Musk roundly booed on-stage at Dave Chappelle gig

In a bizarre move Elon Musk took to the stage with Dave Chappelle at a comedy gig in San Francisco this weekend to a chorus of boos, and little in the way of repartee. Chappelle, a superstar comedian no stranger to controversy himself, welcomed Musk to the stage at the end of his three-hour act Sunday night, encouraging …

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Sadly, more evidence he has gone full Howard Huges at this point. The apparent effort to quash the video on twitter is also a bad look for him.

But he dug this hole for himself. His decision to take over Twitter was always going to have big consequences for him personally. Love it or hate it, tons of people used it, and he just decided to start making massive changes without asking people. He lives his day to day life fully inside his own reality distortion field, wrapped in a cocoon build by the army of bootlickers and enablers most people like him surround themselves with. So like Jackson he has slipped so far from reality he can't gauge the impact his actions will have on the outside world anymore. These decisions directly impact(and annoy) hundreds of millions of people, possibly billions. So big surprise he's getting booed in public, especially in social media afflicted SF. The funny thing is he thinks running away to Texas will help. The far-right is already turning against him, and appeasing them will tank Twitter.

He is his own worst enemy at this point, and it's unlikely he will pull his head out of his own arse before his life crashes down around him. I can't see him taking any road that will salvage what if left of Twitter either except maybe the name, and the brand damage has spilled over to his other companies as well.

[CapeCarl]

Spruce is a good materiel for building aircraft...

Perhaps said self-proclaimed genius at many (most?) things...Could rebuild the Super Heavy out of spruce, only put 8 engines on it and get it to fly...Once.

On a serious note, now that Artemis has passed it first shakedown cruise, NASA is depending on the adults at SpaceX to perform some rather complex space-bound logistics as prereqs for becoming Lunar Lander Uber.

[phuzz]

Re: Spruce is a good materiel for building aircraft...

Now that SpaceX is launching national security payloads for US military/intelligence, I do wonder if the US government might arrange for him to be removed from anything except a strictly ceremonial role at SpaceX. They don't want to buy rockets off someone who might suddenly decide that (eg) maybe the Russians were the real victims all along.

Mind you, they were still happy dealing with Howard Hughes well into the 1970's, so perhaps they have more patience.

[Strahd Ivarius]

Re: Spruce is a good materiel for building aircraft...

Could rebuild the Super Heavy out of spruce, only put 8 engines on it and get it to fly...Once.

but will it fly higher than 20m?

[that one in the corner]

Re: Spruce is a good materiel for building aircraft...

20m? Sure, we kin do 20 miles! Ain't nuttin' else that there em could mean, boy. Ptooh (ding)

[redpola]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

I think you’re right that he’s in a bubble. The problem is now everyone is too scared to criticise his terrible technical decisions. Take the blue tick on Twitter, which added veracity in a web of trust- a very old concept in cyber security circles. Not only was it sound but created a self-policed walled garden for celebrities to switch off the noise. Hit the “ticks only” tab and those verified only saw content from other ticks. That encourages influencers and celebrities to use the platform.

Musk is making bad technical decisions that have real impact on the usability of the platform for its most important users, and those decisions are getting implemented…

[Steve Button]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

I just don't get it.

It seems almost everyone is piling on in the comments here, and not a single person wants to defend him.

I really went off him with the whole Pedo Guy thing, which I think was spiteful and petty. Also, he's taken a lot of mis steps, and he's really a bit of a tosser. However, he doesn't seem like Dr. Evil, like most of the other billionaires.

Also, what he's trying to do right now with Twitter, by exposing the shadowbanning; the influencing of elections; the lies of Fauci; the silencing of covid sceptics; the special case for banning Trump*. The list goes on and on, and it seems all the other tech companies have been at it too. Why aren't The Reg onto this, and "Biting the Hand"? Isn't what's going on right now the Watergate of our time? It looks like The Reg have become part of the liberal media now.

I mean, he had an actual ex FBI top lawyer working within Twitter and actively trying to suppress The Twitter Files. And deleting stuff apparently? Doesn't that alone send some alarm bells ringing?

*Also, I'm no fan of Trump, but he didn't get everything wrong. Only 90 something %. He was certainly right about Germany making themselves reliant on Russian gas, wasn't he? And they just smugly laughed at him for that.

I'm aware I'll be collecting more thumbs down for this, and probably no coherent arguments against what I'm asking, but I can live with that.

