Elon Musk, the 'woke' and the conspiracy jump from the extreme center to the extreme right

The cover of time on May 9, 2022, he assured that “everyone is wrong about Elon Musk” because, in reality, he is not even left-wing not even on the right. The magnate then explained to the magazine that for him Republicans and Democrats, in the United States, are like “two bowls of punch with turds in them” and he refused to choose the one with the least feces. He New York Timesin December of that year, titled a profile like this on the tycoon: “His critics say that Musk has unmasked himself as a conservative. Its not that easy”. The press wondered about the worldview of the richest man in the world, decisive in wars like the one in Ukraine with his satellites, and concluded that it is complex, a collage with progressive and right-wing features. In June 2022, in an assembly with Twitter workers (now

This Saturday, Musk landed at the epicenter of the Italian post-fascist universe, hosting Giorgia Meloni and Santiago Abascal, among other figures from the European extreme right, at his Roman festival. “Do not import the mental virus from the US woke up”, the businessman claimed laughing, to the joy of the audience and before the leader of Vox, sitting in the front row of this annual convention of the Brothers of Italy. It woke up (aware), that progressive straw man, generates “a mental civil war” with its “message of division and hatred,” according to Musk, born in Pretoria (South Africa) 52 years ago. Later, he criticized excessive European regulation, denounced illegal immigration, claimed the defense of national cultural identities, demanded that fossil fuels not be demonized and disapproved of integration policies. He pure centrism.

It is not true that he was a centrist, moderate or even progressive in the recent past, such as when he supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but it is difficult to continue defending him today. There is much more, before participating in Meloni's neo-fascist event (he also met with her and Emmanuel Macron in June). Last Sunday, Musk returned his The millionaire prepared a luxurious welcome for the prodigal son, in a meeting on his own social network in which the two of them participated along with a barely moderated team. There was Andrew Tate, a misogynist prosecuted for rape and trafficking of women; Matt Gaetz, Republican of the most ultra wing; Michael Flynn, former Security Advisor pardoned by Trump; and Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican presidential candidate who questions both the assault on the Capitol and climate change. Days before, Musk had applauded as the “pure truth” a string of anti-Semitic conspiracies published by a tweeter, which cost him losing important advertisers on his network, such as Disney, Apple or IBM.

Far-right conspiracy theorists, those are the people with whom we see the richest man in the world sharing his reading of reality. It is crucial to pay attention to the repercussions that his conception of the world may have, given his power in strategic sectors such as disinformation, telecommunications or artificial intelligence. But it is also valuable to understand how he has fallen into the mousetrap of the most absurd and toxic conspiracies. “He can be the richest man in the world and have an entire social network at his disposal and yet be completely unable to distinguish fact from fiction. He chooses to live in a fantasy land of false beliefs,” describes Jay Van Bavel, a social identity psychologist at New York University. Musk has questioned the covid pandemic and believes in the existence of an elite—he, who has the greatest fortune and direct access to any ruler—with dark plans to replace the whites. “Over the course of 2022, he went from benign praise of moderation to furious musings about how woke up and the censorship imposed by the media elites were an existential threat to humanity,” says the biography published in September by Walter Isaacson.

Other personalities have made that journey to the right in recent years. without complex from the extreme center: “I'm thinking about creating a superPAC [grupo de influencia] super-moderate that supports candidates with centrist views from all parties,” said in 2022. That year, and around his life circumstances, many of the traits that usually explain this mutation toward alternative narratives: economic interests, personal motives, an identity in crisis and a favorable social environment. And, why not, for being permanently exposed to his own social network, which has become especially toxic and spread of lies just since he acquired it, as several studies show. Your interactions with ultras accounts they were shot just buy Twitter.

Musk has always been right-wing economically and “progressive on social issues, but showed some libertarian resistance to norms and political correctness,” according to Isaacson. All that changed around three battlehorses of the cultural wars that are being fought on the networks, and that affected him personally: the covid pandemic in the manufacturing of his Tesla, the controversy over transness in his daughter and the perception that conscious youth have of billionaires. In these and other controversies, progressives are wrong, according to Musk: his perception is that he remains still in the center (with Meloni and Tate) and it is the rest of the world that has fallen down the slope of the extreme left.

