Elon Musk publicly mocks Twitter worker with disability | Hacker News Reader

Elon Musk publicly mocks Twitter worker with disability

cnn.com

26 pointstwiddling14 comments

FYI: Elon did finally work out he was making a mistake: [1] [2]

[1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1633240643727138824 [2] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1633253950198624257

well that makes it better

He hasn't figured out this word 'hubris' though. His ego could do with remaining out of facts, as it only shows a window into the size of a cunt he really is, and nothing more.

> 'hubris'

The Icarus moment will come. Whether it is failure in life or regret upon his death bed (he has already alienated one child).

> window into the size of a cunt he really is

One might need gravitational lensing to appreciate the size.

There are lots of fans here who think people are only dunking on Elon out of spite or malice, not because he's actually a dick.

Note that he tried to deflect the blame:

> It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful

That’s a cop-out, not a redemption…

Baffles me that he didn't just say at the start: "Sorry - I've found your email now and will reply." Instead he can't suppress the urge to try and embarrass anyone who doesn't bow to him.

I know it fits Twitter and the outrage cycle, but this idea that everything needs to be combative is so silly. The employee contacted HR and tried privately contacting Musk. Pretty reasonable behaviour, surely?

I wonder why he is treating only Twitter employees like this and not Tesla or SpaceX. Is he treating Twitter just as his toy? Or I wonder if the media just doesn't care to cover Tesla or SpaceX

Its possible the treatment is the same but employment contracts sufficiently tie hands for it not to leak out of his other companies.

What was the “mocking” part? “Pics, or didn’t happen”?

Ps: I’m no native speaker and I don’t use Twitter. So I’m not sure about the tone and the behaviors here. That’s why my asking. For me, it doesn’t sound like mocking but disbelieve (but who knows )

The context of the conversation was "Hey, am I fired? Neither HR nor my management chain are responding to my emails."

A good answer would be "Check your email, HR has responded to you."

Instead, this guy got:

- asked to describe what his role was (not needed to answer the question)

- when he described his role, 2 "rolling on the floor laughing" emojis

- an Office Space meme, the context of which is useless employees

- an accusation that he was a malingerer feigning a disability to slack off

In the middle of this, Elon tweeted a meme about not being able to feel his legs. Coincidentally, the fellow who he is conversing with is wheelchair-bound and does not have the use of his legs.

He also, of course, got Musk's personal army ripping into him.

The ROFL emojis, Office Space meme and can't-feel-my-legs meme all count as mocking for me.

Got it. The article didn’t go into such details, only mentioned “Pic, or it didn’t happen” part, thus my question.

PS: I’d say the article was poorly written, but now I wonder why it’s flagged? It seems HN users nowadays are ways more hot-tempered than in the past.

The flags, I think lots of folks are just tired of all of Musk's drama.

Context is extremely important, a private conversation allow for language and nuance that a public tweet does not. Also the position of Elon not only as his boss but also as a incredibly visible public figure.

Language wise, it was mocking from the start, the lack of professionalism in a conversation with an employee is out of place for a person in any management capacity but might not from close colleagues.

There is so much wrong in Elons response and tone that is hard to articulate without writing multiple paragraphs to cover it all.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com