PLEASE someone, convince me I'm wrong. I'm open to hearing a decent argument (no mud flinging if you don't mind). I might be wrong about some things, but I don't think I'm wrong about the collusion, and that's the big issue here.

[Grooke]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

"the lies of Fauci"

"I'm open to hearing a decent argument"

No you're not.

[Steve Button]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

I can name two right off the top of my head. 1) He said that you don't catch the virus once you have the vaccine (I don't know the exact wording) and 2) He rubbished and suppressed the lab leak theory, when he knew damned well that Eco Health Alliance were doing research into bat coronaviruses at Wuhan, and then his private correspondence at the time shows him trying to get people to cover it up.

Next?

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

"He said that you don't catch the virus once you have the vaccine" - FFS, between you asserting that and half the internet asserting he said the exact opposite, he can't really win can he?

As you "don't know the exact wording" I did a 2-second look on the internet for you: he said "if you're vaccinated, you're safe, if you're not you're at-risk". Given he's a medical expert trying to convey a complex medical issue in words that will not get misunderstood by the legion of people that Won't Or Can't Understand Nuance, that's accurate and admirably concise. "If you wear a seatbelt, you're safe" is equally reasonable but is also not a cast-iron guarantee you won't die.

[Steve Button]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

OK since you took the trouble to look it up, I have gone to the trouble to look up the one was actually talking about..

"When people are vaccinated, they can feel safe that they are not going to get infected"

If my doctor said to me that I could feel safe that I was not going to get infected, I would expect to a fairly high degree that I'm not going to get infected. If it turned out 6 months later that almost everyone still got infected, I would feel safe to call him a liar.

If you don't believe me, here's the video on Twitter (of all places)

https://twitter.com/drelidavid/status/1537166889754865664?s=21&t=ZzZiNX1tGbuOGnXLXf73tw

[nintendoeats]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Sure, but that's a far cry from "the lies of Faucci". He had to repeat the same message thousands of times, and in that instance he used wording which was technically true (he said you can feel safe that you won't get infected, not that you absolutely won't) but wasn't quite as clean as his standard wording. I think whether you read anything into that has a lot more to do with where you are starting from than from anything he said.

If he had said "If you get vaccinated, I personally guarantee that you will not get infected", that would have been both weird and dishonest. But that's not what he said. The seatbelt example is right on point. "If you wear a seatbelt, you can feel save that you will not die in a collision". Doesn't mean it won't happen, but does mean that you should be much less worried about it.

[nintendoeats]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Sorry, I had time to stew on it. I realized I was distracted and missed the whole point of what he was saying. The vaccine achieves two things for your personal safety:

1. It reduces the PROBABILITY of contracting the disease.

2. It reduces the IMPACT of contracting the disease.

So if you are vaccinated, you are not just less likely to become infected, but if you become infected you are less likely to die. So the statement "if you have the vaccine you don't need to worry about getting infected" is strongly true, as even if you do get infected the odds of you suffering more than mild symptoms are low.

So it is neither a lie, nor is it misleading.

[Hawkeye Pierce]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Re the supposed Fauci "lie".

I will bet my house that most people who claim he "lied" are basing this on a few-second video clip that is prevalent on... oh yes, Twitter.

I saw that clip. And I thought to myself,"that's a bit odd". And I questioned whether it might have been taken out-ot-context. I questioned whether it might have in fact been doctored (because... you know... that can happen).

So I did what any sensible, logical person would do who wants to ascertain facts.I found the transcript of the interview. Took me all of perhaps two seconds, but to save people time: https://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/transcript-all-chris-hayes-5-17-21-n1267740

And you know what? OMG he did say that!!!!

But you know what he also said in that interview? Try these quotes:

- "Breakthrough infections mean, you have been vaccinated, but you still get infected."

- "...even if you do get a breakthrough infection, when you`re vaccinated, the chances of you are transmitting it to someone else is exceedingly low."

So you know what? If he is "a liar" he's a shockingly bad one as he admitted a few seconds earlier in that same interview that, *shock horror*, you can still get infected after being vaccinated.

Was it a poor choice of words he used? Possibly. Is that quote out of context? Somewhat. Could he have been clearer? Yes.

But to call him a liar is simply ludicrous.

[GioCiampa]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

"No you're not."

Pot, meet kettle.

[TheWeetabix]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

“I know you are but what am I?”

Oh grow up.

[aerogems]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

I regret I have but one upvote to give for a far more pithy response than I would have come up with. Thank you for the valuable time saver.

