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Comment by nvln | Hacker News Reader

Over the past couple of months, I have developed a slightly generous take on twitter and Elon:

- Being forced into buying twitter has pushed the company / him into absolute survival mode

- Instinctive paranoia kicks in when you are in that mode to keep you on your toes

- When you have seen outsized success and have a sycophant army, but no deep friendship, the paranoia brings in a me against the world mindset

- All the people you alienate as a result of your paranoid action gang up, further affirming your paranoia.

- The vicious cycle continues

This lens explains most of his actions and has softened my view of Elon as a CEO trying his very best to keep the company afloat.

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Some would say slightly naive take, really.

- He wasn't forced into buying Twitter. He said he would, signed a contract that said he would, collected the money and said he would, then when attempting to back down while lying about just as well as a middle schooler justifying why he hasn't done his homework, was made to hold to his contract.

- He put himself in that situation.

- His sycophant army is his own doing. He has never, ever tolerated dissent, neither in his companies or in public. See: calling people pedophiles when told a sub is a shit idea, or his behavior known throughout Tesla, SpaceX and others. When the only way to stay in his companies is to be a yes man, don't be surprised when all you have are bootlickers.

- It's not as a result of paranoid action, it's as a result of Musk being a downright cunt.

This lens fails to see that Musk is doing so for a single reason: for the first time in his life of a billionaire, he's being held accountable and can't weasel his way out of trouble or into a cofounder position. Ain't life a bitch.

I have always thought he considered twitter as UI for Starlink. Once the network is pervasive subscribe to twitter and your on the Starlink network and all it services. The way the purchase happened I think looks like one realized the timing wasn't right for the V2 satellites and tried to manage the cashflow.

That's a super interesting take.

Paranoia or not, there is absolutely no justification for amplifying people like Kanye "I see good things about Hitler" West.

Absolutely not. It's just a lens that I found recently and thought it was interesting enough to share in this context. Not trying to justify or soften the actions or consequences.

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