- cross-posted to:
- fuckcars@lemmy.world
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
- cross-posted to:
- fuckcars@lemmy.world
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
Summary
Parallels between Henry Ford and Elon Musk illustrate their transformative roles in automaking alongside troubling political affiliations.
Ford’s antisemitism and support for Nazi Germany mirror Musk’s current opposition to unions and endorsement of Germany’s far-right AfD party, which is linked to neo-Nazism.
Musk’s intervention in Germany’s election and promotion of far-right figures on X echoes Ford’s use of media to propagate hate.
Both industrialists are criticized for their social and political impact beyond their industries, with Musk’s actions raising alarm about democracy and labor rights.
Yet, Ford had some ammount of engineering sense and worker spirit. The Model T, which helped revolutionize cars, was actually engineered by Ford. Everything Musk is famous for making, was engineered by other people.
He also made cars affordable for the middle class, paid his workers double the standard of the time, and the 1st to implement the 5 day 40 hour work week. And he was so independently hateful of Jews that he published a regular newsletter filled with anti-Jewish hate and conspiracy theories that was so prolific that he is the only American for whom Hitler mentioned positively in Mein Kampf. And by positively, I mean Hitler really admired the guy.
Let’s all remember people can do great things and still be various levels of scum. Geniuses, inventors, innovators, revolutionaries, religious leaders, etc. can all be both influencial paradigm shifting people that ultimately changed the world for the better on the whole and still be a fucking asshole who should not be given the power to further their individual shitty worldviews.
Edit: and obviously none of those positive attributes even apply to the whiny entitled manchild that is Elon Musk.
He was also incredibly intrusive into his employees’ lives.
https://autos.yahoo.com/henry-ford-bizarre-social-program-211500105.html
Yeah way back I interviewed early auto worker labour activists and they all talked about how foremen would surprise inspect worker homes and schedule people based on asshole judgements or bribes. Just constant bullshit and meddling until unionization.
I bet you have interesting stories to share!
Yes, i’m not saying ford was good but, he could be argued to be labeled genius or inventor, he did do _something _ himself. Musk is all bark, no invention, no genius, just money in tech.
Nazi Germany made nice Volkswagons too, right? The trains ran great, etc… \s
(spoiler: the trains did not actually run great.)