The closure of its car factories in China and California due to Covid “was devastating for Tesla's share price,” explains Isaacson, but above all “they inflamed its anti-authoritarian streak.” The controversy over the restrictions, supported by Democrats and overturned by Republicans, was a decisive factor in his political evolution, Isaacson says. The political decision hit his pocket hard and that cognitive dissonance, as psychology explains, is resolved by discussing health measures and even the pandemic itself due to its elevation. As the extreme right is suspicious of science, those who doubt science look into that political world because in recent years, and especially in the United States, they are communicating vessels. In the midst of the controversy, he tweeted: “Take the red pill,” a metaphor that manosphere right-wing uses when the supposed hidden truth is finally seen.

He supported the launch of candidate Robert Kennedy, a well-known anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, but in the following elections after the pandemic, Musk asked to vote for Republicans for the first time. He now says that he will not vote for Biden, although he finds it difficult to do so for Trump. But he shows his predilection for Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis, scourge of thought woke up in Florida. In woke him up His hates, fears and misgivings converge, like a plot pillar that supports everything: “As he became more obsessed with what woke up, Musk’s political loyalties shifted,” Isaacson describes. Feel that this “mental virus woke up” has taken away his “son”: gender transitioning Jenna, who has broken up with him because he doesn't respect her new feminine pronouns. “He is a first-hand witness, on a very personal level, of the harmful effect produced by the indoctrination of this religion.” woke up”says a direct collaborator.

Musk believes Jenna isn't talking to him because she “professes full-blown communism and a pervasive sentiment that if you're rich, you're evil.” He feels “attacked” by her wealth and many analysts They point out that these criticisms against the wealthiest 1%, widespread after the pandemic, cause another dissonance, because they demand admiration for their success and their cool rockets, as the specialized journalist writes Elizabeth Lopatto: “He wants to be perceived as a visionary who will reshape human society.” However, they boo him when he is presented to the audience as “the richest”, as happened to him when he went on stage with comedian Dave Chappelle. That's why he decided to get rid of all his mansions: “In recent years, 'billionaire' has become pejorative, as if it were a bad thing. They tell you, 'Hey, billionaire, look how many things you have.' Well, I don't have things anymore. And now that?”.

Fight the virus woke up prompted him to buy Twitter: “I have come to believe that it can be part of the mission of preserving civilization, giving our society more time to become multiplanetary.” The left curtails freedom of expression and threatens the human future on Mars by imposing its “herd thinking” on the media. To avoid this, the tycoon returns the loudspeaker to neo-Nazi groups and spreaders of racist hoaxes. His environment plays a key role, as social psychology explains, in his defense of “alternative facts”: libertarian friends like his Trumpist partner Peter Thiel “tended to reinforce his feelings.” antiwoke”, points out his biographer.

On Saturday in Rome, Musk responded to the applause of the far-right young people of Meloni by forming a heart with his fingers on his chest: without a doubt, he felt valued. The more they criticize him on the left, the more support he receives from radical options on the opposite extreme, reinforcing his positions. even after his anti-Semitic slips. “Most of us are confused by social media. With his fame and wealth, Musk could be treated like a king almost anywhere in the world. However, it is not enough: he still needs the adoration that comes from spreading destructive nonsense,” Van Bavel concludes.

“Musk's move to the right in 2022 baffled his progressive friends, including his first wife, Justine, and his then-girlfriend, Grimes,” explains his biographer. “When Musk started sending Grimes right-wing memes and conspiracy theories, she responded: 'Did you get this from 4chan?' [foro extremista] or something like that? “You’re starting to sound like a far-right guy.” After Rome, there is little doubt about which bowl of punch with feces one of the most powerful men in the world has chosen. The only thing left to know is how much the excrement will splash.

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