Yeah but that doesn't mean that you should give money to people where you know for sure they suck?

For all other cases, you can still try to not give money to people who suck by going for fair trade products and stuff like that.

> I guarantee you, you’re giving money to people much worse than him every time you shop, without realizing it.

Your assumption lies on the "without realizing it".

If you realize how bad the people are, you can do something about it.

The likes of Musk are extremely bad, and have been personally responsible for many, many abhorrent developments in both national and foreign stages.

Thus, it's natural that people avoid anything which is directly and indirectly tied to the likes of Elon Musk.

Don't you agree?

> Modern journalism goes for clicks, which means generating outrage.

Is this about journalists talking about musk, or about musk himself? I mostly learn about his views through his own tweets that twitter always makes sure to serve me in my home page, and "goes for clicks"/"generating outrage" seems to fit well how musk uses his platform. In any case, his politics seem awful to me even without any journalistic mediation of them.

I've seen his tweets direct. You don't have to spin his opinions for them to look horrendous.

How does you spin his reply of "100%" to a "white solidarity is the only way to survive" tweet as not very extreme?

His own X posts make him out to be an apartheid apologist and white nationalist.

Did you see what DOGE did to the government? In particular to USAID? Estimates are that this has already killed hundreds of thousands of people who relied on that aid.

The issue isn't just Musk's politics. It's that his actions have been evil, the kind of negative impact that major wars have.

We're talking something like 1 million dead people per year with a quarter of those being children. For a level of assistance that cost the US nothing (0.43% of federal spending). This is an evil that in a few years puts you on the list of biggest mass murderers in history.

> His politics are less extreme than you probably think.

Just look at the whole DOGE mess. Brush aside anything you believe can be brushed aside due to incompetence. Look at the result.

Explain exactly what can possibly lead you to believe that his politics are less extreme than you possibly think.

You're talking about the Nazi salute guy, by the way.

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Why? Hackers using / not using products or creating products based on political or cultural reasons was a thing looong before reddit.

Choosing to stand up for your principles in one instance, doesn't mean you suddenly have to fight all the battles all at once, even those that aren't apparent you (yet). How do you know this person is not choosing principles on other occasions already? IMO doing this is better than doing nothing. You can always choose to pick up more battles later. Other people can fight the other fights. Everyone always choosing self over principles will be worse in the long run

This passionate apologia of nihilism is not consistent with not caring what other people do or want. If "virtue signalling" elicits such reaction, perhaps it's actually working. Besides, voting with your wallet, an actual tangible action, is not virtue signalling.

I think this is one of my favorite comments on HN. Thank you for putting it into words.

What makes Musk different than Blackrock for instance? Or Monsanto, or Shell, or any corporation both of us rely on and support, in return for being able to eat, fuel our car, etc. Is it because Musk isn't lobbying behind the corporation but doing it publically?

It's because Musk enjoys it.

Any other tu quoque fallacies to dispense with?

> What makes Musk different than Blackrock for instance?

Open support for right-wing parties and politics all over the world.

> I don't understand this mentality.

I think it's pretty easy to understand.

You have a service you want, but subscribing to it is a clear and direct way to financially support the advancement of fascist, extremist political groups and regimes pushing alarmingly racist and xenophobic policies not only in the US but also across the world.

Does your convenience justify a totalitarian shift? I don't think so. Do you think it does?

You know if your internet drops out you could just use your phone or idk not have internet for a bit.

You dont NEED a starlink like you need food or being able to commute etc.

Tesla, starlink are more a luxury for an average hn user.

I stumbled on a long article post by John Conrad @johnkonrad about War on Rocks on X that explains this mentality. I haven't seen it put this way before.