[polkapolka]

I give Musk a little bit more credit than brutely calling someone a pedo without any proof. If you are as rich as Musk, there must be someone you can pay to dig up dirt on your opponents. Now there may be more trouble in showing that proof than settling. 400k is nothing for Musk, but principles and hurt ego are priceless.

[danso]

Musk had repeatedly challenged reporters to “investigate” Vernon Unsworth, and they did. They found no criminal records in the UK or Thailand, no marriage records, and AFAIK, no record of Unsworth visiting or moving to Thailand in the timespan Musk describes. They did however find Unsworth’s girlfriend, who is in her 40s and had been posting about her relationship on social media for years, which would support Unsworth’s assertions that he had first visited Thailand in 2011.

If Musk is as good as a human as his devout fans think he is, he’ll put truth and his grand hopes for humanity over his ego, and give Unsworth — who let’s not forget, was essential to saving those boys’ lives — a proper apology and compensation.

[stochastic_monk]

I hope he does this not because he’s a good person but just because I want Tesla to succeed and I don’t want his stupidity to ruin its chances.

[watwut]

Maybe Tesla needs to fail in the market. After seeing how he behaves on twitter, I just cant imagine the chain of command in Tesla works effectively internally. With the leader so fragile in terms of ego, so easy to go ballistic and with seemingly no ethical limits on how he treats those who don't instantly bend to him.

He seems to care more about building personality cult around himself then about running business.

There are plenty of companies with toxic cultures, it is not like that would be unusual. But here, I just cant imagine people under Musk ever telling him he is wrong or telling him about problems. I would guess that his grasp of reality will be increasingly wrong. To a degree it is normal, of course, but here it seems to go really to extremes.

Electric cars will come with or without them.

[Fricken]

Many argue that you can't have Tesla without Musk, but I don't believe that's true. There is a paradox that can be observed over and over throughout history: great conquerors rarely make great managers. What Tesla needs now is a manager.

[JumpCrisscross]

> dig up dirt on your opponents

How does a man risking his life to save children halfway across the planet qualify as an opponent?

[tomovo]

He said Elon's rig was total shit.

[tedunangst]

Seems like a better response would be to prove your submarine is awesome than claim the detractor is a pedo. But I'm not the smartest man in the world.

[omegaworks]

It'll be interesting to see if Elon Musk, darling of startup entreprewannabes, gets a pass here.

I hope his followers understand the precedent this sets. Are they truly about engineering solutions to tough problems (as they claim they are), or are they just a cult of personality cultivated to protect a thin-skinned master?

[watwut]

People who are about engineering solutions to tough problems would worship an engineer that spends his time actually working on tough problems.

Elon Musk is business man. His actual occupation is organization, management, negotiation, finance and public relations.

[notfromhere]

He wasn't wrong, he just dared displease King Elon

[DoreenMichele]

I give Musk a little bit more credit than brutely calling someone a pedo without any proof.

Have you missed the multiple other shit storms here lately where he smoked a blunt on camera, said crap on Twitter he shouldn't be saying, cried in an interview while looking completely exhausted, etc?

He isn't exactly putting on a convincing performance as a trustworthy, stalwart, social conservative ("respectable business man") with all his ducks in a row.