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You are here: Home / Politics / Glibertarianism / Same Old Same Old Open Thread: Former South African Reverts to Time-Tested Excuses

Same Old Same Old Open Thread: Former South African Reverts to Time-Tested Excuses

by Anne Laurie|  April 27, 20229:32 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: Glibertarianism, Open Threads, MONSTERS, social media

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Three things:

1. Implies he’s fine w China, Russia etc dictating his policies, bc their laws authorize censorship, & those laws must be the will of the people

2. Implies he’ll be OK if US govt censors Twitter

2. You can become incredibly rich & still not know how to think https://t.co/I81WCvRjCv

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) April 26, 2022

When Elon Musk was growing up in apartheid-era South Africa, various combinations of ‘but it’s the law’ and ‘will of the people’ were the English-ancestry minority’s go-to explanation to outsiders. The Boers were stone cold bigots, the Not-Whites were impossible, what could an embattled minority of pale-skinned Anglicans be expected to do about the unfairness of it all?…

I thought I might be the only one biased by such memories, but then a whole bunch of twitter feeds pointed out Ben Shapiro’s response to Mr. Musk:

a truth and reconciliation commission for twitter is the funniest thing i’ve read today, bravo pic.twitter.com/6ThYGkKxxB

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) April 26, 2022


Truth and Reconciliation very famous for settling old scores pic.twitter.com/Dt6lpxVSRB

— Rascally (@MystikSpirally) April 27, 2022

So Kre8tif, very Of The Moment…

Twitter is apparently transitioning away from a genocidal regime … pic.twitter.com/PZGUxmnkmW

— Corey Rayburn Yung (@CoreyRYung) April 26, 2022

I never tweet about Elon Musk because I read the time Azealia Banks called him Apartheid Clyde and felt like that was the end of the discussion

— Leah Tigers (@9BillionTigers) April 26, 2022

absolutely neither, buddy, i’m a shitposter, my opinion doesn’t even register with him https://t.co/rMKco2zrGs

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) April 26, 2022

Will of the people! https://t.co/wW8tMJhw2p

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) April 26, 2022

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Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    different-church-lady

    April 27, 2022 at 9:39 pm

    Our societal info-addiction to Twitter is about to get its long-deserved exposure moment.

  2. 2.

    different-church-lady

    April 27, 2022 at 9:44 pm

    You can become incredibly rich & still not know how to think

    In fact it probably helps.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    April 27, 2022 at 9:54 pm

    With regards to the drop in Tesla’s stock price, one group of people who Elon Musk hates with a passion are ‘the shorts’, investors who think that Tesla stock is vastly overvalued and hence are short-selling it. The shorts have all just now made a lot of money thanks to Elon Musk; I hope someone points this out to him.

  4. 4.

    Cameron

    April 27, 2022 at 9:57 pm

    Hey, at least he gave a little help to Ukraine.  Although I have to think there’s $$ in there for him somewhere.

    https://www.defensenews.com/air/2022/04/20/spacex-shut-down-a-russian-electromagnetic-warfare-attack-in-ukraine-last-month-and-the-pentagon-is-taking-notes/

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    April 27, 2022 at 9:59 pm

    If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.

    Huh? What?

    It is starting to look as though we may have to rebuild democracy from the ground up, and from first principles, if rich idiots like Musk continue to exert influence on society.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    April 27, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    @Brachiator

    Anagram is Lone Skum.

    Just sayin’.

    //

  7. 7.

    Viva BrisVegas

    April 27, 2022 at 10:03 pm

    Just a reminder that Desmond Tutu was an Anglican Archbishop during apartheid.

  8. 8.

    ian

    April 27, 2022 at 10:05 pm

    English-ancestry minority

    In fairness to the English, who rarely did much right in their colonialism, they were not the primary drivers of Apartheid in South Africa. It was Dutch descendant Beors who took full control of South Africa’s government in 1948 that created the system of Apartheid. The British ran a still f*ed up system before then, but most Afrikaners would have really problems with you identifying them as English descendant.

