I think Musk's abuse should be seen in a larger context. Not as an excuse, rather as an explanation. He takes on seeming impossible missions and is then ruthless in achieving them. Anything that gets in the way has to go, from employees to institutions.
You can debate whether these methods are required to achieve the results or not, I wouldn't know the answer to that. But I do believe he's not intentionally abusive like some evil villain.
He's autistic. His mind doesn't work like the mind of most of us. He cuts straight through politics and social rituals and doesn't read them or comply with them like the rest of us. You could say he's not good at people things, and perhaps that's why he overachieves.
Please look into the history of his companies, Musk is first and foremost a financier who among other things purchases the "Founder" title when buying companies.
The chief of the UN food program, so most definitely not the EU, claimed that 2% of Musk's wealth would solve world hunger.
Musk invites them to do the math, and would agree to provide such funds if the claim were to be true.
They couldn't produce a sane plan. Instead the idea was to give 40 million people free money, for one year. Which is great, but it's not a sustainable approach or way to "solve world hunger".
So the UN was bluffing and the bluff was called. Musk did not bluff as immediately after, he donated 5.7B of his wealth to an undisclosed charity (on record with the SEC).
I guess this shows the power of narratives. Musk is a rogue character but if there ever was a technical or economical way to solve world hunger, I'd put my money on Musk.
The actual tweets, UN claim, and donation are in the open: https://fortune.com/2022/02/15/elon-musk-5-7-billion-donatio...
"Have to"? You don't "have" to defend Elon Musk at all, and maybe you should ask yourself what compels you to do something that makes you feel silly. I mean, you do recognize that what you're doing here, defending the reputation of a billionaire, on some level is very silly. He certainly doesn't need your help, so why do you do it?
The UN was virtue signaling and playing the greedy billionaire card to guilt trip Musk into being responsible for not solving world hunger, whilst he easily could.
The UN claim was an incompetent bluff, that was called. Hollow words and zero substance. Meanwhile, Musk donated 5.7B.
So yes, when somebody is doing something good for the world, billionaire or not, that truth has to prevail. Same for when said billionaire does something bad.
If you think I'm being naive or blind please feel free to explain me how. I'm almost eager to have my mind changed.
Musk is paying $44B, 176 times more.
Seems different.