Before I dive in, I want to share that I believe in free speech, and I believe in free press. I don’t like how our President is labeling the media as the enemy of the people, even though the media sure is acting like it is, however it goes deeper than that. Let me explain.
The Media isn’t one big entity out to get you. It’s one big entity made up of smaller entities made up of smaller entities. In other words, it’s made up of people with a variety of backgrounds, interests, and experiences in life. So no, the media itself isn’t against anyone or thing, but instead, it’s a tool. When you have a large group of people who have a huge audience, they often get paid to promote things. This is where advertising comes to play.
However, there has been a dark trend: Whenever someone says something about the media, it not only gets defensive, it tries to shut that person down. Elon Musk made a statement basically saying that the media needed to be checked. There is a lot of false information being spread around and let’s face it–negativity pays more. People click on negative headlines and those clicks equal dollars for whichever company is producing the most read or talked about content.
Elon’s ‘War’ With The Media
First off, Elon Musk is not at war with the press. He simply made a statement. It was his right. He is an American citizen and is entitled to the basic rights given to all of us. However, the media is at war with him. Many members of the press are launching attacks on Elon. They mock his name, vilify him and trash his companies. In fact, the media is bullying him. They mocked him and accused him of being against the media when in fact he is for the media.
Something needs to be done to reward consistent, high quality journalism. Some in media are absurdly indignant before even seeing the product. Odd …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 25, 2018
A great example is the Thai rescue incident. Elon was asked to help. He helped. Then he was mocked by the press. The Thai Prime Minister called upon the press to back off of Elon. Then a cave explorer, who the media relentlessly insisted was a cave rescue diver (in some articles) viciously attacked Elon on live television saying, “shove the sub where the sun doesn’t shine” which is a common sexual innuendo. Elon, like any other human being, clapped back. I probably would have clapped back harder if that were aimed at me, but I’m a Scorpio.
The media then portrayed the alleged rescue diver as a victim by claiming that Elon Musk attacked him first. Yet, my question is why go on live TV with sexual innuendos about submarines and places on your body where the sun doesn’t shine, but get mad at Elon clapping back?
Today, I saw something on Twitter that inspired me to write this article. It was another attack on Elon Musk.
So Elon Musk’s new “joke” startup, the Boring Co., needed a lot of help from @SpaceX. But almost all of any future benefits will flow to @elonmusk himself. This vexed even some of his biggest fans. https://t.co/JPepzmRqR4 pic.twitter.com/wMd0B3tkxr
— Rob Copeland (@realrobcopeland) December 17, 2018
There have been more negative press articles than positive press articles about Elon Musk and his companies which affect Tesla. To be honest, I believe this is an attack on both Tesla and Elon. And when I say an attack on Tesla, I mean Tesla shareholders, Tesla fans and Tesla owners. The reason why is because the media has such a huge influence. Whenever there is negative press, Tesla stocks tend to go down. Meaning, they lose value.
The media has a lot of influence on everything so when they say, “This person is bad,” people blindly believe them without doing their research. People in the press point to Elon and mock his flamethrower, his electric cars, him wanting to go to Mars.
Another problem in the media are reports of companies like Bloomberg News who pay some of its journalists for publishing “market-moving” stories. They have an incentive to publish negative, and potentially false, stories to drive stock prices down. It seems apparent that the short-sellers are pushing these stories to be published in order to manipulate the market for their own profit.
Why is that? Answer: because we live in a society that says you can be anything you want to be and follow your dreams, but the moment you decide to do it, society roots for your failure. This culture is toxic. This culture is amplified by our media, a tool. The media isn’t the enemy of the people, but a tool. It’s also a tool we, the people, can also use.
The Good Thing About All Of This
Believe it or not, there is a good thing coming out of this. Tesla is constantly in the news. Elon is constantly in the news. People are seeing him and his impact. Some may not understand it, but others will do their research and realize, like I did earlier this year, that Elon isn’t just some billionaire living in his own fantasyland. Elon Musk is using every penny he gets to advance humanity as a whole.
My question is this: why are we, humanity, trying to bring him down? Why do people want to see others fail? Are we that insecure about ourselves as a whole? Why is it always the smart kid in school who is bullied and told he won’t amount to anything?
I’ve been bullied. I have been told I would fail. I’ve also been told the opposite. I chose to believe in myself and achieve my dreams. Every dream or goal I had, I achieved, but you can not achieve your goals without some type of failure to teach you that there are many ways to meet your goals. And sometimes, it takes a failure to make you see that you didn’t really fail.
I want to end this article with a reminder that your voice matters. Every blogger, podcaster, vlogger has a voice. We all impact the people closest to us. Let us come together and help Elon Musk do what he is setting out to do: advance humanity. Whether it’s a blog or a video or even a simple like and retweet on Twitter, everything you do matters.
About The Author
Johnna Crider is one of the Tesla Social writers. She is inspired by Elon Musk and Tesla as well as the many people in the Tesla community who are positive and care about the world we live in. Johnna is also a jewelry designer who gifted Elon one of her designs and you can learn more about her art here.
Tesla Social is mostly about the social aspects of the Tesla community. There are many stories like this that bring the community together and have fun. Do you have a story to share? email us at: teslasocialclub@gmail.com You can also tweet to us at Tesla Social or reach out to Johnna.
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