Dislike Elon Musk? Make up falsehoods about Tesla cars
No tribe is immune from spreading disinformation.
From where I sit as an independent, I try to keep Skeptoid’s skeptical eye focused equally on the left and the right. Really, I do. Now, granted that it’s been especially hard to be even handed since the rise of Trump populism has taken disinformation to whole new stratospheres, but the pursuit of parity is still a worthy one.
Once Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter, he “came out” as a far-right populist. He defends and amplifies Russian propaganda, he promotes COVID and vaccine misinformation, and he bans left-wing critics and mainstream media from Twitter as fast as he can spot them. And I’m sure that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Prior to that, his leadership role at Tesla had made him a darling of the left. He was making electric cars and boosted low-carbon transportation into the mainstream. All great things.
But once he exposed himself as a populist, many of those same people who praised Tesla cars yesterday suddenly had nothing but nasties for them. They explode, they burst into flames, they autopilot themselves off cliffs. They are much too dangerous to be allowed.
All of which is patently false.