  9. 9.

    Anne Laurie

    April 27, 2022 at 10:05 pm

    @dmsilev: The shorts have all just now made a lot of money thanks to Elon Musk; I hope someone points this out to him.

    If you listen to the japesters on twitter, Musk is only buying twitter because so many tweeters made vulgar jokes about his ex-girlfriend Grimes now dating Chelsea Manning.  Or else he’s having a midlife crisis because Amber Heard said she’d only dated him on the rebound from her great romance with Johnny Depp.  So HE’S A LITTLE BUSY RIGHT NOW, ACCOUNTANT GUY!!!

  10. 10.

    Another Scott

    April 27, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    It’s looking increasingly likely that Elon Musk will withdraw his $44 billion takeover offer for Twitter. https://t.co/Mcf7PbiC0a— Ian Fraser (@Ian_Fraser) April 27, 2022

    Cites a Reuters story.

    This is my shocked, shocked face. When it comes to Twitter and the SEC, Musk can’t seem to do anything right (and hasn’t for years).

    (via soonergrunt)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    Anne Laurie

    April 27, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    @ian: … most Afrikaners would have really problems with you identifying them as English descendant.

    No kidding.  But AFAICT Musk’s people weren’t Boers, they were ‘English’ — the minority of the apartheid-benefiting white minority.  (The Boers weren’t Anglican, but professed their own brand of Dutch Reformed Calvinism.)

  12. 12.

    Captain C

    April 27, 2022 at 10:12 pm

    @Another Scott:  Perhaps like TFG, when real scrutiny is involved, he retreats.

  13. 13.

    Mike in NC

    April 27, 2022 at 10:14 pm

    Elon Musk has the world’s most punchable face. Even more so than any Trump family member.

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    April 27, 2022 at 10:14 pm

    @Another Scott: Josh Marshall had a tweet earlier today to that effect, that Musk is sabotaging the deal.

    I’m trying not to pay much attention to this, at least until/unless it happens but it’s hard not to get sucked in.

  15. 15.

    kindness

    April 27, 2022 at 10:15 pm

    I’m not on Twitter. I read it sparingly when it’s linked to something I’m reading. My reason is I don’t the time. Twitter can eat up all your time. I’m not giving it that. Elon’s money has gone to his head. Like almost every other god figure billionaire, they believe they are above the issues. Really now…. immune to not seeing their own insipidness bordering on stupidity. They all seem to share that trait. Funny about that.

  16. 16.

    opiejeanne

    April 27, 2022 at 10:17 pm

    I saw a fucking racist, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQ tweet from Musk today, so bad that if you or I had posted it we would have been given at least a time-out, but possibly be banned permanently.

    What the hell is he playing at?

  17. 17.

    ian

    April 27, 2022 at 10:19 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    I did some google-fu, apparently his family is Canadian.   Wikipedia, for what that is worth, says he is British and Pennsylvania Dutch descendant.

  18. 18.

    dmsilev

    April 27, 2022 at 10:23 pm

    @opiejeanne: At a guess, that’s who he is and now he’s in a position where he believes that nobody can impose any consequences on him for anything he says, so why not be overt?

  19. 19.

    Steve in the ATL

    April 27, 2022 at 10:27 pm

    @ian: they drive on the wrong side of the road so they have to accept their English heritage, whether Dutch or not

  20. 20.

    Ruckus ??

    April 27, 2022 at 10:32 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    That’s because a lot of people can see themselves punching musky.

    And a lot of people do not in any way want to be within several miles of SFB. Distance to the sun level of miles. Of course that’s because they’d like to see him shot into it.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    April 27, 2022 at 10:36 pm

    @ian:

    Pennsylvania Dutch descendant

    Effing Germans? So he’s actually a Nazi?

    Discuss.

  22. 22.

