Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk will never fight. Over the weekend, Mark Zuckerberg made a statement on Threads stating that “we can all agree that Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on.” Elon Musk — after biographer Walter Isaacson shared them first
I don’t think anyone who has even casually followed Musk over the years believed that he was actually going to fight Zuckerberg. It was a farce from the start and it’s strange that Zuck seemed to think Musk was serious.
It’s pretty much a given that really rich guys don’t think they have to follow the rules that apply to the other 90+ percent. And for a long time I thought that was Musk’s problem. Now I’m starting to wondering if he really isn’t in need of some aggressive psychiatric intervention.
His erratic and destructive (to his companies, employees and stock holders) behavior has gotten increasingly pronounced. Any other CEO at any other company would have already been removed and probably escorted out the door by security.
I mean even Zuck realizes that he has to maintain certain levels of behavior and performance that doesn’t destroy all shareholder value. (And Musk’s petulant child act has certainly made Zuck look like a serious adult in comparison.)
"Elon Musk has spent his entire life bullying and threatening people, and has never once been shown the consequences of his actions."
I could be wrong but I believe Elon was once thrown down a flight of stairs in high school & hospitalized for mocking a classmate whose father had taken his own life. Errol Musk confirmed it, I think. I'll try to find the reference. Regardless, he appears not to have learned anything.
Saying he is "going to lift 50 pound free weights" is a tell he hasn't been to a gym in years. It's a data point with no context. I'm a 5'3" woman. I can bench press more than 50 pounds. I can squat with more than 50 pounds. I use more than 50 pounds on my traps.
“He is effectively untouchable — despite being extremely easy to upset based on almost every tweet he’s ever made — and will never be made to face any consequences for his regularly putrid and upsetting actions”
True, to date, he has seemed effectively untouchable, but there is just no way someone like Musk isn’t currently involved in a massive number of hard-jail-time level fraudulent activities. ALL of the warning signs are there. To name just a few:
-He’s astoundingly unintelligent, has terrible judgement, displays acute narcissistic and anti-social propensities, and believes he’s the smartest guy in the world
-He has a long, well-documented history of number-fudging and outright lying to suit his financial interests and clearly believes he is above the law
-He has zero oversight and surrounds himself with spineless lackeys and yes-men
But the thing about financial scams and accounting fraud is that, when the times are good, they can pretty much continue indefinitely—as long as there are more dupes willing to buy in than cash out. Spineless government regulators also prefer to look the other way as long as no one’s complaining too loudly.
It’s only when the economic going gets tough and people start running for the exits
that these schemes inevitably and spectacularly explode. And then, and only then, do elite anger and public outrage compel hard action. We saw this exact same thing with Enron, Worldcom, Lehman Brothers, Madoff…
And that’s where we are with Musk. With the global economy now careening toward the brink of the shitter, it’s really only a matter of time before he blows himself up (alas, most likely only figuratively)
And, no, I don’t think I’m trafficking in wishful thinking here; nor am I one who believes “the moral arc of history inevitably bends in the direction of good” or some such nonsense. I think there is a pretty solid and remarkably familiar of pattern of facts in play here. I’d bet money on.
"Zuckerberg...has walked away from the only opportunity anyone will ever have to inflict physical pain on Elon Musk."
That's a depressing thought. Yet, if I were to place a wager on whether or not Musk will physically suffer, my money would be on Pain.
Regardless of all the things that he seems to have, there is one thing that he does not possess: Even the tiniest conceivable grain of self-awareness. If he did, the man would be emotionally writhing, wracked, and wrecked. Elon Musk: When good things happen to bad people.
"He has had one practice bout with Lex Fridman, who is a podcaster rather than a mixed martial artist"
Fridman does have a black-belt, so I'd assume he's probably more competent than one might expect from the label "podcaster". Neither Musk or Zuckerberg are professional fighters.
This whole story sounds to me like two "gangster" rappers threatening one another for PR and street-cred. It's juvenile and idiotic. I think the better way to humble Musk would be if people stopped to pay so much attention to him but I doubt it's going to happen. It's the same type of thing that propelled Trump.
I would hesitate to describe Mark Zuckerberg’s response as “[choosing] to not mercilessly beat a jelly-like cretin into a pulp simply because he was challenged to do so”.
I would describe Mark Zuckerberg’s response as “oh god leave me alone already i have a life”.
While it doesn’t make Mark Zuckerberg a reasonable person, this sort of response to Elon’s persistent “notice me _senpai_” does more to make him look like one than anything else Mark Zuckerberg has ever done in his life.
(I have long considered fascism to be the _yandere_ ideology—i.e. “notice me _senpai_” writ large—and this sort of _yandere_ behavior similarly makes Elon Musk look like your average pathetically cringe-inducing fascist lol)
The Coward's Octagon
I really hadn't given two thoughts to this nonsense, but you are a hundred percent right about this.
