Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla (TSLA), is not afraid to meddle in all subjects.
Sometimes he even gives the impression of seeking to intervene in the most burning issues, those which divide society and often call for close attention to the facts presented and to be wary of possible misinformation.
The serial entrepreneur is intent on building the image of a maverick, of a man close to the people whose positions need to be taken seriously.
Almost no subject seems to be a taboo to him. He has made the culture war one of his fights. His objective is to defeat the "woke mind virus" which, according to him, is destroying our civilization.
By this "woke mind virus," Musk means progressive values or those of change which, according to conservatives, threaten traditional values. They thus accuse - Musk constantly repeats this - the "woke mind virus" of cancel culture. In other words, progressives are intolerant and want to erase all those who do not share their values of change, such as gender equality, gender identity, the rejection of discrimination and racism.
Black People Are a 'Hate Group'
It is in this context that Musk has just taken a position on the very sensitive issue of racism. He feels that the media has become racist towards White and Asian people, suggesting that there is a pro-Black and Latino bias in the media. Basically, the new racism is against Whites and Asians.
Musk made his position clear after a user pointed out to him that Scott Adams, the creator of the classic comic strip "Dilbert', was dumped by various newspapers after a racist rant about Black people.
In a new episode of his podcast airing Feb. 22, Adams cited a Rasmussen poll saying that 26% of Black people disagree with the phrase "It's okay to be White," while 21% of Black people were "unsure." This means that 53% of Black people surveyed agreed with this sentence. But Adams draws the conclusion that 47% of Black people disagree with this sentence, which sends him into a racist tirade. He deduced that Black people in general are a "hate group" and urged White people to "get away" from them.
"I've been identifying as Black for a while now," Adams said. "I like to help and I always thought, well, if you help the Black community, that's sort of the biggest lever, you know, you can find the biggest benefit. So I thought, well, that's the hardest thing and the biggest benefit. So I like to focus a lot of my life resources and helping Black Americans so much so that I started identifying as Black to just be on the team. I was hoping, but turns out that nearly half of that team doesn't think I'm okay to be White."
He continued: "But as of today, I'm going to re-identify as White because I don't want to be a member of [...] a hate group. So if you have nearly half of all Blacks are not okay with White people, according to this poll, not according to me, according to this poll. That's a hate group."
"The best advice I would give to White people is to get the hell away from Black people. Just get the fuck away, wherever you have to go. Just get away. Because there's no fixing this. This can't be fixed. Right? This can't be fixed. You just have to escape."
'They Are Racist Against Whites & Asians'
The fact that many media outlets have severed their working relationship with Adams has offended some Twitter users who have not failed to express their displeasure.
"Adams was horrified that a poll of black people showed only half believe 'it's OK to be white.' He called this hate and recommended white people live far away from blacks. MSM verdict: Adams is a racist, but not the 20 million black people who think it's not OK to be white," a Twitter user posted on Feb. 25.
It is interesting to observe that the number went from 47% of Black people disagreeing to "half" of Black people. MSM stands for mainstream media. It should also be noted that 21% of Black responders were "unsure” instead of disagreeing with the statement. The statement itself is highly ambiguous as "to be White” could be interpreted in various ways, from being of the White race to demonstrating specific behaviors of White people towards other races.
Musk, who is familiar with racial issues because he was born and raised in South Africa at the time of the racist Apartheid regime, did not miss the opportunity to comment and concluded that the media has become racist towards White people. He thus seems to suggest that Adams is now the victim of the new media racism.
"The media is racist," the billionaire reacted, before adding another tweet.
"For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians," Musk continued. "Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist."
"Adams' comments weren't good. But there's an element of truth to this...it's complicated. Mainly we've leaned into identity with predictable results, and power today is complicated. We were on the right path with colorblindness and need to return to it," a Twitter user commented.
"Exactly," the billionaire reacted.
There is one fact that Musk is right about: racism against Asian people has been on the rise for three years. A national survey by AAPI Data and Momentive found that anti-Asian hate crimes have increased since the start of the pandemic: 1 in 6 Asian American adults reported experiencing a hate crime in 2021, up from 1 in 8 in 2020.
The 2022 STAATUS Index shows that 1 in 5 Americans believe that Asian Americans are at least partly responsible for covid-19, compared to 1 in 10 last year.