[Insert sadsack pun here]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

"Why aren't The Reg onto this, and "Biting the Hand"?"

Absolutely weird that you've decided that the Richest Man In The World who is the CEO and (effective) owner of Twitter is the underdog in all of this.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

well, the guy musky gave the data too, said that he found no evidence of the government influencing, which is wierd, as he also say's the trump white house (the actual gov) was attempting getting stuff blocked..strangly he didn't include what they were blocking, but did say what biden was trying to get twitter to block (stuff like dick pic, against twitter own rules).

meanwhile Bieden was as a citizen attempting to get dick pics blocked as any citizen can tell twitter about breaking of the terms of service.

Why the fuck are right wing conservative loons that freak at the sight of a breast, so lustful of some dick pics?

any of you want to free yourselfs and get out the cupboard, it's perfecty normal, you'll feel a lot better about your life, freeze your peaches if you want.

[aerogems]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Laws/rules are there to protect, but not constrain, them; only people whose beliefs are beyond an acceptable level of deviation from their own. They should be constrained, but not protected by laws/rules.

[Graham Cobb]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

PLEASE someone, convince me I'm wrong. I'm open to hearing a decent argument (no mud flinging if you don't mind).

If you are genuinely interested in "hearing a decent argument", try reading one or two of Mike Masnick's articles. Although no fan of Musk, these do not include mud flinging and are genuine attempts to analyse what happened at Twitter.

Of course, Masnick has his own views, which you probably won't agree with, but he does have "decent arguments" without mud-flinging.

[ChoHag]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

> Why aren't The Reg onto this, and "Biting the Hand"?

It was full of cookies. Maybe if they suckle on it nicely enough Apple will finally give them a quote? Anyway the cookies are delicious.

> I'm open to hearing a decent argument (no mud flinging if you don't mind).

I don't think you understand how this works. When the internet has decided a person is bad then that person is bad and so mud is flung. Anyone can do it! Try it yourself:

Orange Man Bad.

See? It's easy. No need to think critically at all, just repeat the mantra.

Orange Man Bad.

Do you like the Orange Man? No problem!

Grandpa Biden Bad.

Are you British? We've got you covered!

Bo Jo Bad.

Iron Trussler Bad.

Who's on the other side? No idea.

Red Team Bad. That'll do. Nobody cares anyway. They can be properly hated when they're next in.

Then when you've got the hang of it, just change the main character to whomever you dislike this week:

Muskbot Bad.

See how easily it rolls off the brain when you just don't engage it in the first place?

tl;dr: You wrote too many words.

[nintendoeats]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

I think you wrote too many words. Let me try.

Hate and fear are powerful forces for both uniting and engaging people. Politicians, the media, and commenters know this and have a tendency to promote icons of hate to achieve unity of a group under their own banner. Thus, if an individual is being cast as a hate-sink, consider whether the dislike of that person (or what they represent) is being promoted out of genuine concern, or out of a hidden desire to convince you to subconsciously identify with a group that the speaker has influence over.

[GrahamRJ]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

"the silencing of covid sceptics"

The word is either "liars" or "reality deniers". Yes, it is possible to be rationally sceptical until evidence is presented. After that, you're either a liar or a reality denier, and that doesn't entitle you to a platform. Twitter bans happened after the point that there was any ambiguity about evidence.

"the special case for banning Trump"

On the contrary, Trump got a special case for keeping his account open for a *really* long time. Regular civilians got bans for a whole lot less.

You're absolutely correct that this is the Watergate of our times. You'll remember that the defining feature of Watergate was malfeasance by the President of the USA. That's exactly where we are now.

As far as "liberal media" goes, the top two definitions on Google are "willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas" and "relating to or denoting a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise". If you're unhappy with "liberal" concepts, ould you like to tell us which parts of those definitions you find offensive? Are you're closed to new ideas, opposed to civil rights, in favour of autocracy instead of democracy, or in favour of communism replacing free enterprise?

[Steve Button]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Firstly I meant lockdown sceptics, not covid sceptics. Sack my editor.

Trump absolutely should have been a "special case", as all world leaders are, in the public interest. But someone decided to make him a special case amongst the special cases, because...? Have you read The Twitter Files (#4 I think?) - it explains how this happened. It's pretty damning.

