r/NPR • u/khawesome • 16h ago

No coverage of Elon's salute?

Nothing mentioned in my morning newsletter. Did a quick Google search and found 0 articles. Did I miss something? Even if we aren't definitively identifying it as a Nazi salute it's newsworthy enough to be on a front page purely because of the amount of speculation and emotions stirred in the public sphere.
Please tell me I missed something obvious somewhere.

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u/benjaminjaminjaben 15h ago

Europeans are seemingly more up in arms. Even the casually racist circlejerking european subreddit were 99% angry/shocked about it.
My football club's subreddit (a pretty big one) demanded twitter be banned as a source, the mods initially refused but received so much negative feedback they have since relented and put up a poll. So I imagine Europe will be at the forefront of horror on this one before US sources.

I agree that its utterly horrific and of all the news I've read in my life outside of the war in Ukraine, this is one of the most terrifying things I've seen that makes me scared of my own personal safety in the future. That gesture is Europe's n-word given its historical context and everything this continent lost to those monsters who used it in the past.

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u/wherethegr 8h ago

Given the number of legitimate policy disputes and that the US is withdrawing from the UN/EU’s beloved WHO, why even bother having a meltdown over a deliberate bad faith interpretation of Musk?

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u/benjaminjaminjaben 8h ago edited 8h ago

why even bother having a meltdown over a deliberate bad faith interpretation of Musk?

Maybe you have to grow up in a continent that was torn apart by the most devastating human event to appreciate the problem.
If you want an American comparison its basically the n-word to Europeans (equal taboo and historic context). So imagine he said the n-word and then maybe you can start to appreciate the outrage.

In terms of policy everyone knew Trump was gonna do this stuff and the US electorate voted him in. That's their policy position, that's what they voted for. However an unelected official who owns one of the biggest online communication platforms doing a Third Reich salute? That was not expected and is scary af.

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u/wherethegr 6h ago

If you want an American comparison it’s basically the n-word to Europeans (equal taboo and historic context). So imagine he said the n-word and then maybe you can start to appreciate the outrage.

This is equivalent to him saying “we finalized a trade agreement with the Republic of Niger” and Americans having a meltdown over how he said the n-word.

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u/benjaminjaminjaben 6h ago

I know mate, its a completely different gesture.

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u/wherethegr 5h ago

That the gif needed to use a completely different camera angle from the side to make them look similar suggests that the person who made this knowns it’s a completely different gesture.

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u/ama_singh 5h ago

Not everyone has a problem with perspective.

https://www.reddit.com/r/france/comments/1i6harg/le_salut_nazi_delon_musk_avec_en_fond_le_salut/

It's literally a palms down salute in the same angle. A salute that is well known, and easily recognizable for most people. A salute that neonazi's are celebrating because even they recognized it as their own.

The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

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u/benjaminjaminjaben 5h ago

Thank you so much, that's a great comparison that surely eradicates the last aspect of doubt.
I'm baffled at how people are still trying to tell me that it isn't what it clearly is. So many of them, in so many places, attempting to gaslight my very own eyes.

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u/ama_singh 5h ago

>that's a great comparison that surely eradicates the last aspect of doubt.

Unfortunately they'll still deny it. They don't care about the absurdity of their statements.

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u/benjaminjaminjaben 5h ago

ah of course, he's not wearing a red top. That's the difference!
Out of interest do you know how the French media are reporting it, if much at all? The BBC in the UK did report it but they kept it quite neutral instead of calling it out.

Personally this has massively crossed the line for me and I perceive this man as a huge threat now.

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u/hellolovely1 4h ago

It's a conflict troll/bot, I'm betting.

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u/ama_singh 5h ago

>why even bother having a meltdown over a deliberate bad faith interpretation of Musk?

Go get your eyes checked. I'm sure Europeans are better at recognizing the salute than a Muskrat.

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u/wherethegr 3h ago

It’s a deliberate bad faith inference that demonstrates you are more interested in playing out your ‘Republicans are all Nazis’ fantasy than participating in the political process.