No Stupid Questions

If he had rehearsed his script, everyone would've pointed out the issue

Have you actually watched it? It was clearly a fascists/nazi salute. People who say otherwise simply don't want to admit it.

If he did it once, it would have been an extremely low but still non-zero chance that it wasn't a Nazi salute.

He did it twice though, it's now firmly a 0% chance of any kind of coincidence, misunderstanding, etc.

Thus far he's made no comment, not even to deny the Nazi intent.
No apology, no backtrack, no denial, he did it twice.
It was exactly what it appeared to be and nothing less.

I don't think they are nazis, I think they are fascists. And I don't think they even think of themselves as fascists, I think they just think power sets the rules and that a lot of people on the left's attempts at 'fairness' are dumb, and (they think) 'well if you want to call that 'fascism' then you're an overreacting bitter delusional leftie'

Or something like that

I suspect he did it to take the piss. And to signal to elements of the right / far right that they should breathe a little more freely

Same way his government department is "doge". Same way he named Tesla's products "S.E.X.Y". Many many things he does are bait.

But do I think musk stands for what the Nazis did? No. And I think he, and his type, enjoy thinking it's "ridiculous" that anyone thinks that. "Obviously" he doesn't want to gas the Jews. "Obviously" he doesn't think all black people should be lynched.

But I do think he thinks it's ok trans people are made to fear. That sub cultures are made to feel unwelcome. That non-'wasp' lives are ruined whenever convenient. That checks and balances in government are as changeable as the furniture.

I think he thinks industry should serve a grand national vision.

I don't think he gives a shit what that vision is as long as it involves him getting even more stupid wealthy

So this pretty much sums up fascism. He's a fascist not a nazi..

Watch it again. It seems there is a split second hesitation before the first salute. Followed by a "let's just get that done full force" move. Kinda like people that are about to do a stunt the first time. One last "are we really going to try that?". It kinda implies intent and also that there is some sanity left there to make these decisions. Which gives me hope it's just Putin having a video of him and he is acting under duress. So definitively an intentional Nazi salute. Should try that in Germany and see how fast he gets arrested for that shit.

No. In my opinion.

He has demonstrated a propensity for political action up to and including world changing meddling in democracies.

His person demands enough yearly salary from Tesla to cure cancer.

He cites history and in my recollection claims no ignorance of history.

It may be technically possible that it was a faux pas, but it is not feasibly a faux pas and is inexcusable even if it was one.

He did the Nazi salute twice, intentionally.

He said "my heart goes out to you" because of plausible deniability. He was giving his followers an argument to deny that he did it intentionally, both to themselves and others.

He has not directly denied it nor apologized for it.

European leaders are acknowledging it for what it is. Neo-Nazis are acknowledging it for what it is, and they loved it.

People who are sincerely on the fence about this, admitted they actually exist, need to wake the fuck up.

He has been a public figure for over a decade and has a dedicated PR team. He knew exactly what he was doing. I have autism, I know what it is like, there is no chance I would ever do this.

A detail of note is that he denies having autism and prefers the term aspbergers which is not recognized by the DSM-5. This is interesting begans Hans Aspberger was an ardent eugenicist with nazi ties. Elon Musk is a fascist and has been for a long time.

I'm autistic too. I've fucked up socially A LOT but never in a "whoops, I just Nazi saluted" kind of way.

I mean, considering the fact that it's been days and he hasn't recanted and that he has a history of supporting far right parties like the AfD, no

Where was the apology?

There was none.

He knew what he did.

No.

The only way his autism is related is if he overestimated how funny it would be. But he 100% meant to do a Nazi salute. Twice, and then repeated a dog whistle to the 14-words.

If it was an honest mistake he would've apologized.

Musk is playing agent provocateur. He knows exactly who is offending. He knows how he will deny it and planted seeds of doubt to make his case. It's a show of might. Elon gets off on the fact that he knows what his extreme wealth allows him to get away with but is offended at the same time that anyone might question his absolute power. In classic fascist fashion he will now insist himself, an extremely powerful and wealthy person immune to any law of any nation, is the victim here.

This type of behavior erodes at any good will people might like to inject into the political environment and keeps every one fighting each other rather then the obvious source of all the vitriol.

Honesty here. The autistic argument is really offensive to people with autism, I asked a friend with high functioning autism about his opinion. It mistreats the condition to transform it into a political scapegoat. It misrepresents what autism is. Elon is not autistic, he's is just a narcissist and always high on ketamine. I've met dozens of autistic persons, and not even once has anyone ever done the Nazi salute on accident, not even on highly euphoric social events. To suggest the autistic apology makes the person mentioning it sound awfully ableist and like an asshole. I suggest you don't ever mention it out loud to anyone ever again. It's insidious and dehumanizing against people with cognitive issues.

It's not an autism thing. The people saying that are deflecting. Autistic people don't throw practiced Hitler salutes as a stim.

No.

I can imagine him practicing in the mirror for hours to get exactly the right arm motion for a Nazi salute that is imperfect by just enough that some people will contemplate the possibility that it wasn't one.

Absolutely zero. The man is an out and proud Nazi who has openly said and supported anti-semitic shit on his Twitter. If any accident occurred, it is that he accidentally did it out loud and on camera, instead of the privacy of his own home.

You are also very correct, we are going through the opening beats that Nazi Germany went through. Klan members are sending out flyers in Kentucky, ICE agents are threatening to raid Democrat cities, and "deportation facilities" are being planned for construction in Texas. We have passed all the warning signs; it is happening here now.

Yes, it's possible, but he's a spoiled right wing idiot edge lord, so I'd take it at face value.

The main issue is that his heil combined with his previously expressed opinions and actions removes all doubt