Please don't look up a definition of "liberal" and throw that back at me. You surely know what I mean? I'm talking about the mostly left leaning media who go along with pretty much everything the government says in regards to lockdowns and asks questions such as "Prime Minister, why didn't you lock down sooner?". I consider myself liberal. Perhaps it was a poor choice of words, but I'm talking about CNN, The BBC and The Guardian who pretty much ignored the anti-lockdown protests, or when they did mention them they smeared the participants by calling them "far right" and "granny killers". However, when it came to more progressive demos such as BLM, they described them as "mostly peaceful". I'm not sure there's a word to describe what I'm talking about, so I went with liberal. I'm talking about the same media who are quietly ignoring all the Covid vaccine damage right now, because they don't want to be "anti vaxx".

I'd really really like someone to convince me I'm wrong, so I can happily go back to watching BBC News, and just thinking they are a little left leaning but mostly harmless and down the middle. I'm afraid those days are gone. So far, people just pick up on silly points.

[Someone Else]

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Have you read The Twitter Files (#4 I think?)

I'll read the Twatter Files when I'm allowed to read all of them, without redactions, editing, or certainly without the Muskrat filtering what is being released to Fox Noise.

_{And most certainly not after Fox Noise has put its haze of "alternate facts" on it.}

[Someone Else]

" Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

Ya think?

_{It's not like its possible for anyone to be as popular as the Muskrat thinks he is.}

[martinusher]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

On the whole CEOs don't give a damn what you think.

Believe it or not he's one of the nicer, more pragmatic, ones. (Yes, I know that's not saying much...) There needs to be a serious reality check out there among all those proles who think that they're somehow different because they work with a computer. They're not special, they're no different from anyone else who sells their labor for money. Employers have the same attitude to you that a farmer has to farm animals -- while your're necessary and you're earning your keep, fine, but when you cease to be productive or important its off to the knackers with you.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

He is just a twat, others like Thiel, Murdoch, Koch are actively evil

[YetAnotherLocksmith]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

He was, but he's turning to the dark side at a rate of knots.

He's now going off on vaccine denial and claiming the vaccine killed millions! He's called his previous Twitter Head of Safety a pedo, in a roundabout way, and set his new right wing crowd of dickheads on the poor guy, by carefully cropping out a very sensible and nuanced piece from his (2010 or 2012?) PhD and posting it without any context beyond "Look at this! No wonder there is child porn all over Twitter now!"

Same as he did with the cave diver helping rescue those kids in Thailand - fire off the "ultimate rightwing smear" at them, knowing the baying trolls will run with "Elon knows best! He'll let me blow him one day!! Must abuse his target of the day, for lulz, fren."

So yes, Elno gets booed. Of course he does. And the Far Right love bombing that works so well on teenage boy incels works on Musk as well as it ever has on anyone...

[Dan 55]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

He really isn't one of the nicer more pragmatic ones:

Twitter abruptly dissolves safety council moments before meeting

The firm’s turmoil appears to deepen since Elon Musk’s takeover with Yoel Roth forced to flee home amid personal attacks

The news appeared to deepen the turmoil that has beset the company following Musk’s takeover. Also on Monday, it was reported that Twitter’s former top safety official, Yoel Roth, was forced to flee his home amid escalating personal attacks, including from Musk himself.

Outlets including the Washington Post and CNN reported on Monday that Roth and his family fled after Musk’s tweets misrepresented Roth’s academic writing about sexual activity and children.

Yep, he's just done another "pedo guy".

[gandalfcn]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

"Yep, he's just done another "pedo guy"." That was a major miscarriage of justice. He must have really pissed himself laughing at the jury's gullibility.

[NerryTutkins]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

However, It is now perfectly legal and not actionable to refer to Musk himself as a "pedo", because it is actually just a general insult and not in anyway suggestive that Musk has an unhealthy interest in children.

[aerogems]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

Just want to add something about the whole Roth thing. It is not the sign of a healthy mind when someone goes that far out of their way to track down a PhD dissertation and then actually read through it in order to try to find something that can be used to smear the person. That is the behavior of someone with some very deep seated mental health issues. And it's not even the first time he's done this sort of thing. This is a pattern of behavior for him that can be documented for at least a decade using public sources.

I personally hope Mr. Roth files a complaint with the SFPD regarding Twitler's efforts to incite violence against him. He should also report it to the FBI since no doubt at least one of the crazies Twitler incited is outside California. This is absolutely the sort of shit we should NOT be tolerating from ANYONE. I hope the SFDA, Ms. Jenkins, has already instructed her staff to look into this and is potentially coordinating with the California AG. IMO, Twitler should be on the hook for the bill to provide a private security detail to Mr. Roth and his family for however long Mr. Roth deems it necessary.

