He’s the adult version of that kid we all knew in middle school - the one who was creepy and awkward and desperate to get the cool kids to like him and he talked too much and laughed too loud in a way that sounded like he could tip over into hysteria any second, and the only thing he had going for him was that his family had money, so he always got the latest and coolest games and toys and he’d show them off in the desperate hope that someone would want to play with him but nobody ever did because he was just so desperate and creepy.
Some kid pushed him down the stairs and seriously injured him when he was in school, and I don’t blame them. I guess it’s a chicken/egg situation, but I think generally you don’t get pushed down stairs if you aren’t an absolute shit.
Some kid pushed him down the stairs and seriously injured him when he was in school
True story?
I wouldn’t doubt it.
I really know very little about Musk’s past in a biographical sense, but as a lifelong student of human nature - both collectively and individually - I know him all too well.
and I don’t blame them
Nor do I.
You can see it in his mannerisms and the look on his face. He was and still is one of those people who’s unjustifiably smug - who’s obnoxiously arrogant in spite of the fact that everyone around him just thinks he’s a loudmouthed asshole. And the secret behind it is that he’s actually desperately insecure and his entire life is bent toward (over)compensating for that.
He’s obnoxiously smug and arrogant because he has virtually no empathy or understanding of other people, so he doesn’t know how to act to actually appeal to people.
But he sees other people who do know how to act and who have spent a lifetime earning respect and admiration, and he sees their confidence and that’s what he wants. So, failing to understand even the most basic principles, he jumps right past the earning respect and admiration stage and to the confidence stage, and unable to even pull that off convincingly, he just ends up smug and obnoxious.
Which makes people dislike him, which leads him to try to compensate, which ends up just being more obnoxious arrogance, which makes people dislike him and 'round and 'round it goes.
fame and wealth are forms of abuse. he never learned why the other kids hated him because his home environment sheltered him from connecting with others
He’s the adult version of that kid we all knew in middle school - the one who was creepy and awkward and desperate to get the cool kids to like him and he talked too much and laughed too loud in a way that sounded like he could tip over into hysteria any second, and the only thing he had going for him was that his family had money, so he always got the latest and coolest games and toys and he’d show them off in the desperate hope that someone would want to play with him but nobody ever did because he was just so desperate and creepy.
Some kid pushed him down the stairs and seriously injured him when he was in school, and I don’t blame them. I guess it’s a chicken/egg situation, but I think generally you don’t get pushed down stairs if you aren’t an absolute shit.
True story?
I wouldn’t doubt it.
I really know very little about Musk’s past in a biographical sense, but as a lifelong student of human nature - both collectively and individually - I know him all too well.
Nor do I.
You can see it in his mannerisms and the look on his face. He was and still is one of those people who’s unjustifiably smug - who’s obnoxiously arrogant in spite of the fact that everyone around him just thinks he’s a loudmouthed asshole. And the secret behind it is that he’s actually desperately insecure and his entire life is bent toward (over)compensating for that.
He’s obnoxiously smug and arrogant because he has virtually no empathy or understanding of other people, so he doesn’t know how to act to actually appeal to people.
But he sees other people who do know how to act and who have spent a lifetime earning respect and admiration, and he sees their confidence and that’s what he wants. So, failing to understand even the most basic principles, he jumps right past the earning respect and admiration stage and to the confidence stage, and unable to even pull that off convincingly, he just ends up smug and obnoxious.
Which makes people dislike him, which leads him to try to compensate, which ends up just being more obnoxious arrogance, which makes people dislike him and 'round and 'round it goes.
I don’t know if it’s been confirmed by Musk, but it’s been stated by his (also shithead) dad in an interview:
The way he is would be sad if it wasn’t completely self inflicted, and also hurting a lot of other people.
Ah… yes. Every bit of that tracks.
fame and wealth are forms of abuse. he never learned why the other kids hated him because his home environment sheltered him from connecting with others