The 'Cool Kids'

I've followed the career and accomplishments of Elon Musk long before he became a widely-recognized public figure.  I first became aware of Musk circa 2008, when he became CEO of a small EV company called Tesla. Even then, I believed that electric vehicles (EVs) were simply a better, less complicated automotive technology and that EV tech would ultimately replace internal combustion engine vehicles. I was hardly an environmental activist and refused to adopt an apocalyptic climate change position, but I did believe that the benefits of EVs (including their clear and obvious environmental benefits) were compelling.

When Musk decided to transform Tesla from a niche exotic brand and produce a premium luxury sedan (the Model S) for a broader market, the media, in its typical ignorance, labeled his efforts and claims as "vaporware." They predicted that Tesla would go bankrupt, that it couldn't possibly compete with a GM or Mercedes, that it was all just hype. They were, as they are in most things, spectacularly wrong.

As an aside, I put my money where my attitude was and in 2011, I made a rather large down payment on a Tesla Model S—fully recognizing that my money was at risk should Tesla fail. In 2012, I was one of the first 200 people in the world to have the Tesla Model S delivered to my home.

The rest, as they say, is history. Tesla became the darling of the environmental movement and EVs became a thing. Far more importantly, the company grew and grew, rapidly becoming the aspirational vehicle for a new generation. Elon Musk was a star.

Until he wasn't. 

Now that Elon has acquired Twitter, the propaganda media, the the deep state (along with the Biden administration), and the Leftist commentariat have done a 180. They want to destroy him and are doing everything possible to achieve that aim. Why? Because he thinks that censorship is a bad idea and free speech is a good one; that opposing ideological views should have a voice; that debate and discussion make things better, not worse. And then, he had the temerity to release the Twitter Files (my posts here, here, and here)—clear, irrefutable evidence that the government, along with Twitter's original management, worked very hard to silence opposing voices.

Nick Arama comments on this when he writes:

I find the left’s hatred of Elon Musk such a revealing window into how empty and cult-like [some on the Left] can be.

They all used to like him. Why? Because he was behind things like Tesla and electric cars which fit into their worldview. You had folks like very liberal actress Alyssa Milano idolizing him, even listing him as one of the people in all of history who she’d like to have dinner with.

That was until he bought Twitter, then advocated for free speech and the importance of everyone being able to speak in the virtual “town square.” Suddenly, that made him the enemy because he believes that even those with whom he disagrees have a right to have a voice.

He was still the same guy, still the guy behind the electric cars. Yet now he was the guy they were supposed to hate. Now you have crazy folks like former magazine editor John Blumenthal who wrote an op-ed about in the Los Angeles Times that he was worried about driving a Tesla and what people might think of him for it. He seemingly bought the car to virtue signal, but now he’s worried people might think he’s embraced far-right thought.

Karma is a hard mistress.

Never mind that Musk doesn’t embrace far-right thought and no one but Blumenthal’s leftist buddies would care what the heck he drives, but we’re not talking logic here.

Sadly, "logic" has no place in positions taken by at least some on the Left.

The propaganda media is angry ... very, very angry. They were the 'cool kids' inside Twitter 1.0, able to offer what were often idiotic tweets without push back (those who tried to push back were sometimes banned). The cool kids set the narrative, and that's all that mattered.

Inside Musk's Twitter 2.0, the cool kids have become just another voice—and they really, really don't like that. So they lash out at Musk, attempting to demonize him. But like a small child having a tantrum, their red-faced outbursts (of which there are many) are actually comical.

Even more telling. The major government scandal evidenced in the release of the Twitter Files goes uncovered by the same cool kids within the propaganda media. No surprise there, but indicative of their gross bias and lack of any journalistic integrity. 

I think back to the early days when a few of us had faith that Musk would build something important, not because he said he would but because his engineering work had merit and indicated that success would follow. In those days, lots and lots of 'the smartest guys in the room' bet against him, promising that he and his company would fail.

They're doing that again right now. 

It's worth remembering that over the past decade, those who bet against Elon Musk have lost—BIG. I predict that's going to happen yet again.