'm pretty sure he responds to both sycophants and trolls with casual dismissal.

Now I get screaming into the void. I scream at @Microsoft all the time. It's cathartic. But it doesn't CHANGE anything. It's merely an emotional release. A valve to release the psychological pressure caused by an inability to effect change on those things which frustrate me.

But even I, who has heaped all the world's sins upon me personal bête noire, still have to admit when Microsoft does something of value.

Grey areas. Complexity. They're the true norm. Binary anything really is not.

This leads me back to the very personal psychology behind the current spate of USian hyperpolarization, and Musk as a quixotic exemplar. The why of it is fascinating. The variances in individual expression and implementation more so.

I believe that long after the man himself is gone social sciences types will be studying the bizarrely outsized role he's played in the public consciousness of the US during the collapse of that nation's empire.

How much of the Musk polarization is simply the psychological consequences of the collapse of global USian influence playing itself out through the more tangible target of a dichotomic celebrity? How much is truly due to the actions and words of the man himself?

And how different is Musk in person from the headcannon that we - individually and collectively - have in our heads?

I don't have much use for either extreme in this sociological experiment, but it is absolutely entrancing to watch it all play out.

Thank you for reading this thread. Here is another picture of a cat.