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Elon Musk "go fuck yourself": CYA with pre-emptive excuse-frames
Says Musk:
First, goes for a "tough man frame" refusing the frame that he was on an "apology tour"
Elon Musk: No. don't advertise. If somebody could try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself
Long silence.
I think he expected a positive reaction that didn't come :D.
Elon Musk: GO - FUCK - YOURSELF. Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey Bob! (fumbles with the glass out of nervousness)
Again, I think he expected a stronger/better reaction.
Instead, with that type of audience that wasn't particularly sympathetic or responsive to that (fake?) brash attitude, it went out like a lead balloon.
And now what in my opinion is the convenient narrative to save his reputation in case of failure:
Elon Musk: what this advertising boycott is going to do it's going to kill company. And and the whole world will know that those advertisers killed company and we will document it in great detail.
The frame is that of a boycott.
The mean and nasty advertisers who decided to sink the "free speech absolutist" (yeah sure).
So the blame(-shift) will be on the advertisers rather than, say:
- Elon's not-so-magical-after-all entrepreneurial skills
- Elon's erratic behavior
- Claims about Twitter's turn towards more political extremism / right-wing (whether that's true or not, it's a different topic)
The "we will document it in great detail" is also a power move.
As if to say "we will show evidence of the conspiracy/boycott and publicly shame them (and they will pay a price)".
But it's weak in my book because:
- Nobody will really care (except the few staunch supporters)
- Because after you lose it all feels like complaints/excuses
- All he's doing is documenting his own failure in great detail
I had started posting updates and notes for PU and video ideas on Twitter.
But I stopped because I worried it'd go all lost with a possible bankruptcy.
Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on December 2, 2023, 10:40 pmI had started posting updates and notes for PU and video ideas on Twitter.
But I stopped because I worried it'd go all lost with a possible bankruptcy.
Too bad I liked reading those updates :)
Musk is really his own worst enemy with lots of childish and poor character behaviours: going after Zuckerberg with insults like “zuck is a cuck”. Posting a private picture of Amber Heard cosplaying as Mercy a video game character.
In PU it is stated that looking at the audience for a reaction is low power, I think we have a good exemple here.
On twitter the public seem very divided, with people thinking he was badass for standing up to his “bullies”. And others thinking he was ridiculous and cringe throwing a tantrum on stage.
It’s gonna be interesting to see how things develop for him. The cybertruck is coming out and is already sold out. Space X keeps moving forward, and neural link could be game changing in the decade to come.
Thank you Jack, loved the note on people's rections.
I often pay even more attention to comments/likes/reactions than to the actual video to see what works / doesn't work for PR.
I agree with you that he's become his worst enemy (he wasn't before).
It's a trend among many: get more and more power and fame, then start getting more extreme, picking up fights left and right and making more and bigger enemies than you should.
Same for Trump, JP, and even Berlusconi.
I'd that, in part, it's the narcissism that gets the best of some characters -and one of the downsides of unaddressed narcissism-
P.S.:
As for the truck there, not sure where the news is from, but if it's from Elon I wouldn't his word -or companies' public statements- much.
Yeah I agree with the pattern. « Trying to blackmail ME with money » is the ego speaking. He’s not considering the problem he’s considering only it through is personal perspective.
Thanks for sharing, it’s interesting. I also felt watching the video he’s shooting himself in the foot and losing credibility.
OFF-TOPIC
Quote from Jack on December 3, 2023, 12:05 pm(...) The cybertruck is coming out and is already sold out. (...)
Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on December 3, 2023, 3:40 pmP.S.:
As for the truck there, not sure where the news is from, but if it's from Elon I wouldn't his word -or companies' public statements- much.
OFF-TOPIC
I happened to see the bit of the launch featuring that sort of drag race.
And I wouldn't doubt the "sold out" anymore.
That was genius -at least when it comes to selling more of those ugly things :)-.
I got the info from a YouTube video, but your comment made me dig deeper.
Full production will be reached by 2025 at 250k cars per year. And there is 1million 100 dollars refunable down payment already registered.
So it doesn’t mean anything until we see the real demand at full production.
Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on December 2, 2023, 10:36 pmSays Musk:
First, goes for a "tough man frame" refusing the frame that he was on an "apology tour"
Elon Musk: No. don't advertise. If somebody could try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself
Long silence.
I think he expected a positive reaction that didn't come :D.Elon Musk: GO - FUCK - YOURSELF. Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey Bob! (fumbles with the glass out of nervousness)
Again, I think he expected a stronger/better reaction.
Instead, with that type of audience that wasn't particularly sympathetic or responsive to that (fake?) brash attitude, it went out like a lead balloon.
(...)
Contrast that "go f*ck yourself" with how Vivek uses it to win the crowd (feel free to watch from the beginning to see what Vivek is responding to):
Ramaswamy: "So, I say that on that last debate stage to a bunch of Republicans that are shaking in their boots. These are the things that you're not supposed to say to the Republican party even today (a frame of "I'm here to speak the truth as a man of the people" frame). And then you get the mainstream media (subcommunicating already that the mainstream media is not out to share the truth, only serve their own interests). You got this character Van Jones on CNN (frames Van Jones as a "character" to thread expand on the idea that the media is after ratings, not the truth) afterwards saying, 'This is the rise of an American demi-God who is going to live fifty years longer than Trump. This is dagnerous. I am shaking.' That's what he says. Just shut the f*ck up (now this bold line comes across as "that's so ridiculous, it's not even worth defending"—a different kind of 'tough man' frame that works)."
Ramaswamy: [Gets the reaction of the crowd]
Ramaswamy: [Speaking more assertively now] "At a certain point, just shut the f*ck up (repeats it to rile up the energy of the crowd further)."
Elon was already operating under some bad frames when he tried a similar approach:
- Framed as antisemitic: for tweeting his agreement with The Great Replacement theory calling it "the actual truth" (which led many big advertisers to drop X)
- Framed as heartless: for firing over 6,000 people at X since taking over the company, current employees saying Elon is a "nightmare to work with" and will throw "yelling fits" at them, and showing no interest in improving the poor working conditions at Tesla.
- Framed as having an ego: due to his latest behaviors on top of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT) saying to The New Yorker, "...Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it."
Plus, people are already starting to lose the impression that he's a modern-day genius, so when he pulled that "go f*ck yourself" move, as Lucio said, he did it with an audience who had no sympathy for him.
Now, compare that to Vivek:
- Framed as a man of the people, for the people: not a politician, which is great for getting the people on his side.
- Picked a crowd that liked him: to increase his chances of garnering a higher, positive response.
- Chose his words more carefully: he said "shut the f*ck up" to frame himself as the truth-speaker shutting up the "lying media." (For comparison, "go f*ck yourself" would've been seen as him taking Van Jones' words personally, made him look emotionally affected, and framed him as speaking to gain emotional closure. Instead, he frames himself as speaking to benefit the people he's looking to lead.)
Happy to read any thoughts and feedback.
OFF-TOPIC
Yeah right on. I think it's a frame of disrespect/I'm better than you vs speaking the truth as you said.