[nintendoeats]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

In fairness, he probably paid somebody to do it.

I'm concerned that as much as he has done many things that are sue-able, any action against him will be viewed as political. Institutions may choose not to act for that reason.

[gandalfcn]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

On the whole normal people don't give a damn what you think.

[phuzz]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

Could say the same about you.

[aerogems]

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

If you're fine being treated like livestock, that's your choice. Most of us have a higher sense of self-worth than that and expect to be treated like a human being at the bare minimum.

[Anonymous Coward]

"No, sir, they're saying Mooo-usk. Mooo-usk!"

[b0llchit]

Are that cows being milked I hear?

[Mitoo Bobsworth]

George Carlin got it right -

"When you're born into this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show. If you're born in America, you get the front row seat."

[aerogems]

Maybe

If he's back in the Bay Area, maybe he should spend some time over at Tesla which has had a raft of lawsuits around racism and sexual harassment and sexual assault lately. So far Twitler, the PR department for the company, hasn't even deigned to comment in the usual bland PR way about how these issues are taken seriously and a thorough investigation will be undertaken, which is just code for, "We're aware of it, and we're going to fire the people complaining."

But, the whataboutism is strong here. The man has surrounded himself with simps for so long that he's made the cardinal sin of the con man, and started believing his own bullshit. The same thing that got Trump in the mess of trouble he's in now. If he'd just stayed in New York where he was a minor annoyance, he could still be grifting people with his "charity" foundation and wouldn't be facing legal trouble on numerous fronts, but he started to believe his own bullshit and look at what happened. In Twitler's case, Tesla succeeds in spite of him, and mostly because if you want an EV sedan it was the only real game in town for years, but that's not really the case anymore. SpaceX works because Twitler lost his security clearance when, in his infinite wisdom, he decided it would be a good idea to be filmed committing a felony by smoking weed. He was forced to put an adult in charge of the day-to-day operations and it's worked out pretty well. Boring Co seems to be little more than an effort to sabotage the bidding process for public works projects and an outlet to peddle random other crap like flame throwers and perfume.

I can't wait until he's wiped out by a margin call on his massive debts and then we don't have to hear about him anymore.

[martinusher]

Re: Maybe

As a rule the CEO, much less the CTO, doesn't address these issues unless they're personally involved in a suit. This is what coporate legal and HR are for. HR should have in place a full set of California compliant policies regarding discriminsation and sexual harassment which will help isolate the company from lawsuits (working their way through them will take time --- lots of time). This is what usually stops all but the most egregious allegations dead since the lawyers handling this for the plaintiff need to see a RoI -- there's got to be a huge payday somewhere for them to participate.

>Tesla succeeds in spite of him, and mostly because if you want an EV sedan it was the only real game in town for years, but that's not really the case anymore.

All the owners I know -- quite a few -- really love the things. I'm not so sure myself about the sizzle/steak ratio..

>he decided it would be a good idea to be filmed committing a felony by smoking weed

That's a very old school mindset. In many places -- the entire West Coast, for a start -- weed is legal. The Feds haven't caught up yet but they're behind on anything that doesn't have a payday** for some legislator or another. The jury's out on whether it was a smart move or not (my vote is 'not smart') but its not something to stress out about. We've moved on from the 1980s, DARE and "Just Say No" (and locking people up decades for possession).

I hate to say this but the kind of thinking that hobbles Tesla with lawsuits trying to get a piece is a short cut to gradually (or rapidly) phasing out the plant.

(**Sorry, "Campaign Contribution")

[aerogems]

Re: Maybe

Whatever anyone's personal opinion is on weed, in the US it is still considered a Schedule 1 drug by the federal government. So, if your company's entire business model is predicated upon government contracts that require a security clearance, it shouldn't take a genius to do the math that being filmed possessing and consuming a Schedule 1 drug, a federal crime, is not a good idea.

[NerryTutkins]

Re: Maybe

Cars have always been an aspirational item where brand image is important. I would guess Musk having turned Teslas into $50k MAGA hats will have an impact on sales. The core Tesla buyer thus far has tended to be younger, professional, wealthy, educated to at least degree level and having concern about the environment. Musk's vocal disparaging of this core demographic has strong Gerald Ratner overtones.

Musk may have the Trumpers on board, but poorly educated poor people living in trailers who reject climate science, positively embrace pollution as a patriotic duty are going to be a tough group to sell EVs to.

Maybe if he was making pillows for old people with bad backs, he'd be on safer ground.

