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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

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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:


So Kre8tif, very Of The Moment…

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    different-church-lady

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

  2. 2.

    different-church-lady

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

    In fact it probably helps.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    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.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    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.

  8. 8.

    ian

    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

    @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

    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

    @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.)

  13. 13.

    Mike in NC

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

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    @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

    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

    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

    @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

    @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

    @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 ??

    @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.

  22. 22.

    SFAW

    @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?

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    @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.

  26. 26.

    Villago Delenda Est

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

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @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

    @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 ??

    @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…..

  34. 34.

    dnfree

    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.

  40. 40.

    schrodingers_cat

    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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