The demonisation of Elon Musk is a ritual
How Elon Musk's South African origins are being used against him by the authoritarian Left
Elon Musk’s bid for Twitter has been widely welcomed by everyone except establishment left-liberal commentariat. And inevitably, his South African origins are being used against him. This shouldn’t be surprising for anyone who’s been as familiar with this situation for decades as I am. I’ll explain it here.
South Africa occupies a place in contemporary left-liberal mythology along with Nazi Germany and the American South. It is a full-fledged religious belief system: the West needs to “redeem” itself by essentially dismantling itself. The drive to delegitimise the presence of Europeans in Southern Africa (South Africa and Rhodesia) was really a precursor for what was to come - a drive to delegitimise the “settler-colonial” countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, whose existence is deemed an original sin. We are not dealing with rational people here, since these “invaded” countries in their eyes must “redeem” themselves by having their borders permanently open. This is madness we’re talking about.
Through this prism, Elon Musk is to be vilified because he defends freedom of speech. The Left in its drive to reinvent Western history as a Nazi/Apartheid horror story, apparently believes that if we are to be “protected” from an imaginary resurgence of “Nazis” and “white supremacy”, there needs to be censorship and restrictions on freedom of speech reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.
Elon Musk, in face of the despicable smears against him, is all too familiar with the situation. Censorship was a tool of the National Party regime in South Africa, which also had a monopoly on broadcasting (TV was only introduced in the 1970s). Newspapers and book authors, nevertheless, laboured courageously in opposition to government policy at the time. Elon’s father, Errol Musk, was a city councillor for the major opposition party in that period, which gives him anti-Apartheid credentials.
The same party, the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), was best known as the party of Helen Suzman and the antecedent of today’s Democratic Alliance (DA) which is the main opposition party to the ruling ANC. Suzman and another anti-Apartheid campaigner, Alan Paton, were also notably opposed to sanctions and divestment which angered Western virtue-signallers. They may have been liberals, but they were firmly rooted in and believed in Western political and cultural values.
The cold facts are that African nations and others who vigorously denounced South Africa in international forums were often doing so to evade accountability for the atrocities they committed against their own people. The regimes set up by “pan-African” heroes such as Sekou Toure (Guinea) and Kwame Nkrumah (Guinea), not to mention Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe), turned out to be police states were dissent was crushed, and people were often tortured and murdered on a far greater scale than under the NP regime. Furthermore, the elevation of the ANC an be explained in the documentary film Tainted Heroes.
South Africa’s descent into failed state status, highlighted by the wave of riots and looting in 2021 (which did more damage economically than similar riots in the USA in 2020), has seemed insufficient to demolished this pillar of faith for liberals.
Perhaps Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should demolish that other pillar of faith - the need to demonise all opposition as “Nazis” - seeing how it has been used by the Russian state to commit atrocities against the Ukrainian people. But I doubt that will suffice to demolish blind faith in such falsehoods.
Great article, David.
We know so little about the true political machinations of South Africa, past and present, here in Australia. Really appreciate the insight you have provided.
The left have certainly cast Elon Musk as a pariah. What they fail to see is that this man has done more to turn capital into productive, job creating, revenue producing assets than virtually anyone else in history.
The fact that he is able to combine his capitalist profit motive with actions to achieve a better version of society than the cesspit the left aspire to, should be applauded, not maligned. Musk is the ultimate actualizer of the double bottom line.
In my mind, Elon Musk is fast becoming one of the most influential and significant figures of the 21st century, and rightfully so. Based on his achievements to date, history will remember him well. If only his contemporaries, and society at large, could be so benevolent.