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An Outspoken Elon Musk


The CEO of Tesla and Space-x, Elon Musk, has got a staggering 22.3 million twitter followers to his name.
What he chooses to tweet, therefore, has crucial public significance.
An intelligent man to say the least, it is rather unlikely that Musk is oblivious to the depth of his influence.
Nevertheless, the filter that Musk should have installed to prevent any Trump-esque uproar- has been malfunctioning in recent days.
A series of angry social media conflicts have popped up- between musk and Wall Street analysts- musk and journalists- and musk and his employees.
Most recently, came an outburst wherein Musk hailed a British rescue worker, integral to the rescue of the trapped football team in Thailand, a ‘pedo’ on Twitter.
It’s a slip which has led many to question the entrepreneur’s leadership abilities, and even his mental stability.
Musk has since deleted the tweet- but the damage is done.
Said damage extends to Musk’s many entrepreneurial pursuits. Including electric car company- Tesla.
Tesla’s shares dropped dramatically in the wake of the tweet- 4%, or 2$billion dollars in value slid from the face of the company.
It’s not the first time stocks in Tesla have plunged due to Musk’s behavior.
At the time of the company’s earnings call, Musk berated questions regarding his Model 3 car as ‘boring’, and the questioners as ‘boneheads’.
His latest insult is perhaps even more bizarre, less politically correct, and cuts even deeper. ‘Pedo’ (referring to paedophilia)  is not an insult to be thrown around lightly, not least by influential public figures.
The cave diver at the brunt of Musk’s sharp tongue, Mr Vern Unsworth, is said to have been a crucial asset in the rescue of the boys, given his knowledge of the cave complex.
Mr Unsworth had travelled into the caves in the first days that the 12 Thai boys and their coach were trapped. He helped to bring in top international cave rescue experts for the mission.
The cave-diver has told Australian reporters that he is considering legal action against Mr Musk.
When we look at the full backstory of the scuffle, it appears the insult may have come on the back of an immature ‘playground’ tiff.
When Musk wanted to rescue the football team using a submarine he had created, Mr Unsworth said it would not work, calling it a PR stunt, and saying that Musk that could ‘stick his submarine where it hurts’.
A petty argument to say the least- but Musk’s retaliation has proved to be ‘very damaging to his brands’ indeed.
With great power, comes great responsibility. Musk may be intelligent, but his knack of venting his frustrations on social media doesn’t come across as very wise.

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