TALK 10. THE SECRET DIARY OF ELON MUSK, AGED 13¾.

Elon in cutting mode

Perhaps the contradictions were always there to see. He didn’t start the EV or social media businesses that have become toxic brands under his tutelage and we’re no more making it to Mars by 2050 than his bromance with The Donald will last full term. Is his childish behaviour an attention economy strategy or simply thin skinned petulance when under the influence? Perhaps it’s both. Despite his support of political figures that manage to make Nigel Farage seem centrist, does he actually have an ideological streak or is it about support for parties that will pony up a low regulation and union free never-never land for his companies? A day doesn’t go by without permateen Elon in all our faces and he wants in on the UK, so there was plenty to ponder as our high quality panel met on The Ides of Musk.

Dr Marcus Gilroy-Ware described the sniggering game of outrage generation than plays out in the new media manosphere, where the aim is pull down the pants of institutions and all notions of liberalism. Everything that has gone before is to be lambasted and the more offensive you are about it, the better. Elon is without doubt king of this castle.

Returning panelist Professor Colin Gavaghan ridiculed the “pretend free speech” of Musk’s excuse for disseminating hate and whilst he rightly cautioned against enabling Government to be too powerful when confronting discourse it dislikes, he noted that a great deal of the troll king’s coarse comment already breaks the law. He added that the issue for the UK (and EU) would be how to enforce laws against a gazillionaire serial risk taker who is also embedded in the very top of our key ally’s Government.

Councillor Cara Lavan (elected and accountable, unlike E Musk Esq) was withering in her assessment of his lack of principles and agreed that he’s an agent of chaos. Cara also supported the closure of campaign finance loopholes for foreign dosh that Nick Candy is exploring for Musk to fund Reform at levels ten times that of the previous biggest ever British political donation (Reform’s West of England mayoral candidate Aaron Banks to Vote Leave). And we used to be worried about the Tufton Street cabal…

Have we become overly worried by his omnipotence? Are there upsides to him? The panel thought not. He is hugely influential and raining money down on his chosen disruptors on a scale never seen before. He does appear to believe in one thing: if he ever does get to Mars, his vision seems to be of a slave labour colony that is a meeting point between Huxley’s Brave New World and Iron Sky.

In the toolbox, the panel noted it wasn’t always this way with Elon Musk, but it is now and whilst he seemingly holds all those cards that Trump’s so fond of, there is much we can do to counter his bluster and many books were recommended that we list here. In addition Colin encouraged us to stay engaged, Cara to to believe in human kindness and to trust local politicians that you can speak to, whilst Marcus encouraged communality, literacy, close observation of contradiction and the understanding of political systems and those with different views. Amen to that.

What's going on in that mind...?

Panel reading list:

Cara:

Octavia Butler 'Parable of the Sower'.

Yannis Varoufakis ‘Techno feudalism: what killed capitalism’.

Ash Sarkar ‘Minority Rule’.

Colin:

Kate Conger and Ryan Mac ‘Character Limit. How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter’.

Cory Doctorow ‘The Internet Con. How to seize the Means of Computation’.

Marcus:

Peter Geoghegan ‘Democracy for Sale: Dark Money and Dirty Politics’.

Wendy Brown ‘In the Ruins of Neoliberalism’.

Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou ‘Speculative Communities: Living with Uncertainty in a Financialized World’.

Sarah Banet-Weiser ‘Empowered: Popular Feminism and Popular Misogyny’.

 (All available via our books page)

 On the night we spun a themed playlist featuring:

Space Oddity - David Bowie

Making Plans For Nigel - XTC

Drive My Car - The Beatles

So Alive - Love And Rockets

The Message - Grandmaster Flash

Big Business - Talking Heads

Standing In The Way Of Control - Gossip

Nausea - X

Perfect Illusion - Lady Gaga

Electricity - OMD

Colluding Oligarchs - Shabazz Palaces

1933 - Frank Turner

 Listen here