How stupid smart people can be seen by Musk

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla electric car company, has been making ugly appearances frequently since he acquired the social media Twitter and became its new boss. His phenomenon can be viewed from various angles of politics, economy, philosophy, and literature Come to observe and appreciate.

In many senses, Musk is an allegory, a symbol, a drama, and a joke. It is the best negative teaching material. Becoming a little more sober can also serve as a warning for adults and minors to reflect on themselves and society, and then truly realize that even if a person is originally smart, he can become stupid overnight because of arrogance.

Of course, the above-mentioned so-called becoming stupid overnight is an exaggerated and generalized statement. People can quite safely believe that Musk's stupidity did not grow overnight like a mushroom, but had signs, development, and finally a big explosion and big exposure. In fact, mushrooms that seem to appear overnight have to go through a germination process that is invisible to ordinary people's eyes for more than one night before they appear.

Following the analogy of mushrooms, one can roughly say that Marx's stupidity was exposed in a process, and his friends, colleagues, and parents must have known about the development process. However, due to various reasons, they did not give him enough reminders and lessons, or he was born with a lack of brains and could not listen to wise opinions (this kind of person is actually not uncommon), which led to his stupid signs not only disappearing for many years Instead of degenerating, it thrived and eventually developed into a $44 billion international joke.

So far, Musk has exposed too many stupid faces, and there are too many angles to observe and appreciate. If I write them one by one, I am afraid that it will take the length of "War and Peace" or at least half of it. This article will present what I think are the funniest or most glaring Musk stupidities/stupidities in the form of a list with minimal explanation. Of course, others can make another list, or add to the list here.

In the meantime, I'd really like to see what Musk's fans/worshippers can say right now so that we have reason to believe that Musk isn't a full-fledged idiot. If there are such Musk fans, this article can be regarded as an inspiring work. In fact, it is another way to highlight and demonstrate Musk's greatness and wisdom.

A list with as simple an explanation as possible follows.

1. Make decisions with brains, ignorant and fearless

Although social media Twitter is well-known and has many users, including many celebrities and famous media reporters, it has not been able to find a better profit for many years because it has not been able to find its own clear positioning and development direction in the competitive social media industry. As a result, it is in a state of barely maintaining, and it is losing money all the year round.

Therefore, Musk, who likes to be smart and show off, aggressively expressed his willingness to pay a high price to acquire Twitter in April 2022, and took it to a new level. Musk's bid is seen by technology industry mergers and acquisitions professionals as clearly overpriced. The ultra-high purchase price he proposed was obviously a decision to slap his head or his ass, and he didn't do much homework before calling the price.

Although the old Twitter team hated Musk, they couldn't stand Musk's high-priced attack, so they agreed to sell Twitter. The situation is like you have an investment house worth less than 200,000 US dollars and the price is still falling, but just when you are worried about losing money, a self-esteemed fool comes and is willing to bid 300,000, 400,000 or even 500,000 to buy it. You have no reason to block (difficult to withstand) the attack of the acquirer, even if you hate the acquirer.

2. Make a high price in a hurry and regret it

Making a head/ass decision almost always ends in regret. Obviously, this rule that applies to ordinary people also applies to Musk, the second richest man in the world today.

After Twitter's old team agreed to Musk's request for a high-priced acquisition and the two parties signed a preliminary agreement, Musk soon regretted it. In the eyes of many serious analysts, rather than roguish ones, Musk's acquisition of Twitter is one of the worst cases of overpaying in the history of an American technology merger.

Seeing that things were not going well, Musk used various tactics (including claiming that there were too many fake accounts on Twitter that were not worthy of the name) to try to tear up the acquisition agreement and get rid of himself. However, the old Twitter team is neither vegetarian nor joking with him. As a result, Musk fought the lawsuit desperately, and after several months of fighting, he failed to solve himself.

