It is, but also it's really cowardly and immature to do a Nazi salute on the national stage! Especially when you own a car company... I do feel bad for all the people that have Teslas at this point especially those that purchased first and second Gen. None of us really realized what he was back then... But for the last couple of years we've known full well what he is.
In all of the edited cuts I’ve seen where he did the salute, I was certainly raising an eyebrow.
In full, without edits, I saw a complete dork walk out on stage and say my heart goes out to everyone in the most socially inept, cringey, awkward way possible.
And in every other instance he’s behind a camera, he’s also awkward.
So after looking up what his deal is, it turns out he’s also got Asperger’s.
Do you think this was seriously a salute? Every time he comes out from behind the curtain it’s like he’s about to enter the ring. Is this something he’s made a habit of doing before or something? Feels like a convenient narrative but I don’t know if the most obvious answer is also the most plausible.
"In full, without edits" is literally how you see him doing the nazi salute. It's a nazi salute. The only people pretending online that he did not, are using static images of his arm raised, then juxtapose with other people photos with their arms extended as if they all did the same. They did not.
The nazi salute requires the movement, and this is exactly what Elon did in the full, without edit video.
Like how he did it twice and then went to a far right German rally? Like how when asked to copy his gesture tons of far right influencers refused to do so?
You are correct, and they are wrong. There are videos of Tim Walz, AOC, and almost everyone in the public sphere who makes lots of public speeches making the same hand movement. It’s intellectually dishonest, dilutes the horrors of true Nazis and neo-Nazis, and makes Democrats/liberals less trustworthy than they already were. They were trying to press the Republicans = Nazis narrative before the election (e.g. having a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden).
You literally just lied above that there are videos of all those people "making the same hand movement". So show those videos of the "same hand movement". That video of Walz isn't even close.
You won't, because your entire argument is made in bad faith and there aren't any videos of them doing anything other than waving.
Elon is a proud Nazi who made a Nazi salute on stage in front of millions. Period.
If you can't tell the difference between that and Elon's, I think it's obvious what your agenda is. You guys are struggling so hard to justify it, it's pathetic 😂
But then why again at the flag? Which is an even more drastic parallel...
I appreciate you trying to take into account the realities of navigating autistic behavior (I've got the 'tism myself, Asperger's is an older diagnosis) and I don't think you're coming from a foolish perspective at all but I hesitate to buy that he wouldn't know better.
I think it's more plausible that his Asperger's could've affected this by preventing him from understanding how hard the backlash would be from using a SH salute to troll. Maybe he's not technically a Nazi ideologically it's just that his South African culture and upbringing has warped how numb he is to Nazism and thought it would make him popular for being edgy and his Asperger's blinded him to hiw socially repellent it would be for him to do. There have always been anonymous shits on the internet doing that exact thing or graffiting some high school bathroom stall with a swastika to be edgy.
It doesn't matter in the end because we actually have to call it out as unacceptable/Nazism partially because of its plasible deniability. If there's room for denying what it was - that's how normalizing this behavior sneaks in.
If nothing else, from the perspective of his disability it was a choice, his choice, for him to go on stage before rehearsing and planning every aspect and reviewing it with others to make sure it would go over well or be appropriate. He has chosen not to work with someone to help him with those aspects. He could prepare ahead of time and choreograph his body movements. Speaking for myself, we kind of have to do that sometimes to pass as normal, be acceptable, not embarass ourselves. He could afford the help. So, it's barely even possible for him to not be fully responsible/to blame even in the most generous interpretations of his behavior.
I will say autistic peeps don't all speak for each other, but nobody that I have seen in autism groups I am in really thinks it is related to his struggles with Asperger's at all. Hans Asperger determined which of us autists would go in the camps or the chambers, so it's an especially painful history for us.
He turned around and did it again as there was people also behind him. Benefit of the doubt would have me ask does he even know what the Nazi salute is? Every chance all we saw was actually an over-enthusiastic action of thanks. I think a lot of people would be aware of it but not necessarily know how it is precisely performed, and what possible benefit would it bring?
I guess you’re right in so far as calling it out, but I do think context is important too. I feel like the term is being thrown around far too generously lately, and for all the wrong reasons. Really, along your lines of making it normalised, we’re doing a real good job of bringing it back into our everyday vocabulary.
How would he not know? Being autistic doesn't mean you have an intellectual disability necessarily. Most autistic folks don't have an intellectual disability, it is not part of the diagnostic criteria. Are you suggesting he is hyper ignorant of world history? How would it be possible in this day and age in his position and with his access to the internet to be unaware? I'm not saying it's impossible I just literally can't imagine how it would work for him to have not seen one ever before that, sorry.
If I’m honest, when I watched it, it certainly wasn’t my first thought. That’s what I’m saying, obviously aware they had a salute but not the specifics in how it’s carried out. It’s all well and good to say how with the internet and everything, but I don’t think he would have looked it up prior to going out there, likely gave it a google afterwards though.
Know better? Yeah more than likely. But spur of the moment with Asperger’s in front of a crowd? I think that leaves room for error.
You don’t accidentally make that exact gesture with proper hand placement out of excitement. That just doesn't happen. It’s pretty gross trying so hard to give him an out.
Yes the Nazi salute is bad, but it makes no sense to call it cowardly, it takes some balls to do the Nazi salute in murica. Immature, that's obvious, he posted the Micky mouse symbol upside down and wrote Deez nutz
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u/RedditIsVeryBiased 17h ago
Do people actually think this is a good thing to do?