Hacker News Reader

Comment by _heimdall | Hacker News Reader

You're confusing what is probable fact and what requires intent.

I don't know what Elon's intentions are and wouldn't begin to guess. There is a huge difference, though, in being able to say factually that someone was murdered or that the legal system of apartheid ended and saying why you believe someone made a certain gesture.

Anyone could raise their arm and accidentally make a motion similar to a Nazi salute, hell I wouldn't be surprised if you could find a few videos of John McCain making a similar gesture due to his shoulder injuries. Making that gesture doesn't make you a Nazi or it a Nazi salute, why you make that gesture is what decides that.

View on HN

Alright, the guy retweeting eugenics and antisemitic replacement theory content, cozying up to a German neo-nazi party with prominent holocaust denying members threw a gesture twice that is exactly the same in shape and context as the Hitler salute, but we better give him the benefit of the doubt. This is absolutely ridiculous.

Its not about giving benefit of the doubt.

Do you see no difference in assuming intent from a physical gesture and factually stating someone is dead or a sociopolitical system has been officially ended?

I think you're replying to the wrong comment. The one you replied to doesn't mention headlines, but points to public knowledge pertaining to the opinions of Musk. If you want more: his family moved to South Africa because they _agreed_ with apartheid, and Musk is part of an administration that is setting up a concentration camp in Cuba, and advocates for the ethnic cleansing of people.

If I knew literally nothing else about Elon Musk other than him being a rich guy backing Trump, and saw him do that arm gesture on stage, I would assume 100% he's a Nazi. But knowing also other things about him, like the fact he enjoys trolling people on Twitter, or the fact he's autistic and sometimes does awkward things, it makes it more likely he intended to do something other than a Nazi salute.

If he was a literal Nazi, don't you think he would have done or said something more incriminating by now? The dude is on twitter shitposting 24/7, surely he would have said something about gassing the jews or whatnot.

> There is a huge difference, though, in being able to say factually that someone was murdered or that the legal system of apartheid ended and saying why you believe someone made a certain gesture.

The poster said "Elon Musk does Hitler salute on stage" should have been the headline, because it's a Hitler salute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Zwiv8erk0

It does not require "intent" to be what it is, or call out those who write headlines pretending there is any doubt about what the gesture is.

> Anyone could raise their arm and accidentally make a motion similar to a Nazi salute

Only a Nazi can do it during the inauguration of a president who says he's above the law and acts the part, and then instead of apologizing for the mistake, post shit like "Bet you did nazi that coming", spamming the "crying with laughter emoji" like he loves to do.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com