    SFAW

    April 27, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    @dmsilev:

    At a guess, that’s who he is and now he’s in a position where he believes that nobody can impose any consequences on him for anything he says, so why not be overt?

    Wait, we’re talking about Traitor Trump now?

  23. 23.

    James E Powell

    April 27, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    I say it’s Tucker Carlson, but I’m willing to give you the first swing.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    April 27, 2022 at 10:42 pm

    @James E Powell:

    I say it’s Tucker Carlson, but I’m willing to give you the first swing.

    Don’t forget Senator Zodiac Killer, or Senator Ferret Head. I mean, they gotta be in the Top 3.

  25. 25.

    Cameron

    April 27, 2022 at 10:42 pm

    @SFAW: Not sure how many Amish and Mennonite Nazis there are, but I kinda think they’re a rare breed.

  26. 26.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 27, 2022 at 10:45 pm

    This Afrikaner shitstain needs to be stripped of his citizenship in this country, his fortune confiscated, and his ass deported.

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 27, 2022 at 10:46 pm

    @Mike in NC: Rafael Cruz, Rand Paul, and Sean Hannity libelz!

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    April 27, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    @Cameron:

    Although they’re similar, I think the Amish and the Pennsylvania Dutch are different groups. Yeah, I know what Wikipedia says, but my “knowledge” [sic] predates the Intertubez.

    Be that as it may, Musk has to prove that he’s not a Nazi (or Nazi sympathizer). [Not unlike LBJ running against an alleged pig-fucker, if you know what I mean.]

  29. 29.

    SFAW

    April 27, 2022 at 10:52 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Rafael Cruz, Rand Paul, and Sean Hannity libelz!

    See, the problem is the same one we have with the tumbrels: who is the worst, i.e., who goes first? Mitch? Rupert? Cucker? TFG? Bill Barr? Eastman? There’s a metric shit-tonne of candidates, and choosing one who is “THE WORST” is difficult.

  30. 30.

    Ruckus ??

    April 27, 2022 at 11:09 pm

    @SFAW:

    A line can be formed and while you don’t want some of those at the tail end of the line, anywhere near the front is OK. Best not to argue about who is worst, that can take a long time to settle down the jury. As long as all of them are in the line and can’t leave…..

  31. 31.

    SFAW

    April 27, 2022 at 11:11 pm

    @Ruckus ??:

    Sounds good to me.

  32. 32.

    Martin

    April 27, 2022 at 11:11 pm

    Porn is legal. Guess porn on Twitter will be legal.

  33. 33.

    Will

    April 27, 2022 at 11:14 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Remove the Afrikaner and replace with Latino or many others and you’ll sound just like a Trumper!

  34. 34.

    dnfree

    April 27, 2022 at 11:38 pm

    Part of my background is Pennsylvania Dutch. It’s my understanding that  they were really Pennsylvania Deutsch, i.e. from Germany. My mother’s ancestors went from Morgenstern to Morningstar.  Nothing to do with Amish.

  35. 35.

    SFAW

    April 27, 2022 at 11:48 pm

    @dnfree:

    It’s my understanding that they were really Pennsylvania Deutsch, i.e. from Germany.

    My understanding as well.

  36. 36.

    Felanius Kootea

    April 28, 2022 at 12:15 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Anne Laurie is right – Errol (his father) is of British descent, so technically Musk is not an Afrikaner.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 28, 2022 at 1:14 am

    I’ve never met a nice South African.*

    *I did date a girl from Durban named Ingrid though.

  38. 38.

    Steve in the ATL

    April 28, 2022 at 1:18 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Durban? Ugh—it will always be Port Natal to me!

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 28, 2022 at 1:22 am

    @Steve in the ATL: It’s nobody’s business but the Turks’.

  40. 40.

    schrodingers_cat

    April 28, 2022 at 8:06 am

    When Bush II started his war of choice in Iraq, I used to work in a mechanical engineering lab. The only two people against that war was me and an Afrikaner grad student. Everyone else was rah rah Bush.

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