Sometimes you need to believe what’s in front of your eyes. If something is so obvious, then perhaps it’s just as it seems. That’s especially true with Elon Musk.
If we follow all of his actions, decisions, and statements with regard to Twitter, it’s as clear as can be that he has singlehandedly destroyed about $36 billion dollars of its value by making a succession of stupid decisions, one after another. Each one has our head spinning, trying to figure out how it makes any sense.
Early on some of thought there might be something we just didn’t understand, but now the picture is crystal clear.
There’s enough evidence that says he is simply an idiot and his decisions have been poorly conceived and just plain stupid. They defy logic if his intent is, as he says, to keep Twitter a viable service.
How does that gel with the successes he’s had with Tesla and SpaceX, two companies that are clearly huge success stories?
Tesla and SpaceX have a depth of expertise that does not depend entirely on Musk for direction. Each is a company with tens of thousands compared to a few hundred at Twitter. He runs Twitter on a day to day basis, while large executive staffs run the other two companies. With hardware his ideas take years to implement and require huge teams to execute. Over the time it takes to develop these products, there’s a filtering out of his crazy ideas, pushback, and simply dismissing them, so that what emerges is more realistic.
It has to be as they are products that must pass safety standards and regulations, they have to work. He may exhibit some of the same lunacy at these companies, but it’s hidden, so we never know how outrageous or crazy his ideas are.
Twitter is a completely different business. It’s a software service. It doesn’t need to produce something material like a car. It’s functionality is ambiguous, subject to changes at any time, based on his whimsical decision making. He can and does make his decisions on his own without any pushback, even in the middle of the night, and sometimes under the influence of drugs. As a result, we are seeing him unvarnished and raw. without any filtration or constraints. And it’s not a pretty sight. It’s very ugly.
We are seeing the real Elon Musk who is bigoted, antisemitic, homophobic and a racist. Acting out on these beliefs is driving him more than any financial needs; it gives him the attention he craves.
I only hope that more advertisers and users abandon Twitter, that Tesla sales falter, and that Musk is recognized for the awful person he is. In the meantime we’ve figured out who Musk is, what his beliefs are, and it’s time to move on now that we can understand him. Some things are less than what they seem, and Musk is a prime example.