3. Taking Tweets Without Due Diligence

Musk was trapped in the cover he made himself, but he couldn't escape, and finally had to buy Twitter, which in itself is a shameful and stupid performance. But before this huge acquisition (US$44 billion is not a small pocket money for the world's richest man) was finalized, Musk actually completed the acquisition without going through the usual due diligence procedures before the acquisition of large projects. This can be said Another act of stupidity.

What the business world calls due diligence is roughly equivalent to buying a house in the U.S. Buyers have someone come in and check the house inside and out before they finally decide to buy it, so they can be sure that there are no major faults enough to mitigate damages. Or greatly detract from its value, such as roof leaks that need to be replaced, underground sewer pipes that are damaged require digging trenches to install new pipes. Fixing such a problem costs a lot of money, and the buyer can ask the seller to lower the selling price or provide other compensation, or the deal can fall through.

Musk taking over Twitter with such abandonment of due diligence is bold and generous, but in the eyes of reasonable people, it is unquestionably stupid. Musk’s abandonment of due diligence is also likely because he is worried that the result of due diligence will make him unable to find any reason to withdraw from the acquisition agreement, so he will appear to be doubly stupid. But no matter what the situation is, he will show his stupidity in front of the world.

4. Arbitrary large-scale layoffs, self-disruption

After Musk took over Twitter, he not only immediately dismissed the original top executives, but also laid off ordinary employees and some middle-level executives on a large scale, with a reduction rate of more than 50%. There are also many employees and supervisors who left on their own because they were unwilling to endure his bullying and insulting.

The impatient mass layoffs are obviously also a decision to slap the head or the ass, and the resulting effect of shooting a stone at one's own feet appears immediately-many of the retrenched employees are preparing or have filed lawsuits alleging that he violated the dismissal The law that people must be notified in advance; some laid-off employees did irreplaceable jobs, and Twitter, which is owned by Musk, had to bring those people back.

The final outcome of the legal troubles (and subsequent financial troubles/money losses) caused by Musk's wanton layoffs is still unknown, but the business conditions and prospects of Musk's Twitter are worse than the acquisition due to the mass layoffs. It was worse and much worse before, and the fact that many functions were not functioning properly was clear and undisputed.

For example, when Twitter encountered a controversial issue before, Twitter will have professionals responsible for external communication and provide a set of explanations that can dispel confusion or at least justify itself. Now those people are basically all kicked out, and when any controversial incident occurs, Musk speaks out in person (he also likes to show off). But Musk is not a public relations professional, so his rhetoric is often self-righteous and clever, seemingly sharp or playful, but full of loopholes, inconsistencies, and inconsistencies, making him the laughing stock of the world.

5. Slap yourself in the face and ask for bad luck

If there is any value created after Musk took over Twitter, its value is entertainment value. In this troubled world, he has become a world news figure with comedy and farce, and his farce is staged almost every day.

Fortunately and unfortunately, this entertainment value is inversely proportional to Twitter's economic value as a business. Musk has now admitted that he has lost a lot of money since taking over Twitter, and he almost wants to accompany his underwear.

Musk's own statement is: "you have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May / (you want to take over Twitter), you have to invest your life savings in Twitter , has been on the fast track to bankruptcy since May (2022)."

It's not clear whether Musk has understood that it was he who put him or his acquired Twitter on the fast track to bankruptcy and continued to accelerate.

6. Do whatever you want, buy and sell yourself

During the process of acquiring Twitter, Musk stated that he was dissatisfied with Twitter's control of speech and hindering freedom of expression. He wanted to make major changes because he is a free speech absolutist (a free speech absolutist) and he would not be like him. Restricting freedom of speech as Twitter did before the takeover.

Since taking over Twitter, he has unblocked racist and far-right conspiracy theorists, causing Twitter to scare away many advertisers and many famous brand manufacturers who cherish feathers. Those manufacturers worry that their commercial advertisements will be mixed with the profanity that is flooding Twitter, which will affect their reputation and business.

