Musk’s Spectacular Crash: He Hasn’t Committed This Deadly Sin Yet

Elon Musk was one of the most popular personalities in the world. Politicians sought his closeness, millions of fans adored him. The Tesla investor was not only praised for his entrepreneurial successes and innovations. He revolutionized the auto industry and almost single-handedly privatized space travel, Musk himself was a cult.

Today he is seen as a poisonous personality who endangers democracy. An unprecedented drop within a few months, which accelerated after the acquisition of the social network Twitter.

It’s hard to believe – or as Musk himself laconically wrote on Twitter: “12 months ago I was Person of the Year”. Intended was the title that the renowned magazine “Time” awards to the most influential person of the year.

Elon Musk’s crash also had tangible financial consequences: not only his reputation, but his company’s stock price plummeted as well. He is now the first person ever to lose $200 billion in a year.

How could that happen? How did Elon Musk go from being a superhero to persona non grata?

Elon Musk: His business started before the Twitter acquisition

In an interview with t-online, the well-known German media psychologist Jo Groebel sees Musk’s erratic behavior as an important reason for this. And that only became fully visible with the actual acquisition of Twitter in October: after a few weeks as the new CEO, he broke his promise for more freedom of speech and censored himself. The most egregious case was when Musk hacked the accounts of some prominent American journalists. those responsible for the Twitter boss had uncomfortable things to say.

Jo Groebel describes this randomness and volatility in the conversation as “childish and childish”. Some of his behavior was “not to be judged at all”. However, this not only damages Musk’s image, but also his companies and his wealth. But maybe the entrepreneur doesn’t mind at all. Groebel: “At a certain point this egomania becomes an almost pathological case.”

This also means that at a certain point such people will no longer be told anything – not even by advisers. People like Musk no longer have “social consciousness,” as Groebel puts it. Because even if the entrepreneur personally no longer mind the loss of “a few billion”, his behavior is still dangerous and negligent, “because there are many livelihoods associated with it”.

The rise and fall in social media – a “law of nature”?

It was not necessarily foreseeable that a social medium of all things would now prove fatal to Musk. For a long time, the entrepreneur mastered the game with the Internet like no other. Musk became a “memelord” – one of the people who speak the internet language of generations Y and Z in the form of funny pictures (so-called memes). The 51-year-old found completely new fans who built a real cult around him.

For Groebel, however, the rise and fall in social media are close together – it’s almost “a law of nature”. Instagram, Twitter and Co. are “generally always good for creating hype”. However, one should also take into account that “with two, three, sometimes even a single misstep” one loses massive popularity.

Elon Musk could afford much more than a few missteps before finally drawing the wrath of millions. But does the current low mood mean an eternal descent – or could the disgraced entrepreneur fight his way back up?

Jo Groebel thinks that’s very possible – especially in the US. Famous people who make brilliant comebacks are among the “most popular figures in American popular culture”. Those who have fallen far are picked up all the more enthusiastically. According to Groebel, this has “almost something biblical”, like a “converted sinner”. So the return to the top is possible – but only because he hasn’t fallen into one of the media’s deadly traps.

Elon Musk has not yet committed the deadly social sin

Because not every sin can be erased from the collective memory through apology. One of those deadly social sins is what rapper Kanye West has been up to in recent weeks. According to Groebel, anyone who adopts an openly racist and anti-Semitic attitude has little chance of salvation in public life.

A similar example is the German singer Xavier Naidoo, who went from a popular musician to one of the leading figures in the German conspiracy scene. As long as Musk does not exhibit similar behavior, he “still has every chance” of making a comeback.

Despite all reasonable criticism of Musk, one should not forget the flip side of the coin. The public projected equally large “desires and ideas” onto just a few people. The bigger these are, the worse the disappointment is when the person falls short of expectations. Musk’s behavior to and from the public “conditions” each other. “Everything always has two sides,” says Groebel.