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If this is what you think everybody does, then... well, I question how many people you've been interacting with. Most people, I notice, seem to be able to not spend hours every day tweeting nonsense. Most people did not respond to the Paul Pelosi story with "LOL, I wish that were true, it'd be hilarious!", even if you hold that Musk was joking, which he does not appear to have been doing anyway.
No, most people are not like Elon Musk in this regard, and I find this an odd defense considering that you just said that Musk "doesn't operate like normal people". Which is it? Even in this post you accuse the media of "weaponising mental illness" - is Musk mentally ill? Is that your position? Is his behaviour normal or not?
If this were the case I would expect there to be similar stories about every public figure, or at least, about every public figure that the mainstream media blob does not like. But that is not the case.
Lmao ok.
I will clarify some misunderstandings.
I said half of the men on the planet, which was hyperbole, you got me. It is common to want embarrassing stories about people you dislike to be true was my point. if you think it isn't I question how honest you allow the people in your life to be with you. Also most people do indeed say stupid shit on xitter all day every day. That's why everyone hates it? It is also common, when you have a conspiracy theory, to follow it as far as you can for fun. It is also a useful mental exercise, because it allows you to think in ways you hadn't previously.
Secondly, yes Musk is similar to other people in some ways and different in others. He is, in my opinion, more different than similar, but like most people he has two arms, two legs, a heart, and cognitive faculties regulated by hormones. Therefore he is susceptible to influence, he gossips and loves and hates and admires just like normal people, but he isn't normal.
Thirdly the media weaponises mental illness by using it to smear people who are merely badly behaved by isolating their bad behaviour and finding a pattern they can claim shows this behaviour is part of a trend that justifies taking from them. Musk might be mentally ill, I don't know, I'm not his doctor. I do know that he doesn't seem to be 'much worse' than he was 7 years ago, so I guess I remain unconvinced.
Sure, I've wanted bad things to be true about my opponents, though at my best I try to follow Lewis' advice. But I hope that I, and more importantly, I hope that most public figures would have enough presence of mind to not publicly endorse obviously false theories to that effect.
I don't disagree with you about the media being awful. I agree that they're agenda-driven and will put anything involving Elon Musk in the worst light possible. It's just that in this case I tend to agree with Hanania that Musk has been getting worse, and I suppose I find Hanania more credible for that judgement given that Hanania and Unherd are not mainstream media outlets, but are both part of the wider 'dissident' sphere that might otherwise be sympathetic to the right.
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