Elon Musk, LGBTQ+, And A Conversation That Is Fair
I want to share my thoughts on recent events regarding Elon Musk, pronouns, LGBTQ+ rights, and how to approach this topic without harming anyone involved. It’s a painful topic to approach, and one that must be held with as much grace, kindness, love, patience, and compassion as one can handle. I will do my best.
Elon Musk recently had some backlash for his stance on pronouns — many think that he is anti-LGBTQ+ from his posting of a meme — a cartoon with a brash tone leading to controversy and confusion over the meaning.
Elon’s issue is with how pronoun usage is judged — he doesn’t hate pronouns in general and he doesn’t hate people who use them to self-identify. The meme, from how I interpreted it, may be calling into question the audacity of extreme groups that attack others for not using pronouns the way they deem fit.
Elon’s sharing of it incited a lot of hurt, anger, sadness, schadenfreude, and many other emotions from people on every side of the spectrum, and herein lies the problem: it’s a really hard and painful topic — one that for some could discriminate against their very human dignity.
The Problem
The problem is complex: Members of the LGBTQ+ community have been bullied, victimized, oppressed, and emotionally, psychologically, and physically abused for simply existing. Many have been killed. Think about this for a moment. Those like me who have gender and sexual identities more readily accepted by society will never go through the same things as those still struggling for their basic rights and recognition.
In my opinion, this is harmful to society — oppressing people because of who they are is wrong.
Did Elon Musk Discriminate Against LGBTQ+, or Is There a Misunderstanding?
This question is not mine to answer, but I can share what I saw, and I’m interested in what others saw. At first, with his stance on pronouns, it would seem like he did disrespect LGBTQ+. However, if you look at the message of the meme itself, it was poking fun at those attacking others for not using certain conventions, like they/them instead of he/him, to self-describe. I thought it was a pushback against others policing the language of one’s own self-description. Again, that’s how I saw it.
Scott Adams shared his thoughts in his YouTube series Real Coffee with Scott Adams, and what he said made sense to me. He noted that when Elon Musk complained about the aesthetics of the pronouns, he wasn’t bashing LGBTQ+ people but looking at them and the situation from an engineering perspective. “It just takes something that wasn’t a problem before and it makes it harder to navigate,” Adams said.
He also shared his thoughts on Elon’s critics accusing him of being anti-LGBTQ+ and asked what this had to do with Elon’s thought process on pronouns. “It has nothing to do with that. You know, Musk is an engineer. He’s simply taking one part of the problem, which is that the pronouns are awkward, and he’s isolating that problem and he’s saying, ‘Okay, we’ve got a problem with just these words around pronouns.’ It’s just a very engineering thing to say. Is it true? 100%. It adds a little bit of friction or complication. It creates a situation where you can be wrong where before it was hard to be wrong. That has nothing to do with whether you love or appreciate LGBTQ+. It’s a completely independent, isolated little engineering thought that could not be more harmless, indeed.”
While Scott Adams had a point, I don’t think it was harmless, and I do think it was careless — but at the same time, this is a conversation that needs to be had. The issue is that this conversation about what standards we use to treat everyone fairly is painful for many, many people. How do we talk about painful subjects without hurting someone?
How do we approach this without hurting an entire community, or hurting Elon Musk who happens to be someone that is hated by those who are quick to judge, eager to dictate terms, and hungry to cancel? America’s political identity culture — on both sides — becomes more harshly dogmatic as the extremes widen.
The extreme far-left sees Elon as a problematic person and discounts every good thing he has done while zeroing in on his every mistake. They paint him as an ultra villain, and when he makes a mistake, they amplify it to the point that even major news organizations are reporting on it.
On the flip side, the extreme far-right is no bundle of roses. They use the very meme to embolden their attacks on the LGBTQ+ community in the same manner that the Proud Boys and other right-wing domestic terror groups use Trump. They attack people who use LGBTQ+ related pronouns — sometimes physically. Elon Musk definitely does not support these extreme groups. However …
The New Problem in a Can
When Elon shared that meme, he opened a can of worms with a blowtorch. Many people felt burned by those fires, and others felt justified. I personally felt sad because I know that if Elon was a truly vile person, he wouldn’t have helped me. He wouldn’t have helped the children at Flint Schools, and he wouldn’t have helped Louisiana during the disastrous hurricanes we had just 3 months ago. We have seen many, many instances of him caring for others.
