Elon Musk is one of the modern marvels of the Western World. His firm SpaceX runs about half of all satellites orbitting the Earth. His firm Tesla has sold over a million electric vehicles—50% more than its closest rival. His Boring Company builds tunnels that route auto-traffic under urban areas like Las Vegas.
More than just about anyone, Musk embodies the philosophy and workings of the capitalist system. His brain churns with technical inventiveness, manufacturing processes, and he joins with venture- capitalists to help him finance the resulting companies. The venture-captitalists receive payment in the form of shares of stock, making them co-owners of those new companies.
Musk himself functions as a venture-capitalist to other people's projects. He embodies the ideal of the freedom-loving society—especially as an immigrant—personifying the enduring allure of the American Dream to the poor and unfree in the World, who want of come to America and start their own businesses. If Musk can do it, then maybe they can become wealthy, too, if they let go of the personal baggage of their previous life.
Facebook critics of Elon Musk complain that he does not work much but accumulates his wealth by exploiting his workers and by hoarding his profits. Musk has tried to dispel such trash-talking, by assuring the public that he works long hours. Knowing what I know about starting a new business, you don't just work a lot. Quite the contrary: you don't have to worry about sleeping too long. Running a business will keep you awake long after your workers have gone to bed. Not very many can stand the discipline and solitude of it.
But the way bloggers on Facebook look at Musk, he is hardly better than a criminal. How can they say that if Musk's Tesla firm employs 127,855 workers and if his SpaceX employs another 13,000. Where will skilled workers find work, if not at Tesla, at Musk's other companies, or at firms backed by venture capital? If Musk had not created the firms, none of the thousands of engineering students would have found work—especially in such cutting-edge firms. I cannot discern a motive for the bloggers' disdain, except envy and resentment.
The disdain reaches beyond simple loathing for Capitalism or Entrepreneurism. Just the thought of "Alpha Males" touches off such hostility in Feminist bloggers on Facebook. They group Musk and other entrepreneurs along with drug-lords and Russian oligarchs. A Facebook blog Political Atheist, for example, supports "the downfall of empires."
None of this trash-talking is new, by the way. These wealth-hating, alpha-male enemies have quite a history. You need look no further than the Nazi era. Although described as right-wing extremists, the Nazis made no secret of their loathing for Capitalism. They employed similar motifs, like the money-hoarder sitting on his huge sack of cash. Like the contemporary hate-mail posted on Facebook, the Nazis defamed and demonized an entire race of people. The bloggers must understand their campaign in this light.