Since Musk acquired Twitter, the advertising revenue that Twitter depends on has dropped sharply, and its revenue has plummeted accordingly. Musk had to speed up vomiting blood to support Twitter. His crazy nonsense on Twitter also made investors doubt his judgment and wisdom as Tesla CEO, thus threatening the value of Tesla.

7. Go back and forth like a hooligan (1)

On the other hand, Twitter or Musk also banned some American mainstream media reporters for inexplicable reasons. The most outrageous and the funniest of these is that apparently Musk himself ordered the banning of a Washington Post reporter just because the reporter sent him a letter saying that she and a colleague got some information and wanted to share it with him and discuss it seriously , and hopefully the resulting news reports are correct.

Musk later said that the Washington Post reporter (Taylor Lorenz) was banned because she maliciously exposed his personal information, but he did not mention the evidence, and apparently could not produce evidence. His behavior of playing hooligans openly and recklessly can be described as unsightly.

Musk or Twitter under the control of Musk also banned a group of mainstream media reporters on the grounds of maliciously exposing his personal information, just because those people reported that Musk arbitrarily exposed his personal information to users on the grounds of unwarranted malicious disclosure. forbidden behavior.

8. Go back and forth like a hooligan (2)

Musk has publicly stated many times earlier that Twitter under his control will have a greater scale of freedom of speech, and will never ban users at will. He also made it clear that he would also not mute the Twitter sub-account on which Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old Florida college student who displeased him, tweeted about his private jet's whereabouts.

However, after Musk took charge of Twitter, Sweeney's own account was canceled together with his account showing the whereabouts of Musk's private jet. Musk's reason was that Sweeney released his real-time whereabouts information to give him and his family create a personal safety hazard. Twitter also updated its user usage rules for this

Musk’s rogue behavior of modifying or creating his own rules in order to make it easier for him to go back and forth and play hooligans has become a target of criticism and a topic of jokes by the media and the public.

9. Bullies, low-level villains

In order to make it easier for him to go back on his word, he created his own rules to block Sweeney (and a group of mainstream media reporters) on Twitter. Legal action, thus revealing the appearance of a low-level villain.

Legally speaking, it is not illegal for Sweeney to show the whereabouts of Musk's private jet through Twitter and other social media, and his information sources are public and legal. Musk’s threat to a 20-year-old college student as the world’s second richest man is despicable in every sense, and belongs to the despicable level of low-level villains.

Just how despicable is Musk's threat? A law professor in the United States explained this issue in a very entertaining and low-key way. The professor said that from a legal point of view, it is unreasonable for Musk to sue the college student Sweeney, and there is not much chance of winning; but it does not mean that he will not sue you, because even if You win the lawsuit, and you may win a tragic victory, because you have to vomit blood and spend a lot of money in the lawsuit, and the rich can threaten and bully the poor in this way.

The law professor is a language artist who is as good as he can be. He seemed to be stating a simple fact. But the public will naturally think of Musk from this simple fact as a rogue rogue who is bullied by the super rich and threatens a young college student and his family.

In the modern world as well as in the ancient world, in every country and culture, a bully is a stink to the masses. Musk has extraordinary skills and made himself a stinky, stinking person in one fell swoop. This stench will undoubtedly follow him into the coffin, and it will continue to ferment and stink in the coffin.

10. Pretend to understand if you don’t understand, sensationalize and embarrass yourself

Musk silenced Sweeney, a college student, and a group of journalists. The reason he proposed for this was: "They posted my real-time location, which is basically tantamount to assassination coordinates, which (obviously) is a direct violation of Twitter. service rules."

This reason put forward by Musk and the Twitter service regulations/rules he rewrote for his own inconsistency make it sound reasonable to laymen, but to insiders, it is standard pretending to understand, posturing, and sensationalism. Nonsense.

