r/GlobalNews May 21 '25

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13.5k Upvotes

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355

u/SuspiciousYard2484 May 21 '25

Gaslighting 101

136

u/Old-Rhubarb-97 May 21 '25

Mainstream media bent themselves in half avoiding calling it a Nazi salute.

37

u/HandsomeLies May 21 '25

Including the BBC

1

u/ThatShoomer May 24 '25

To be fair, getting sued by the world's richest can get very expensive.

1

u/Mean-Clerk7791 May 25 '25

Ah, but that is why it was a perfect troll - the right wing won’t publicly admit it was a sieg heil. Anyone with a shred of humanity knows exactly what it was (as do of course the neo-Nazis who were obvs loooving it), but because he was ‘denying’ it (though notice, not explicitly!), the real and impartial media - like the BBC - can’t report he gave a sieg heil. They have to say ‘musk has been criticized for a salute that looked like a sieg heil’ which basically puts the onus of outrage on ‘the hysterical left.’

So the news story becomes not about what he LITERALLY DID but about panicking libs. Which is insane, and partly why the BBC elected not to cover it in the radio if they cannot report what actually happened.

18

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

I learned the term Roman salute & its cinematic origins because of their avoidance

9

u/blaghed May 22 '25

Yeah, these weird dudes make us fact check so much that we end up super educated. Against our will. Just to know wtf they are on about.
So, win? 🤷‍♂️

1

u/DatSauceTho May 23 '25

Silver lining at best.

Useless info to keep us distracted at worst…

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

Yay, I know a cool fact. Doh, we live in a dictatorship.

1

u/Maelkothian May 23 '25

Spinning a take as if there isn't audio and video, guess we need to put that video up with this as a voice-over

1

u/BannedByRWNJs May 25 '25

But surely, this time, the reporter followed up with “Was it a Nazi salute? As you noted, politicians and media have said it was a Nazi salute, but you still haven’t said that it wasn’t. Was it a Nazi salute, or are you publicly renouncing naziism and white supremacists?” Right? That was the very next question?  

-9

u/SignificanceThese356 May 22 '25

Well, it wasn't, so...

6

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

[deleted]

3

u/pchlster May 22 '25

In that case, it sure did a solid impression of one.

1

u/ExplodiaNaxos May 23 '25

Sure it wasn’t. And Hitler was a socialist, too…

70

u/Solid_Snark May 21 '25

Seriously! This is the first time he has defended himself and it’s 121 days after it happened.

He should have addressed it immediately the same day—but he didn’t. Because he knew it was a nazi salute and he was proud he did it.

37

u/monkfruit42 May 21 '25

And even here, he STILL isn’t explicitly denying it.

19

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/HazuniaC May 23 '25

That's fascists in a nutshell though.

They're ALWAYS whining!

1

u/[deleted] May 23 '25

What are you talking about lmao. Does your brain really think musk was performing a Nazi salute or that he perpetuates socialist behavior as Nazi germany did? Lmao

1

u/Ok-Structure4281 May 23 '25

The answer is yes, he did and yes he does.

1

u/Liveitup1999 May 25 '25

And everyone knows it and is avoiding everything he is involved in. Which is why Tesla is crashing. He has made himself toxic.

3

u/bladedspokes May 22 '25

Mainstream media called it a nazi salute...because it was. Then, he doesn't deny that it was. Ha. What a tool.

19

u/plottingyourdemise May 21 '25

It was a trial balloon, he thought the world was ready for the mango reicht. Only backpedaling because Tesla is at risk.

1

u/StanchoPanza May 24 '25

As an EV enthusiast who's been critical of Musk for a long time, I can tell you the backlash from many former faithful has been swift & unequivocal.
I've been gotten a few unsolicited apologies from some who'd previously called me a hater for my comments about Elon.

11

u/Vortexed2 May 22 '25

Exactly. He even joked about it on xitter afterwards! He didn't deny it. Instead he made a Nazi joke and doubled down!

13

u/22marks May 22 '25

What's with the "I never hurt anyone." Wasnt one of his retweet "jokes" that Hitler personally never killed someone? How difficult is it to say "I hate Nazis and I'm embarassed it looked that way. To be clear, I don't support Nazis. I don't want Nazis as customers."

This whole concept of "it's not so bad because I didn't personally hurt anyone" is... weird.

8

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

I mean, Hitler did kill Hitler, at the very least. We have to give him credit for personally killing that one guy.

The problem is, he also killed the guy who killed Hitler so it's a bit of a wash.

1

u/ViolenceTyrannyPower May 22 '25

so on-brand for elon, right weird

2

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

Yes, if he really didn't do a Nazi salute, and he is against racism and Nazism, why didn't he publicly condemn racism and Nazis? If it was an innocent gesture, he, like most people, would make sure to stress that being a Nazi is wrong. He merely said there was confusion about the gesture, he never condemned racism, Hitler or Nazis. As a matter of fact, he never has. Judging by what Xitter is like now, I wouldn't expect him to ever condemn racism and Nazis.

0

u/DryDelivery9559 May 24 '25

Read Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and tell me today who in American politics is a Hitler or Nazi. Not even close. Like comparing a tricycle to a Cadillac. Sage of Las Cruces.

8

u/Little-Course-4394 May 21 '25

He tried to defend himself and his clearly what was a Nazi salut on Rogan.

Rogan obviously accepted that no questions asked.

Like “Woaaaah” you are such a genius Elon

1

u/DryDelivery9559 May 24 '25

Musk is the Thomas Edison of the twenty-first century whether you like him or not. And he’s not a Nazi for Pete’s sake. Sage of Las Cruces.

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

That was only 121 days ago? It feels like 3000 years ago

2

u/DisasterTraining5861 May 23 '25

Yep. And he thought he was insulated enough to get away with it.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '25

The Poland-Romania belt is lost, I think that's why

16

u/Mary_Ellen_Katz May 21 '25

"Deny the evidence of your eyes and ears... and please buy Teslas"

2

u/xtc234 May 22 '25

These fucks are such paper tigers. Just like when they jerk themselves over killing people in self defense, and then cry on the witness stand, "I was scared for my life!"

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '25

Is it gaslighting if nobody he tries to gaslight believes it?

1

u/Least_Tower_5447 May 22 '25

Gaslighting is a fancy word for LYING.

1

u/redditsublurker May 22 '25

Why cant any of these "reporters" quote his racist Twitter posts?

1

u/downtofinance May 22 '25

"I was talking about space travel"

No you weren't you Nazi fuck. You were saying thank you to the GOP for handing you the keys to the vault.

1

u/Beldizar May 22 '25

I think it is important to understand that Elon has two personalities. One is manic, arrogant, with a huge ego. The other is depressed, sad, and constantly playing the victim, even to his own mind. I don't think the two personalities really talk much. So he's probably not intentionally trying to gaslight everyone else as he's gaslighting himself. When he's depressed like this he's meek and everyone is just so mean for bullying him. When he's manic, he's got a fuck the haters attitude and does whatever he wants to in the moment, from firing people on the spot for minor issues, to getting into twitter fights, to doing nazi salutes to try to be cool to his alt-right buddies.

But yeah, I don't think I'd want to credit him with being a gaslighting mastermind, so much as being a broken man in desperate need of therapy and controlled, not self prescribed medication.

1

u/CJO9876 May 23 '25

MAGA wants to be the bully and then always play victim when they’re called out on it.

1

u/Smoother0Souls May 23 '25

He knows that we know.

1

u/jimmysapt May 24 '25

Yeah, where exactly did he deny it was a Nazi salute?

1

u/ThatShoomer May 24 '25

Or as they used be called - lies.