I don’t think anyone who has even casually followed Musk over the years believed that he was actually going to fight Zuckerberg. It was a farce from the start and it’s strange that Zuck seemed to think Musk was serious.
It’s pretty much a given that really rich guys don’t think they have to follow the rules that apply to the other 90+ percent. And for a long time I thought that was Musk’s problem. Now I’m starting to wondering if he really isn’t in need of some aggressive psychiatric intervention.
His erratic and destructive (to his companies, employees and stock holders) behavior has gotten increasingly pronounced. Any other CEO at any other company would have already been removed and probably escorted out the door by security.
I mean even Zuck realizes that he has to maintain certain levels of behavior and performance that doesn’t destroy all shareholder value. (And Musk’s petulant child act has certainly made Zuck look like a serious adult in comparison.)
"Elon Musk has spent his entire life bullying and threatening people, and has never once been shown the consequences of his actions."
I could be wrong but I believe Elon was once thrown down a flight of stairs in high school & hospitalized for mocking a classmate whose father had taken his own life. Errol Musk confirmed it, I think. I'll try to find the reference. Regardless, he appears not to have learned anything.
Saying he is "going to lift 50 pound free weights" is a tell he hasn't been to a gym in years. It's a data point with no context. I'm a 5'3" woman. I can bench press more than 50 pounds. I can squat with more than 50 pounds. I use more than 50 pounds on my traps.
“He is effectively untouchable — despite being extremely easy to upset based on almost every tweet he’s ever made — and will never be made to face any consequences for his regularly putrid and upsetting actions”
True, to date, he has seemed effectively untouchable, but there is just no way someone like Musk isn’t currently involved in a massive number of hard-jail-time level fraudulent activities. ALL of the warning signs are there. To name just a few:
-He’s astoundingly unintelligent, has terrible judgement, displays acute narcissistic and anti-social propensities, and believes he’s the smartest guy in the world
-He has a long, well-documented history of number-fudging and outright lying to suit his financial interests and clearly believes he is above the law
-He has zero oversight and surrounds himself with spineless lackeys and yes-men
But the thing about financial scams and accounting fraud is that, when the times are good, they can pretty much continue indefinitely—as long as there are more dupes willing to buy in than cash out. Spineless government regulators also prefer to look the other way as long as no one’s complaining too loudly.
It’s only when the economic going gets tough and people start running for the exits
that these schemes inevitably and spectacularly explode. And then, and only then, do elite anger and public outrage compel hard action. We saw this exact same thing with Enron, Worldcom, Lehman Brothers, Madoff…
And that’s where we are with Musk. With the global economy now careening toward the brink of the shitter, it’s really only a matter of time before he blows himself up (alas, most likely only figuratively)
And, no, I don’t think I’m trafficking in wishful thinking here; nor am I one who believes “the moral arc of history inevitably bends in the direction of good” or some such nonsense. I think there is a pretty solid and remarkably familiar of pattern of facts in play here. I’d bet money on.
So, let me get this straight: you don't like Elon?
We need the Kumite. Someone get Frank Dux.
Kumite!
Kumite!
Kumite!
"Zuckerberg...has walked away from the only opportunity anyone will ever have to inflict physical pain on Elon Musk."
That's a depressing thought. Yet, if I were to place a wager on whether or not Musk will physically suffer, my money would be on Pain.
Regardless of all the things that he seems to have, there is one thing that he does not possess: Even the tiniest conceivable grain of self-awareness. If he did, the man would be emotionally writhing, wracked, and wrecked. Elon Musk: When good things happen to bad people.
I was hopeful it would have happened. Great article. Enjoyed the podcasts as well. Thanks.
"He has had one practice bout with Lex Fridman, who is a podcaster rather than a mixed martial artist"
Fridman does have a black-belt, so I'd assume he's probably more competent than one might expect from the label "podcaster". Neither Musk or Zuckerberg are professional fighters.
This whole story sounds to me like two "gangster" rappers threatening one another for PR and street-cred. It's juvenile and idiotic. I think the better way to humble Musk would be if people stopped to pay so much attention to him but I doubt it's going to happen. It's the same type of thing that propelled Trump.
Hi Ed, thank you for having more cats than me... it’s genuinely inspiring
Not the best piece imo, kind of the same thing every paragraph.
I would hesitate to describe Mark Zuckerberg’s response as “[choosing] to not mercilessly beat a jelly-like cretin into a pulp simply because he was challenged to do so”.
I would describe Mark Zuckerberg’s response as “oh god leave me alone already i have a life”.
While it doesn’t make Mark Zuckerberg a reasonable person, this sort of response to Elon’s persistent “notice me _senpai_” does more to make him look like one than anything else Mark Zuckerberg has ever done in his life.
(I have long considered fascism to be the _yandere_ ideology—i.e. “notice me _senpai_” writ large—and this sort of _yandere_ behavior similarly makes Elon Musk look like your average pathetically cringe-inducing fascist lol)
just go fly to Austin and punch him yourself, if you think he needs punchin'.