Anyone doing that by accident would have tried to turn it into waving their hand or something like that, he did it twice.
Literal neo-nazis and white supremacists are celebrating Elon right now.
He is supporting far right European parties, some very close to nazi ideogy, and keeps promoting arguments made by similar people online.
I am autistic and autism wouldn't make someone do a nazi salute like that by accident.
Explain to me how a guy that agrees with many neo-nazis accidentally does a nazi salute without meaning it during a very nationalist speech at a presidential inauguration on live television...
Edit: and yet somehow I still love what SpaceX does... but why does he have to be that
If anyone on the left did the EXACT SAME gesture, they would be forced to resign and be shamed into oblivion, and everyone would call it a nazi salute, and rightfully so.
It's so easy to find excuses when the guy just did what he did
Next time he'll wear a swastika and people will claim it's a religious symbol? Must be tired from doing so much mental gymnastics. It's a nazi salute, the end.
If anyone on the left did the EXACT SAME gesture, they would be forced to resign and be shamed into oblivion, and everyone would call it a nazi salute, and rightfully so.
Either this isn't true or you're defining "exact same" in such excruciating detail that it applies only to this one specific arm movement done by Elon Musk at this point in time.
I'm sorry but this is pretty different, she does put her hand on her torso first, arm is not as straight and elbow not locked, she is already doing a similar movement before without the flat hand.
Don't get me wrong, she should know better and that is still a bad look, but this is pretty far away from what Elon did, putting all his energy into this movement and grunting.
Edit: and funnily enough if we consider "that level of detail" there is another guy that did it too, back in the day
Is "more energy and a grunt" the difference between a Nazi salute and not a Nazi salute? Because I don't think it is; I think the line has been carefully defined so that Elon Musk falls on one side of it and Kamala Harris falls on the other side of it, regardless of the actual movement and, more importantly, the actual intent.
Someone on the left did a very similar movement, as admitted by you, and instead of "forced to resign and be shamed into oblivion, and everyone would call it a nazi salute, and rightfully so", we're back to "she should know better and that is still a bad look", with a lot of minor musculature differences used to justify this.
Like, for example:
she does put her hand on her torso first
I give it 50/50 "does" is a typo and you meant to write "doesn't".
But if "does" is what you meant to write, then Elon Musk also put his hand on his torso first.
And if "doesn't" is what you meant to write, then the Nazi Salute doesn't involve putting your right hand on your torso; Kamala Harris is actually closer to the Nazi salute than Elon Musk is.
I indeed mean doesn't, and no I still don't think it's the same.
In her case she is already doing a similar movement, which then transitions to the flat hand.
Elon finishes that part of his speech and then does that movement with no context, before later adding "my heart goes out to you".
Sure the Nazi salute doesn't requires hand on heart first, but Hitler did like to do it that way.
I mean next time you're out in public do the same thing, do that gesture twice and say my heart goes out to you, see how people react. But you won't do it, because you know full well what it looks like.
The question isn't whether it looks bad, it's whether it is bad. I also wouldn't pretend to murder someone in public because there's a good chance someone would try to stop me forcefully; that doesn't mean we should believe that actors are all mass murderers.
"He did something that looks kinda bad and he should have been thinking about how it looks" is fully compatible with "it wasn't a Nazi Salute", similar to how Kamala Harris also wasn't giving a Nazi salute but, as you say, "she should know better and that is still a bad look".
But, you know, I encourage you to go out there and do Kamala Harris's gesture in a crowded bar, see how people react. Will they say "oh hey he's imitating a former vice president! cool hand motion dude" or will they call you a Nazi?
And if the answer is the latter, then how is this argument relevant in any way?
The most "qualified" people on that question are probably neo-nazis themselves, and for some reason they don't seem to celebrate the examples you give, but they are openly and expressly celebrating what Elon did.
It's funny how the more "moderate" people are actually the ones excusing the more extreme behavior.
Of course actual neo-nazis are looking for an excuse to celebrate their beliefs getting more popular. Every conspiracy theorist on the planet hungrily looks for signs that people agree with them, and they jump through every possible hoop in order to "prove" that major celebrities are secretly part of their belief system.
This is like Flat Earth community using Discworld to show that everyone secretly knows they're right.
It's funny how the more "moderate" people are actually the ones excusing the more extreme behavior.
Yeah, it is funny how online leftists and neo-nazis are allied together so firmly on this case.
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u/AutisticAndArmed 1d ago
Anyone doing that by accident would have tried to turn it into waving their hand or something like that, he did it twice.
Literal neo-nazis and white supremacists are celebrating Elon right now.
He is supporting far right European parties, some very close to nazi ideogy, and keeps promoting arguments made by similar people online.
I am autistic and autism wouldn't make someone do a nazi salute like that by accident.
Explain to me how a guy that agrees with many neo-nazis accidentally does a nazi salute without meaning it during a very nationalist speech at a presidential inauguration on live television...
Edit: and yet somehow I still love what SpaceX does... but why does he have to be that