[YetAnotherLocksmith]

Re: Maybe

+5, insightful.

[YetAnotherLocksmith]

Re: Maybe

Good ole' Poo Tin did exactly the same.

Once you have a dedicated team of people who don't want their families tortured surrounding you, dictators will never get a true answer ever again. Likewise ultra-rich idiots who surround themselves with Yes men who know only too well who pays the salary. And yes, it's even worse in countries without labour laws! Of course it is! Not even 3 months salary to cushion the blow after getting fired for putting the wrong colour M&Ms in the bowl? Well, there you go. You're probably not saying anything at all about how destroying Crimea, or trying to tax the US Govt so your fancy sat wifi "works better", are bad ideas. No, you're saying as little as possible, and maybe pinning it on some other chump later on, when the truth becomes noticed.

If I never have to hear another story of woe from a billionaire who just lost 20% of his money, it'll be too soon. Yes, that $8 billion gone sucks, you should've just given it me. But, you'll never learn.

[MCPicoli]

RDF

Musk's RDF (reality distortion field) must be waning.

No RDF resists the barrage of very powerful, self-inflicted attacks for very long. For example, Steve Jobs's RDF was as strong or stronger than his, but at the same time Jobs's assholeriness was much less intense.

(Yes, I know that this word does not exist.)

[Ian Mason]

Re: RDF

Yes, I know that this word does not exist.

It does now.

"On Tuesday, His Assholeriness, the Pope of Twit, Lord of Misrule, Q'Elon issued a bull via Twitter ..."

[James O'Shea]

Re: RDF

You're missing the four letters at the end of 'bull'.

[YetAnotherLocksmith]

Re: RDF

Oh look! All 3 Elon stans downvoted you!

[phuzz]

Re: RDF

Steve Jobs may or may not have been as much of an arsehole, but his desire for publicity was much lower.

They are quite similar in that they are/were both good at getting other people to make good/desirable products.

[Anonymous Coward]

Boolionaire

At least Musk will be happy that he's knocked Ye off the top of the "bad decisions rich people make because they've lost touch with reality" list.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cheap seats?

Those "cheap seats" were bloody expensive, and they paid that money to see you.

2 tossers on the stage

[Anonymous Coward]

Chucking your family relations in the woodchipper

Bin the PR department so that when your kid disowns you for being a nasty piece of work, no-one will tell you not to make an appearance with a comedy has-been who does profit-making off the back of hating on your kid...

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's an idea, let's stop giving him the oxygen of publicity....

[Anonymous Coward]

Waste of oxygen indeed

As if that were possible with so many starving semi-pseudo-media aching to publish anything, anything about even synthetized somethings. When there's been 24 hours without an article about Kardashians I'll be able to breathe without the oxygen tank.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Waste of oxygen indeed

Too bad the Kardashians didn’t buy Twitter. Maybe Kim could marry Twitler next.

[Roger Kynaston]

upvoted for new word

I will definitely add asphyxiwank to my vocabulary.

[TonyJ]

Re: upvoted for new word

"...I will definitely add asphyxiwank to my vocabulary..."

See also "Stranglewank" :-)

[Ace2]

Widdle Twitler seems to have found another limit to acceptable speech: the guy posting public information about Twitler’s public jet.

https://www.techdirt.com/2022/12/12/before-musk-riled-everyone-up-with-misleading-twitter-files-about-shadowbanning-musk-used-the-tool-to-hide-account-tracking-his-plane/

#everyrepublicanaccusationisaconfession

[nintendoeats]

Thanks, that was an interesting article. I might look at some other stuff by that person.

[Anonymous Coward]

I find it odd that The Register is not covering the Twitter Files story at all. Whether there's anything in them or just a load of bullshit, the whole Twitter Files thing is surely newsworthy. If Musk being booed on stage is worthy of reporting, how is the Twitter Files story not?

[YetAnotherLocksmith]

Because there's literally nothing there.

trump broke the first amendment by having stuff taken off Twitter. That's the truth. That's a fact. Biden? He WASN'T in the Whitehouse, he was just some guy trying to get pictures of his son's dick off the internet, per Twitter's terms of service.

Also, the guy who had Hunter's alleged laptop has now gone on record asking the question that should be obvious - how has 450Gb of data been leaked from a 250Gb drive, from which he could only see 220Gb?

[aerogems]

The mantra of a true QAnon kool-aid drinker is to never let facts get in the way of a good narrative. As long as it tells a story that fits with their world view, that's all that matters. Not your facts, or logic, or sound reasoning. Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything even remotely true!

