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Comment by planetjones | Hacker News Reader

I supported Musk after he released his e-mail correspondence showing the dive team had requested he continue work with his submarine. I also think Musk genuinely tried to help solve a problem; maybe not with the greatest requirements gathering (though Musk is adamant the submarine would be able to reach the cave and is planning to demonstrate this). Some of the attacks on Musk were terrible and unnecessary.

However, he then sends this baseless tweet. And doubles down on it. It is juvenile, petty and disgraceful behavior. It would seem that everyone is deeply flawed in some way.

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> It would seem that everyone is deeply flawed in some way.

It would seem that Musk is deeply flawed in some way.

And so is everyone else. It's so obvious that we usually don't even about it, except when people need an occasional reminder that their favourite celebrities are human too.

Great power, great responsibility, etc. not everyone can unleash a torrent of pain just by tweeting.

People with such power should be held to much much higher standards. Or better yet, they shouldn't have it in the first place.

I think this story demonstrates the difference between quiet professionalism of people like Unsworth and narcistic void of Musk.

Quiet professionalism would've been "no comment about Musk. I'm happy the children are safe".

Well Unsworth had behind him many years of experience diving in these caves and had been instrumental to locating the children and the rescue operation.

Can't blame him for his outburst at Musk's PR stunt

Aren't outbursts at odds with quiet professionalism?

Lets not confuse quiet professionalism with submission and passivity.

That guy was coordinating large amount people in high stress situation. If he would allow everyone to walk on him, lie about him and would not be able with people full of BS, the whole operation would had likely failed.

Yea when someone in the public eye forgets the lessons they teach in kindergarten it’s always a little disappointing. I imagine he is mad at the guy, but I wish he would show a little less hubris.

Nobody is perfect. Hope he learns to apologize and be the bigger person because the benefits of that approach for those that are publicly adored cannot be overstated.

You know what, maybe the kindergarden analogy is quite apt. EM seems to have a childlike wonder, drive and openness, which is very powerful when combined with a high quality STEM education and intellect - maybe 'staying a child' comes with good and bad attitudes at the same time?

I'm now waiting on bezos answer, he must compete.

Jeff Who?

Twitter jabs are funny until the audience - or participants themselves - start to treat them too seriously. That's when the problem starts. I'm sad to see Elon falling into this trap.

I'm still thinking Musk is on a slippery slope, too many projects, too many claims, too much debt. I don't think social networks are the main factor here.

I agree social media is more of a symptom here. I've been worrying about that recently too. From what I see on-line, I feel like his behaviour has become pretty... erratic. He used to be more focused on solving big problems in the past. I worry he'll go completely off the rails at some point, and destroy all the efforts around space access and Mars.

I picture a very jobsian future. Ousted because of damaging management. Then a come back with more wisdom and turtlenecks.

It's unworthy and completely wrong reaction, but it is understandable given the diver's prior attacks on him. Not that it's an excuse.

Different people are held to different standards.

Even if insulted (and how insulting were these previous comments, really?) a random diver speaks for himself, a public figure heading and representing multiple big corporations should be able to keep his mouth shut instead.

Which prior attacks would that be?

He simply told Musk to go away and take his toys with him, before he hurt someone. Was he direct and a little bit rude? Sure, but the overall situation was quite tense, so there wasn't a lot of time for fine detail and detailed explanations.

This was after the rescue finished.

>Elon Musk can 'stick his submarine where it hurts', says British caver who helped rescue Thai schoolboys

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/thai-cave-resc...

I stand corrected. However, it was still justified.

How can it be unworthy and wrong... yet understandable?

It's understandable to be pissed off and call the other guy an asshole. This is totally fucked up and not at all understandable.

Musk is one of the most impressive entrepreneurs of our time. But he is also just human. Sometimes "totally fucked up" as you put it is the way we react, even when we shouldn't.

Musk could have chosen to ignore calls for help, but instead he exposed himself to the risk of failure. Then he was told his efforts were just PR and to "stick the submarine up where it hurts" by one of the now famous divers who currently speaks from a position not much less public than Musk's. Being told he had ulterior motives after repeatedly asking the person in charge of the rescue mission if they were sure they wanted his help (as the email shows), and after spending what is likely hundreds of thousands of dollars and days trying to help, is extremely disrespectful. I agree that he should have ignored it or simply rebuked it. But I understand he couldn't.

Can you imagine a response that doesn’t involve libel? How many people did Mark Zuckerberg call out as being pedos after his $100M attempt to save New Jersey schools flopped?

No, he is very likely going to be sued.

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