Some reporters pointed out that the work of journalists includes the so-called real-time reporting, real-time reporting, real-time and on-the-spot reporting of the status or activities of news figures including the president, and even the whereabouts of the US presidential plane Air Force One; reporters can report "others" (The President or anyone in the news) get out of the car and walk up to XXX Street" and that kind of real-time on-the-ground coverage, no problem. But according to Musk's statement and ideas, such news reports may be immoral or even criminal, because such reports can be considered to provide assassins with assassination coordinates. It can be seen from this that the reasons proposed by Musk are purely ignorant, shameless and boring nonsense.

In addition, on the one hand, Musk seems to think that his life is more valuable than the president of the United States or all the celebrities in the world, and his whereabouts information needs to be more strictly protected. Disclosure is a measure taken by the U.S. aviation management authority to improve flight safety over the years. It is impossible for the U.S. aviation management department to formulate a special rule for Musk just because of his personal preferences. Therefore, Twitter's new service regulations are also standard bullshit.

11. Attempt to improve efficiency through threats

Musk has said too many mindless stupid things since he acquired Twitter, and it is increasing almost every day. His stupid things also include publicly threatening Twitter employees, claiming that the company’s operating conditions are tight, and everyone must work hard. If you don't work overtime according to his instructions, you better get out of here (casual).

To be fair, Musk isn't the only one making such stupid remarks. Zuckerberg, the boss of the famous American big technology company (Facebook), also said the same thing to his employees.

In every sense of the word, trying to increase productivity by insulting and threatening employees on the grounds that a company isn't doing well is stupid. The supervisors who have such schemes and actions are obviously emotional intelligence idiots and management idiots. They don’t know that almost everyone has self-esteem, and ignore or even trample on the self-esteem of employees. The resulting effect or return can only be the curse and anger of the employees. If you don't dare to say it, it will only lead to employees being in Cao Ying and their hearts in Han, rather than improving work efficiency. People with self-esteem and real skills will show up when they have the opportunity.

In the technology industry or almost any other industry, the growth of a company depends on the unity and close cooperation of executives and employees, and the full enthusiasm and creativity of all people, which cannot be born or promoted by threats and insults. . Instead, threats and insults serve only to dampen enthusiasm and creativity. Any well-run company must be suspicious and employ people. Therefore, insulting and threatening employees by company bosses can only demolish themselves and create problems for themselves.

To sum up, Musk has become one of the richest people in the world today without obvious fraud. This is his success, which shows that he has his undeniable intelligence; but now he also clearly shows the world that he is a smart person How stupid can be.

His follies, highlighted and magnified by his success and wealth (mostly from arrogance backed by his wealth), have become world-class jokes. Now the whole world is watching how he spent $44 billion to buy a big toy called Twitter and started destroying it as soon as he bought it.

But as a general spectator, people may wish to look at Musk from a small point of view, quietly pondering and admiring this world's number one rich man, and coldly see that his arrogance and stupidity are no different from a bad boy with a bad family education. Such bad kids can come from rich or poor families.

By now, Musk has apparently found that something is wrong and is trying to remedy it. The remedial measures he tried to take included selling Twitter shares at his Twitter stock purchase price to absorb investment funds, and declaring that he was willing to resign as Twitter CEO based on the results of Twitter user votes.

Still, fortunately and unfortunately, he was stupid enough to buy Twitter at a high price, and now he hopes that there will be more stupid fools in the world who will pay the same high price to buy Twitter shares that have greatly shrunk in value. This hope can be described as standard wishful thinking, stupid to the limit. He probably thought there were a lot of fools in the world. But it seems that there are not many people who are as stupid as him in this matter.

Moreover, whether he resigns or not resigns as CEO of Twitter, his havoc on Twitter is beyond repair. Even after he stepped down as CEO, his record of self-willed and self-willed behavior made it difficult for investors to believe that he would not disrupt Twitter's operations and development in similar or other ways in the future.

Finally, it needs to be explained that it does not require any high IQ or EQ to see clearly and see through Musk's stupid performance. Anyone can easily see it as long as their brains are not in the water. But the world is also very strange, there are still many people who can't see or are unwilling to face up to the stupidity of famous people and give them appropriate ridicule and condemnation just because they are famous.