[theAltoid]

Let that sink in.

n/c

[Anonymous Coward]

Welcome to the real world, Mr. Musk, which isn't full of drooling sycophants, fan bois, and shareholders. Your 15 minutes of fame is up.

[Howard Sway]

Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

That's even more pathetic than the Spinal Tap defence ;

"They were still booing him [the support act] while we were on stage!"

[aerogems]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

There were multiple videos and they clearly show that every time Twitler tried to speak, he was drown out with boos. I'm sure it's just one of those strange cosmic level chances that these videos have been disappearing from Twitter lately. There's simply no way a free speech absolutist, who thinks anything that isn't illegal should be allowed, would take something down just because it was personally embarrassing.

The people left doing content moderation should just slow walk to removal of that video every time it pops up on Twitter.

[martinusher]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

We have plenty of 'activists' in California who make it their vocation to do this. People who genuinely don't agree with something are "Conspicuous By Their Absence".

(I'm a bit old (school), I tend to distinguish between 'free speech' and 'the mob'.)

(Also, remember the Golden Rule -- "He who has the gold makes the rules". Again, I'm not necessarily agreeing with the notion, just stating it.)

[werdsmith]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

I always associate booing with under 10s when the villain appears on stage in a pantomime. I've no idea why grown adults do it. If a person was recorded on video booing, and then viewed the recording I think they would feel the full cringe.

[Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

If a person was recorded on video booing, and then viewed the recording I think they would feel the full cringe.

FYI kids don't say 'cringe' anymore since they realised the adults started using it.

Cringe got yeeted.

(And yes, I know no-one says "yeet" anymore either)

[werdsmith]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

I really don’t give a a shit what kids say or don’t say.

[aerogems]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

At a certain point we all become the adults we denigrated as kids. There's no shame in it, unless you make an attempt to prove you're still young and whiff it badly. Even that isn't too bad, but to double down on the error by trying to claim you don't care... If you didn't care you wouldn't have tried to copy the lingo.

[Graham Cobb]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

I know I'm old but I guess I am missing something? "cringe" has been around for a very long time. There is nothing down-with-the-kids about it.

Sure, it is mostly used as a verb, but as English is famous as the language where "every noun can be verbed" I assume it is not unreasonable for someone to use a verb as a noun - "full cringe" may appear unusual but the meaning is perfectly clear in context.

[aerogems]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

What you're missing is when the OP doubled down on it after someone said it wasn't the popular vernacular with today's youth. If they had simply not responded or maybe gone the self-deprecating route of saying how now they feel old, that would have been the end of it. But when they doubled down instead, you may as well be hanging a giant flashing neon sign with a ginormous arrow pointing at you saying, "I'm pouting because I'm not as clever as I thought!"

There's no shame in aging out of the current lingo trends; happens to all of us. The exception of course is if you go out of your way to try to show how you're still up on the latest words and phrases because you're still young, fail miserably, and then pout when someone points out how badly you whiffed it.

[Insert sadsack pun here]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

"I've no idea why grown adults do it"

Because it is a very effective way of humbling blowhards, QED.

[werdsmith]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

I don’t think it does humble anyone apart from the emotionally immature twats doing it.

[Insert sadsack pun here]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

"I don’t think it does humble anyone apart from the emotionally immature twats doing it."

Booooo!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

I guess you long ago figured out it's hard to boo whilst still licking?

[Potemkine!]

Re: Technically, it was 90 percent cheers & 10 percent boos

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.”

== Bring us Dabbsy back! ==

[Winkypop]

Oh the schadenfreude

Both enjoyable and embarrassing.

More please.

[45RPM]

What can I add that hasn’t been said already?

I’m astonished by the fragility and lack of self awareness that Musk displays. He’s totally pro free speech to the extent that he’s prepared to allow Trump, conspiracy theorists and actual nazis on his platform. But say anything against him? Post video on Twitter of Musk being booed? Instant ban.

The word ‘snowflake’ perfectly describes him. What a cock.

[Anonymous Coward]

But of course a Twitter slave isn't allowed to complain about their Twitler master! The delete-and-ban process is fully automated for denigrating anti-Musk tweets. That is the main thing he has apparently gotten working since he took over!

[Anonymous Coward]

Free speech = everything I say about other people. What's new?

[aerogems]

Part of being "red pilled" is adopting the belief that the laws should protect, but not constrain you. However, they should constrain, but not protect, anyone whose beliefs are too far from your own.

