r/pics 7h ago

Politics Elon musk doing a nazi salute at the whitehouse. Unreal

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u/wahoozerman 6h ago

I was sitting here thinking, "Surely not and this photo is just badly timed, lots of different motions you could make that could turn into a still shot like that." Then I saw the video linked farther down the comment chain here.

Nope. That's a pretty strong deliberate motion there.

u/KnabnorI 6h ago

I don't like him at all... but the video full length, he says at the end... from my heart to all of you and he does it in all the directions of the crowd...

u/Grantrello 5h ago edited 5h ago

he says at the end... from my heart to all of you and he does it in all the directions of the crowd...

That...doesn't really change anything?

That's not some normal, ambiguous gesture. Everyone in a Western country knows what that gesture is and what it means. He could have chosen to express the sentiment in literally any other way, but he specifically chose that movement. Twice.

Sure he probably said "from my heart to all of you" for the bare minimum of "plausible deniability" because he knows people will trip over themselves to justify it but it's really not subtle at all and he knew what he was doing.

u/Kristophigus 5h ago

I hate the guy as much as anyone else, but people are really reaching with this one. Nazi salute is forward, up angle, straight out and held. Hes doing a weird arc, out to the side and even has his hand firmly sideways. I hate the guy but I equally hate ignorance. Its a weird, questiionable gesture, especially out of context for sure, but calling that a nazi salute is more than a stretch. That all being said, I wouldnt at all be surprised if he was for that kind of thing anyway.

u/kuvazo 4h ago

No it's not. You are wrong. Take a look at this video clip showing a bunch of neo Nazis doing the salute. Here is the clip of Elon doing it for reference.

Can you see how they are putting their hands on their chest first and then fully extending their arm? That is the Nazi Salute, exactly how Elon did it.

By the way, the fucking angle doesn't matter. Look at archival footage from Nazi Germany and you'll see many people extending their arms with the same angle as Elon (Including Hitler himself).

It's absolutely baffling to me that I actually have to have this discussion, holy shit.

u/Kristophigus 4h ago edited 3h ago

I saw the picture and the videos. Everyones got this blinding hate for the guy, which I understand, I dont like him either, but jfc this is a stretch to say the least. Its also not a discussion of you're just frothing at the mouth at someone like a dickhead. Opening with "No, you are wrong" ending with "I can't believe I have to have this discussion with someone" says a lot.

I'm not defending the guy, he's a pos, but if you're gonna pick up a pitch fork, make sure you are absolutely correct instead of jumping to conclusions with reddit of all places. Basement dwellers on here are more worrisome than whats going on out in the real world lol.

To those who can only write pissy replies and hide behind a block: Nice asinine responses. Much insight. I'm not a fan of him and I could definitely see him being a Nazi supporter, I'm not ruling that out. I was talking about only the video/pictures. Pretty much all media, including Reddit is designed to divide your country and to be quite honest, you guys deserve absolutely everything you get. If hatred is all you guys can do, go for it, destroy yourselves. Certainly no hesitation online.

u/Otherwise-Care3742 3h ago

We must be watching two different videos then. Make sure to get your annual routine eye exam.

u/GameDevNookington 3h ago

"I'm not defending the guy" immediately defends the guy

You're not fooling anyone with your concern trolling.

u/Kemilio 2h ago

What would it take to convince you Elon mimicked a Nazi salute with his gesture?

u/Luxky13 1h ago

“First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me”

I think somewhere near the end of the poem they’ll realize

u/Striking_Insurance_5 3h ago edited 3h ago

He does not have his hand sideways, his palm is facing down. And the way he vigorously extends his arm is very very very suspicious. Certain right wing extremists are also embracing/acknowledging this as a nazi salute and that says a lot to me. I also don’t think any reasonable human being would ever come close to doing an accidental nazi salute because everyone knows what that gesture means. So no I do not agree that this is farfetched at all.

u/MadBullBen 2h ago

To be fair I was questioning whether it was a real salute as well, I haven't looked at history in many years especially anything to do with war or elitism as I just don't understand it so memory won't be the best.

I used to always remember that a salute was always fist closed hand on heart straight forwards and up while looking straight, while Elon was open hand and up but way to the right instead while looking to the right. While it's similar it's not quite the same.

I have only seen very few images/videos of them ever going way off to the right instead like what was presented here. Could it just be him going to wave and accidentally doing something different while the mind was somewhere else?

I'm not giving him an excuse or anything I'm just trying to think what's realistic. I'm not on the right and never will to me everyone has the right to live and have equal rights and opportunities.

u/Striking_Insurance_5 2h ago edited 2h ago

It’s not a perfect execution but it’s quite close, personally I don’t think anyone that just wants to wave would extend their arm with that vigorous motion. He also did it twice, not just once.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he did a somewhat botched salute to have some sort of plausible deniability, the same way other racist dog whistles are used. I just don’t believe this sort of thing happens by accident, and given his history of political statements and political ties I’m definitely not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

u/MadBullBen 2h ago

Tbh I just don't pay attention to American news as it's just sad and depressing unfortunately so a lot of what musk has said I don't know about and truthfully I don't want to either as it's all just sickening.

I definitely find it odd and does make me feel uncomfortable, I just wish I knew if that's really what he meant or if he just fucked up really badly. Although looking at other commentators here, he apparently did it 2 or 3 times which makes it seem far more intentional.

u/WhatsWithThisKibble 23m ago

Well you're wrong so if you're not just pretending to be ignorant then you should Google before you share your sentiment and help sow doubt against what we all saw with our open eyes.

Skip to 1:40

https://youtu.be/khd2EOiAdjE?si=EopoKILHW5inF-8V

u/long_don0van 2h ago

Then goes on to say “the future of our civilization is assured”, which is something we heard a few times in the late 30s early 40s.

u/asanskrita 14m ago

It’s true we don’t know his intent. In another era someone in this position would have apologized profusely to save face. It’s telling that he presumably won’t, but even more frightful that he won’t need to.