So, here is the new problem: How can we open this can of worms without actually harming the worms, the person opening the can, the can itself, or the blade used to open it? When you cut something, it separates — there is no gently peeling off of the bandage — it’s going to hurt either way. So how can we go about this without hurting people intentionally or by accident?
We can’t.
Good Faith & Bad Faith Actors on the Left & the Right
And this is where it gets tricky. We can’t open that can of worms without hurting people, and both sides know this. Now, before I go any further, I want you to know that by the left and the right, I am not coming for any one person, idea, or thought, but pointing out the two very different groups that are equally benefitting from that can of worms being opened in any way possible.
The Right & The Alt Right
Both left and right regressive elements are responsible for their parts in creating and/or influencing the problem. The alt right, the most harshly conservative, from what I’ve seen, is mostly influenced by the American Evangelical interpretation of Christianity — now, I’m not saying all Christians are bad, or that Evangelicals are, but I am pointing out that certain religious institutions are influencing the mainstream thinking of the right. These values include that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, that transgender people aren’t real, and that you can’t be a woman if you are born with male parts — that type of thinking.
The most extreme fringe factions of the right believe that Black people should be enslaved again, that Jews should die, and that anyone who isn’t White is inferior. They, in my opinion, are the worst on this side. They twist religious texts to lure their following into believing that they are right and everyone else is wrong and that the left wants to take away what’s “rightfully theirs.”
For the most part, conservatives are good people with more traditional sensibilities and a patriotic love of country, but the alt right are much more politically active and loud.
The Left & The Regressive Left
The left is the group that advocates for civil rights for all. In fact, I identify as left — or liberal. I don’t think we should seek to harm anyone (unless we are defending ourselves, but that’s a different thing altogether) and we should strive to treat people as they treat us. We should also strive to be kind. To me, the left is the force that fights for human rights and sovereignty of the individual over their mind and body. I agree with this intention.
The extreme fringe of the left, however, elevates these ideas to fanatical dogma. They police words such as pronouns and even go as far as to attack people for not having them in their bios. Now, I haven’t had this happen to me, but I’ve had friends who were accused of being anti LGBTQ+ because they identified as he/him and were born biologically a male. This is as wrong as any attack on someone for how they self-identify.
Also, another toxic trend that the regressive element of the left has pushed is the idea that you are automatically an oppressor if you don’t agree with every aspect of their ideology.
Where Do We Go From Here?
My friend, Hart Deer, shared his thoughts with me:
“Elon’s response about his support of ‘trans’ and the aesthetics of pronouns probably dissatisfied everyone and riled up those most likely to take offense. The Bible Belt part of the American right would not like his support of that community, and the extreme Orwellian corner of the American left would not like his use of the term ‘trans’ or that he feels any downside to being careful with pronouns. And his answer may have come off as too vague or short to the rest of us.
“This highlights the problem: He HAD to be vague and brief in his response; because there are two extremes out there looking to destroy him if he doesn’t bend to every nuance they want. This makes real conversation impossible. This creates a world in which individuals have secret thoughts about how the world works, and never lay out their ideas because they know they will be endlessly hunted for not picking the proper team.
“It’s a world we’ve all helped create, and it’s a world we must each work to correct, to where we can have the hardest painful conversations with love, patience, and understanding, and we don’t scare off people who have their own point of view.
“I wish we could make it safe for Elon to open up and engage on this topic without fearing trial and execution by media.”
In conclusion, I think we can all learn from this lesson that Elon unknowingly set into play. We need to understand that approaching these topics will hurt someone, and as we open that can of worms, we need to be prepared to be supportive, loving, patient, and compassionate to all who the opening of that can can affect.
All images courtesy Tesla.
Tesla team celebrates Pride Month 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/O3PTdWbPeg
— Tesla (@Tesla) June 25, 2018
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Latest CleanTechnica.TV Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
