ravenkings
ravenkings

The meddling of oligarchs and other monied interests in the fate of nations is not new. During the First World War, J. P. Morgan lent vast sums to the Allied powers; afterward, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., poured money into the fledgling League of Nations. The investor George Soros’s Open Society Foundations underwrote civil-society reform in post-Soviet Europe, and the casino mogul Sheldon Adelson funded right-wing media in Israel, as part of his support of Benjamin Netanyahu.

But [Elon] Musk’s influence is more brazen and expansive. There is little precedent for a civilian’s becoming the arbiter of a war between nations in such a granular way, or for the degree of dependency that the U.S. now has on Musk in a variety of fields, from the future of energy and transportation to the exploration of space. SpaceX is currently the sole means by which NASA transports crew from U.S. soil into space, a situation that will persist for at least another year. The government’s plan to move the auto industry toward electric cars requires increasing access to charging stations along America’s highways. But this rests on the actions of another Musk enterprise, Tesla. The automaker has seeded so much of the country with its proprietary charging stations that the Biden Administration relaxed an early push for a universal charging standard disliked by Musk. His stations are eligible for billions of dollars in subsidies, so long as Tesla makes them compatible with the other charging standard.

In the past twenty years, against a backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and declining trust in institutions, Musk has sought out business opportunities in crucial areas where, after decades of privatization, the state has receded. [...] In a podcast interview last year, Musk was asked whether he has more influence than the American government. He replied immediately, “In some ways.” Reid Hoffman told me that Musk’s attitude is “like Louis XIV: ‘L’état, c’est moi.’ 

–Ronan Farrow, "Elon Musk's Shadow Rule," The New Yorker, August 21, 2023

coldhillside
eastgaysian

getting annoyed with the increasingly popular sentiment of 'if you're worried that you're engaging in a toxic behavior, don't be, because a toxic/manipulative/abusive person would never have that concern. they do it intentionally.' jesse what the fuck are you talking about. actually people who behave in toxic or manipulative ways don't tend to sit by themselves in dark rooms scheming about how to hurt people. generally speaking when people do things, it's because they think they're justified or necessary. yes even abusers! pretending being toxic/manipulative/abusive is a quality of some mysterious unfathomable other category of people who are Always Evil On Purpose doesn't help identify or discourage those behaviors, and it doesn't offer strategies for people to rectify their own unhealthy behaviors either. it just lets you feel good about yourself

i hate getting physicals :( hello mr deadname woman lady girl let me touch your chest for the cancer lumps ask you about the last time you were on the rag and tell you to lose weight you don’t really need to cause your bmi is great i just think it would help you feel better remember last time when the uti we claimed didn’t exist turned out to be a kidney infection because our lab sucks that was fun wasn’t it also i’m not going to note anything you say because its probably lady anxiety caused by menstrual goblins that nest in your nerves between cycles