There hasn’t been a history of behaviour resembling that of the ideals of Nazis from Felix, especially not enough to say that he partakes in those ideologies. Thankfully his "dark humour " phase ended years ago and he isn’t doing these things anymore, so completely estranging him from anything for it is quite extreme, especially when I have seem some of this sentiment on Lemmy myself. Nor do I think he’s a horrible person for edgy comments and actions that most of us have definitely done one way or another on the Internet.
That. He would have started YouTube at 20 and the guy is now 35. That would have happened when he was 28.
People change, people learn. That one in particular hit him hard and probably led to a lot of self reflection and all that stuff.
We have actual nazis to deal with that actually think it’s a good idea. There’s a huge difference between a bad dark joke and actually supporting facism. How one responds after such an incident matters a lot.
Meanwhile Elon did a literal nazi salute and isn’t even denying it nor apologizing and doubling down on it.
I had my share of hitler jokes, but they were told on a context when it was seen as poking fun at a solved issue of the past in a very progressive area, when nobody thought we’d be dumb enough to witness facism ever again. Context and meaning are both very important before labeling someone for life.
Want to remind everyone that it’s not just Elon who’s done the Nazi salute. Steve Bannon has followed his example. A couple others as well, including a fucking pastor. The Fourth Reich wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card but I guess here we are.
I choose to believe they’re also being edgy in a very untasteful way, but mostly because I honestly can’t do much about it. My options essentially are:
assume the best - still bad, but it ends in 4 years with a peaceful handover of power to the next President
assume the worst - we turn into something like Nazi Germany and it doesn’t end after 4 years
My actions now assuming either are equivalent. I’m going to keep going to my day job, spending time with my family, and helping people in my community. If my country actually goes fascist, am I going to join some resistance group? Probably not, because there’s no way I’m standing up to the US military. Am I going to move to another country? Probably not, because the US would likely crush whatever country I move to anyway.
The chances of the US actually going fascist are incredibly small; higher than I’d like, but still small. Trump and Musk will certainly shake things up, but I highly doubt they’ll achieve a hostile takeover, or even try. Because why would they? Trump is old, surely he doesn’t really want more than 4 years anyway, and trying to justify Musk as the President isn’t happening (he’s ineligible constitutionally, he didn’t win any election, and he doesn’t even hold an office in the line of succession).
The simplest explanations are:
Musk is really persuasive - look at how he convinced investors to invest with him and give him a $50B bonus
Trump is a narcissist, so which means he’s easy to convince if you appeal to that
Musk is childish and entitled, so he’s cosplaying as a powerful figure
This explanation makes a lot more sense than some weird obsession with fascism: Trump wants to be remembered (for good or ill) and Musk is just messing around. Jumping to fascism is a leap, but again, my actions in either scenario are the same, so I’ll choose to believe the more likely, less bad option.
That. He would have started YouTube at 20 and the guy is now 35. That would have happened when he was 28.
People change, people learn. That one in particular hit him hard and probably led to a lot of self reflection and all that stuff.
We have actual nazis to deal with that actually think it’s a good idea. There’s a huge difference between a bad dark joke and actually supporting facism. How one responds after such an incident matters a lot.
Meanwhile Elon did a literal nazi salute and isn’t even denying it nor apologizing and doubling down on it.
I had my share of hitler jokes, but they were told on a context when it was seen as poking fun at a solved issue of the past in a very progressive area, when nobody thought we’d be dumb enough to witness facism ever again. Context and meaning are both very important before labeling someone for life.
Want to remind everyone that it’s not just Elon who’s done the Nazi salute. Steve Bannon has followed his example. A couple others as well, including a fucking pastor. The Fourth Reich wasn’t on my 2025 bingo card but I guess here we are.
I choose to believe they’re also being edgy in a very untasteful way, but mostly because I honestly can’t do much about it. My options essentially are:
My actions now assuming either are equivalent. I’m going to keep going to my day job, spending time with my family, and helping people in my community. If my country actually goes fascist, am I going to join some resistance group? Probably not, because there’s no way I’m standing up to the US military. Am I going to move to another country? Probably not, because the US would likely crush whatever country I move to anyway.
The chances of the US actually going fascist are incredibly small; higher than I’d like, but still small. Trump and Musk will certainly shake things up, but I highly doubt they’ll achieve a hostile takeover, or even try. Because why would they? Trump is old, surely he doesn’t really want more than 4 years anyway, and trying to justify Musk as the President isn’t happening (he’s ineligible constitutionally, he didn’t win any election, and he doesn’t even hold an office in the line of succession).
The simplest explanations are:
This explanation makes a lot more sense than some weird obsession with fascism: Trump wants to be remembered (for good or ill) and Musk is just messing around. Jumping to fascism is a leap, but again, my actions in either scenario are the same, so I’ll choose to believe the more likely, less bad option.