When you have millions of followers and billions of airtime on you, it's absolutely inexcusable to call a random guy a pedo.
When he did that my view of him went from a "fake it till you make it" type, to a dishonest and malicious person.
However, we all have our moments where we do dumb things. If you expect anyone to be perfect, you're in for a rude surprise. One has to look at the whole picture, and that incident was an anomaly.
I've noticed a tendency for people to jump on one thing someone says or does and try to ruin them over it and de-platform them, as if that one mistake defines their whole life. I think it's uncharitable, and hypocritical. I don't like that trend.
Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone. I'm not religious, but you have to admit, there's some wisdom in that. To be clear I'm not saying you can't criticize someone, especially a public figure, who does something wrong. I'm saying don't stone them to death over it - there's some proportionality missing in the response of the twitter mob.
> One has to look at the whole picture, and that incident was an anomaly.
My point is that this episode was not an anomaly. There are dozens of examples, where Elon personally tries to "take revenge" on whistleblowers, critics, and journalists.
E.g. Elon called and threatened the boss of the (at the time) anonymous critic Montana Skeptic. He was going through the facebook history of journalist Linnette Lopez and taking screengrabs that he shared on Twitter to defame her. His lawsuit against whistle-blower Skabooshka is currently ongoing.
"our moments"? Didn't he double down on it? Didn't he offer someone a bet, that it would eventually be discovered that the could was a pedophile?
It's in "these moments" that you can peer inside a person's mind. In normal times, anyone can put up a facade.
When I say "what do you mean by 'I'm discounting'?", is "What do you mean when you say that I'm regarding a possibility as being unworthy of consideration?" What possibility are you referring to that I'm regarding as being unworthy of consideration?
It is also not OK in general to accuse people of being a pedophile! Not sure why that is controversial.
There are lots of examples of important artists, politicians, scientists, etc, who were total jerks and dirtbags. I think it is fine to recognize them for their talents and achievements but also call out their faults too. It isn't mutually exclusive.
Just don't see how it "breaks the camels back" or in anyway discounts his incredible achievements, any more than Jobs being an asshole to some of his employees makes the iPhone less of a world-changing invention.
The comment from Musk was inexcusable but it didn't come out of nowhere. Elon Musk offered help and Mr Unsworth decided not to use it. In a TV interview, he further labelled it a "PR stunt" and suggested that Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts". That led Musk to respond with the "Pedo guy" comment. Yes, that comment was totally inexcusable and uncalled for but it didn't come out vaccum.