A love-hate relationship with Elon Musk

Admit it, Harry Potter was the dullest character in the whole Potter series. A good boy who defeats evil with love. Boring. Severus Snape, on the other hand – a merciless potions teacher with a dark past, yet not incapable of love – is more relatable. We don’t necessarily love him, but he’s an interesting character to follow.

It's the same for me with real-life characters. Taylor Swift, a together lady, is really dull compared to Britney Spears with all her not-faked life drama that’s out in the open.

The same is true for Elon Musk. We might not agree with some of his statements or find his worldview bold or straightforwardly insulting, but we are obsessed with him.

He’s like a strong and relatable brand. Like Lidl – I keep seeing people wearing hideous Lidl shorts, socks, and sweaters, essentially paying the German retailer to be able to advertise it for free.

So many of us are Musk’s ambassadors, too. If not by openly declaring love for him and his inventions like those guys united under the Cybertruck Owners’ Club, then simply by amplifying his ideas for him. As if he already didn’t have a huge share of the conversation.

Rich people have problems, too, you know, my friend keeps saying. Is that it? Are we secretly hating him because he can just have it all? Like having twelve children without losing his night’s sleep when so many are dreaming about big families yet can’t afford to have more than one or two?

Well, the first female president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, reared seven children and has, at least in the political arena, way more influence than Musk, but doesn’t really get idolized. So that’s not it.

Musk is dreaming big, that’s it for me. I still cling to the stupid belief that it’s our work and not words that define us. So whenever I am asked to come up with some visionary strategy for my newsroom for the next ten years or so, I get spooked and distressed. Meanwhile, Musk is capable of dreaming even beyond our time, piquing investors’ interest and getting the funds needed to move forward.

Do you remember that Tesla he sent flying to space? Despite the fact that it’s against the laws of physics to drive a cabriolet in outer space (or on any highway, for that matter), I could still imagine myself making circles around Earth in a fancy car.

And he’s not an impostor – SpaceX satellites now dominate space, and he’s the one chosen to destroy the International Space Station. According to the New York Times, basing their reporting on 20 different people close to Musk, the tech mogul wants to build a habitat on Mars, and may or may not have volunteered to donate his sperm to seed a colony.

The NYT reports these things, but Musk denies them, so we don’t really know what’s going on. Do we even need to? Many billionaires seem to be obsessed with space travel, but with Bezos and Co., it always seems more like they’re reserving that right for themselves or well-off tourists, while Musk is bringing that dream closer to home. Make no mistake, space travel is still not going to happen for most of us within our lifetimes. It’s just the discourse around Musk that somehow tricks some of us into thinking it’s possible.

Elon, just send that Cybertruck flying to space, and you just might start a new religion.

After the Trump assassination attempt in Pennsylvania last weekend, Musk joked (maybe was serious, what do I know) that it was time to build that “flying metal armor” – an allusion to the Iron Man costume.

Musk is quite often compared to Marvel’s Tony Stark character – a genius engineer, businessman, philanthropist, and playboy, leading the Avengers to protect the Earth.

He’s no Robert Downey Jr., the actor playing Iron Man in the Marvel movies, yet Musk is real. If Thanos attacked Earth, he would be our best hope.

I also truly believe that dreaming big helps us make our small dreams come true and not necessarily settle with the status quo of who we are and what we can do.

But here my praise for Musk ends. While his space vision brings us (maybe just me) closer to the stars, his presence and ownership of social media (X) seem to be sowing nothing but division and hate.

He’s been accused of promoting transphobic content on X, creating a toxic environment for the LGBTQ community, and amplifying antisemitic tropes on his platform. These days, X is drowning in conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination attempt.

With great influence comes great responsibility, Elon. If you do end up in the Oval Office after (oops, if) Trump is elected president, people will want you to be fair. But we also want all the drama. Impossible shoes to fill, huh?