[gandalfcn]

"He’s totally pro free speech". That's what his type always say, until they are faced with reality, and Leon doesn't like reality. Just like IQ45.

[Franco]

He's pretty much the same as every other self-aggrandizing toolbag complaining about not having a voice or being deplatformed, the only difference is that he has/had enough money to buy the platform.

[lglethal]

I think it's time for a new conspiracy theory...

I think Musk has had the first brain implant from his Neuralink company installed, but unfortunately it seems it had a virus in it and he's now been taken over by a Twitter chatbot!

Look at the evidence, sheeple! He never speaks in more than 120 letter sentences. When he does speak, much of it doesnt make sense. His replies when confronted by something not expected mirror a chatbot ("Weren't expecting this, were you?"). His primary method of communication these days is Twitter. He seems to have no memory of past words or deeds (I'm at war with Apple, I love Apple, I'm at war with Apple...). And he relies on Twitter polls to make management decisions.

Let's face it, this conspiracy theory has more evidence behind it then most of the crap peddled by QAnon and the far-right. So Wake Up Woke Sheeples - Musk is a Twitter Chatbot!!!!

[redpola]

Musk is suspending users on Twitter that post the videos. Bloody rightist fragile snowflake!

https://reddit.com/r/videos/comments/zjutsq/elon_musk_got_booed_off_the_stage_at_the_dave/

I’m not a fan of whining takedowns but thunderf00t on YouTube is worth a watch on this subject. He regularly picks apart Musk’s “achievements” with scientific analysis (sadly padded out with sarcasm). Spoiler: there aren’t as many as you’d imagine.

Finally, this article mentions that Musk destroyed the Twitter share price but also doesn’t mention the much more significant impact he’s had on Tesla stock. Who knew that saying over and over that his money was “first into Tesla and will be the last out”, and then taking a bunch out would piss off investors and destroy confidence!

[TheFifth]

Yup, I watched one account get suspended in real time. I was half way through watching the video when it stopped and the account was suspended. It's great to see free speech in action.

I enjoy Thunderf00t for the scientific explanations as to why Musk's claims (and other high profile scams) are nonsense. Most boil down to the fact that you 'cannae change the laws of physics'. I wish his videos weren't so dripping in sarcasm and condescension though, I don't think he needs to stoop that low, but I guess he has a style and it's up to him how he wants to present the info. When it comes to the science, he's not often wrong and will usually admit if he is.

Twitter is really weird right now. I had carefully crafted a nice little feed for myself of retro tech enthusiasts, science news, news from Ukraine, and music related stuff. I never got involved, or even saw much of the toxic side of Twitter at all.

Now when I open my feed, for some reason it's full of conspiracy theories and right wing American political news (especially references to MTG and the like). Why? I'm in the UK and have no interest and have never looked at any of this stuff. The most obvious thing though, since the Musk take over, is that I see tweets from the Lord Muskiness himself. Everyday. Without fail. Pretty much every single thing he tweets ends up on my timeline. I don't follow him, I don't post about him, I don't read anything about him on Twitter. Why am I bombarded with his inane ramblings?

Did he buy Twitter purely to increase the audience for his nonsense?

Oh, and I'm seeing so much Piers Morgan. Why?!?!

[YetAnotherLocksmith]

> Did he buy Twitter purely to increase the audience for his nonsense?

Yes, he did. I also get his tripe appearing. Likewise other right wing idiots who are getting a boost, like dear* old* Piers.

Yes, they want to ban being "Woke" - that's literally banning anyone and everyone with empathy and freedom of though. That's who they are against. Believe them. It includes you.

*dickhead

[TheFifth]

I've pretty much moved 100% to Mastodon now. I only check in on Twitter from time to time out of morbid curiosity. On Mastodon I see people I follow and the things they've boosted (which are usually relevant to my interests). That's it. Nothing is being pushed at me. So far it has a nice early Internet feel, I wonder how long that will last?

[Arthur the cat]

Oh, and I'm seeing so much Piers Morgan. Why?!?!

Your previous incarnation must have been really bad.

[Me too. Piers Morgan appears to have become the monkeypox of Twitter. Probably because he's obsessed with Meghan Markle and the Netflix documentary is on so he's frothing a lot.]

[JDX]

Breakdown?

He's getting crazier by the day at an alarming rate. Used to be controversial but effective, now it's all going wrong and he seems to be spiralling. Everything bad is someone else's fault, people who don't like him are stupid, etc.