Musk – the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX – is returning to the public eye, and that means he won’t stay away from saying extreme and quite often outrageous things. This time it is about the comment he made over the Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Musk apologized for his tweet that appeared to him planning the murder of both U.S. presidents. However, as Musk he wanted to tell his side of the story, which was that it was a misunderstanding.
A Post That Raised Eyebrows
It all began when Musk, who has recently supported Donald Trump, wrote a message on X (ex Twitter) asking why there were attempts on Trump’s life, but no one cared about Biden and even Harris. The post came with a thinking emoji and this just fueled the fire. Criminals cal this as encouraging people to harm the President and Vice President, and the public was furious on social media.
During his interview with Carlson, Musk had to set records straight that his words were twisted out of context. He did not even imply that anybody should attack them but was perplexed as to why there are no threats unto the leaders. “It’s strange, right?” Musk commented. Yet many did not look at it as were just saying something in passing.
The Blind Constraint: The power of misunderstood jokes
It may be recalled that in the previous article Musk also detailed an important lesson he learned from the whole episode. I think that one has to be very cautious indeed to avoid making jokes that may sound fine as a conversation in person, but would not look good in a social media post. “Well, seemed like the jokes aren’t so funny after people don’t get it,” he said.
He also agreed with me that using humor in the current generation can be somewhat dicey not to mention that the whole world is your audience. His humour can be other person’s offend. Thus, Musk’s attempt to make a joke of the situation only backfired in a big way.
Puppets and Presidents
In the interview, Musk was also skeptical about the current leaders in the United States asserting themselves as the ones in charge. He also called Harris and Biden “puppets, ” meaning that no matter what happens to them, things will not change. “What do you achieve? Nothing. They’re just going to put in another puppet,” Musk said to Carlson.
Ironically, Carlson, who supports Trump like Musk, did too. They both seemed to imply that there is a phenomenon that is driving the course in the background. But who is this handmaster and who’s holding those strings? That’s the real question. It was always great because Musk didn’t say who he was naming, that part was left to the great imagination.
A Controversial Comeback
Musk’s remarks were made just days after an alleged would-be assassin was apprehended near Trump’s golf course in Florida. The man, Ryan Wesley Routh, was reportedly pointing a rifle at Trump while the latter was golfing. Fortunately, Secret Service agents noticed him and arrested him. Further, this created more debates on political violence in the United States, and therefore entoned Musk’s statements more provocative.
After this, Musk chose to delete the tweet knowing fully well that the damage had already been caused. The supporters of both left and right wing politics took their shots, some crying about free speech and others saying Musk is being reckless with his platform.
It was my way of no regrets, just clarifications.
However, Musk when asked said that he does not regret making the post, although it stirred a lot of controversy. He stated that he does not think that the media addressed his comments appropriately. Though he also admitted that he should have been more cautious with what he said. “So, because I tell something to a group of people and they we laugh does not mean that same remark will be so funny when posted on x,” he said.
