I fully understand the man is controversial to say the least, I’m not a huge fan myself, but I think that if he was legitimately a Nazi, that he’s smart enough to not outright advertise it.
Socially awkward, autistic, right winger - Yes
Literally a Nazi - No
Bring on the downvotes 🤣
Posting this to sticky it in the comments.
This post is somewhat in the realm of rule 1 (no politics), but it’s highly topical (for better or worse) and not specifically political. So as long as the discussion remains civil and without devolving into endless volleys of Godwin’s Law, I’ll allow it. Please don’t make me regret this lol.
I appreciate the openness but it’s almost certainly a matter of time.
Keep your finger on the lock button. It’s somewhat underutilized on Lemmy imo, simply locking a post that has devolved into a shitshow without removing said post is frequently the best course of action.
How dare people call someone acting in bad faith defense of a Nazi a Nazi supporter.
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/261:_Regarding_Mussolini
You can say I’m acting in bad faith, that’s your opinion that you are entitled to, I’m telling you I’m not.
The reality of the situation is that you simply disagree with my opinion but you’ve chosen to attack me rather than the substance of what I’m saying. It’s called an ad hominem.
Flat out wrong. You’re naive and evidently a nazi sympathizer. No one asked you to come out and try to give Elon cover for doing the salute… twice but you took it upon yourself to do exactly that.
Godwin’s law.
Congratulations on having the debating skills and etiquette of a child.
Ya started a thread about a Nazi’s, literally using it in the title but now you want to cite Godwin?
That is objectively hilarious.
I quite literally said “not Nazi”, but I guess that in pigeon chess, you make up the rules of engagement.
Haaaa. My god dude, you set the table for this discussion. I’m sorry your unpopular opinion post was unpopular? Hard to imagine any other outcome tho.
Even with the quickest glance for context you can see quite that Elon also aligns himself with Germany far right party members who have been jailed for using Nazi slogans and idelogy.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has put the AfD — a party known for hardline stances against immigration and Islam — under surveillance for suspected right-wing extremism, which the party denies. Figures in the party have been accused of using Nazi slogans in speeches and downplaying the Holocaust.
Stop defending and downplaying Nazis dude. It’s not hard.
If it looks like duck…
Family was literal Nazi’s, has been known to speak positively of Nazi policy, now does the actual salute, twice…
Yeah… your not gonna convince me man… if it looks like a Nazi and smells like a Nazi…
Trump’s family were also proud New York NZis
Corporate wants you to find the difference between these two pictures
Not your fault, but that has to be the worst quality and captioning of that gif I’ve ever seen!
made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm
Twice. Once, maybe it was an unfortunate, awkward moment. Twice? Ehhhhhh, doubtful.
The most charitable thing I can say is that if he’s not literally one, he’s signaling the ones who do identify as such.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/10/nx-s1-5252473/elon-musk-germany-election-afd-candidate-alice-weidel
He only supports a far right wing german party that has used nazi slogans and symbols
dO yOuRe OwN ReSeArCh!!
Seriously, actually do it instead of being fed propaganda
Dude, this isn’t an unpopular opinion, it’s rage bait.
Elon Musk is the rage bait.
Funny that you use the wording of the ADL…
You’re not going to convince me that he’s not a nazi even if he somehow didn’t intentionally perform a nazi salute - he IS awkward, after all, but everything he’s saying and doing shows that he’s a rightwing extremist, i.e. a nazi.
I feel like he was supposed to be throwing out his heart tbh, as he said at the same time “my heart goes out…”
Which might have been an attempt at maintaining plausible deniability.
Everybody who denies that this was a Hitlergruß denies a wall is a wall because it isn‘t 100% vertical.
America is a Nazi country now. Simple as it is.
Pro-genocide ADL:
“It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute”
Weird that you’re using the exact same wording.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5097676-elon-musk-defended-salute-criticism/
Seeing as they were founded to fight anti-Semitism, I’d expect them to know a Nazi salute when they see one.
"Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”
—Anti-Defamation League CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt
- Organizations can have multiple goals, and change over time
- I know and love many Jewish people. Opposition to Israel and genocide is not antisemitism.
- Supporting Palestinians’ right not to be killed is not antisemitism
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/jan/05/adl-pro-israel-advocacy-zionism-antisemitism
I doubt he’s stupid enough to not write and rehearse his speech
I think he is
Let’s hope so
Not an unpopular opinion.
Yeah, you’re getting dogpiled but the media fix is in overdrive and even the ADL is in on the action.
It is on Lemmy!
That’s my take, but it’s perhaps slightly more complicated. Here’s Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic, who just wrote a whole article about it. He’s a good journalist, a bit woke-adjacent, which should give him some credibility around here:
What’s left out of much of the discussion is that Musk is supremely, almost cosmically, awkward and stilted. All close observers of Musk—and I am one—know this. […]
Musk’s X has given a megaphone to bigots and restored the accounts of banned racists. I’ve argued that Musk has turned X into a white-supremacist website. Musk himself has spent recent weeks enthusiastically endorsing Germany’s far-right political party, Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD. Members of the party have had documented ties to neo-Nazis; in 2018, the co-leader of the AfD downplayed the significance of the Holocaust and the crimes of the Nazi regime. Musk has endorsed posts about the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. Even those inside the MAGA movement have voiced concerns about Musk. This month, the former Trump adviser Steve Bannon called Musk “a truly evil guy, a very bad guy.” He used the word racist to describe Musk and others in Trump’s Silicon Valley inner circle who have South African heritage: “Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth, white South Africans, we have them making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?”
All of this informs how one might interpret Musk on the stage today. Above all else, Musk is a troll, an edgelord. He delights in “triggering” his ideological enemies, which includes the media. And his gesture—whatever the intent—has done just that. In a way, the uproar online over Musk is reminiscent of an incident in the first months of the first Trump administration, when two pro-Trump influencers were photographed in the White House press room making the “OK” hand gesture. The photo was interpreted by some media members as a white-power symbol. Reporters and organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League traced it back to racist message boards like 4chan’s /pol/ board. Eventually, however, the gestures appeared to be part of an attempt, by 4chan, to trick the mainstream media into overreacting and turning the handiwork of a few trolls into national news. The whole affair was exhausting and difficult to follow. A message board that trafficked in hate speech created a fake hate-speech symbol to try to trick the media into calling something racist. (The ADL, it is worth noting, has extended Musk the benefit of the doubt, issuing a statement that Musk made an “awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute,” and encouraged everyone to “give one another a bit of grace.”)
None of that is to suggest that Musk’s salute wasn’t genuine. A practiced troll consistently crosses redlines because they want to offend and trigger. They also swaddle their actions in enough detached irony and cynicism that allow them to relentlessly mock or harass anyone who dares take them seriously. There is every reason to take a right-wing troll at face value, and yet doing so often means giving them what they want: an intense reaction they can use against you.
This is too professional for lemmy. You’re a fed and live at - wait sorry, this is lemmy, not twitter.
It’s a well worded opinion and a properly defended stance. Based on what I know I will now make a mental note this happened, go on with my life and keep an eye on what else happens in the next couple of years.
