Although it sounds like it, its roots have to be much deeper. Elon Musk sees his children as props that he spends little time with, pumping gametes into his serial wives and throwing money at them, and it’s unsurprising that at least one of them wants nothing to do with him. Musk has disowned Vivian Wilson, his transgender daughter, for betraying him by not being the person he wanted her to be.
In a controversial interview with Daily Wire on Monday, the Tesla CEO said that his transgender daughter Vivian, who transitioned in 2022, was
killed by the woke-mind virus.
I was essentially tricked into signing documents for one of my older boys, Xavier,the billionaire told psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson, using the 20-year-old’s deadname and incorrect gender, per Page Six. Musk claims that he was essentially deceived into signing documents to allow for the child’s medical gender reassignment.This is before I had any understanding of what was going on. COVID was going on, so there was a lot of confusion, and I was told Xavier might commit suicide if he doesn’t [make the change], Musk continued, again insensitively referring to his daughter by her deadname.
Elsewhere in the interview, he said he
losthis child and said again that he had beentricked.
They call it ‘deadnaming’ for a reason,he added.The reason they call it ‘deadnaming’ is because your son is dead. My son Xavier is dead — killed by the woke-mind virus.The SpaceX founder added,
I vowed to destroy the woke-mind virus after that. And we’re making some progress.
Now Jordan Peterson…that guy belongs in a comic book, he’s even got the costume already. Musk is just a terrible father.
There’s this awful patriarchal belief that children are extensions of yourself, rather than autonomous, independent people who will follow their own unique paths and become something other than your puppet. Musk has it bad. Vivian Wilson is her own self, and that offends Elon Musk.
I grew up as one of six kids, all different, all complicated, and while we all loved our father, we were not him at all…and he respected that, helped us as much as he could, but let us go our own way. That’s how I feel about my own kids: they are good people, but they are not me, and I wouldn’t want them to be.
Vivian looks pretty alive to me. She’d probably be more interesting to talk to than Elon Musk.
Hey, how is he planning to destroy
his imaginary woke-mind virus
? Since it doesn’t exist, and is nothing but the reification of his own fears and misconceptions, the only way to defeat it is by waking up himself.
Just a note, Justine is his ex and mother of his daughter, Vivian.
For the record, “dead name” is because the name is dead, not the person. It’s language that came out of the trans community, so it would be nice if cis people didn’t try to distort it
He is much more than that.
Musk is an all around terrible human being.
All his billions of dollars has done is allow the inner Musk to come out.
It is not a good person in the least.
The latest is that he is a rabid Trump fan and has pledged to give Trump $45 million a month to win the next election.
For the record once again, I will never buy anything remotely associated with Elon Musk.
No Telsa EVs. I liked Twitter but never look at X.
I will never buy launch services on a SpaceX rocket. (Yeah, I know. I was never going to buy a satellite launch on SpaceX anyway. It’s the thought that counts here.)
Not a super villain, Musk is more like the character Peter Isherwood in “Don’t Look Up.” He’s
A husk of a human being that is So focused on himself, he can’t even see his child as an individual.
I’m not the only one who votes with their buying decisions against Musk.
and
A lot of people won’t spend their money on things associated with Elon Musk for the same reasons.
He is right up there with Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-a.
Sad for Musk. In a J.D. Vance led world, Musk would lose a vote by disowning his child.
JD Vance Says Parents Should Have Bigger Say in Democracy Than Non-Parents. Here’s the Context
Who is to say that the parent is the best choice to represent the interests of the children? And why am I flashing back to the 3/5 com promise?
raven @ # 3: … [Musk] has pledged to give Trump $45 million a month …
Now he’s backed off, vaguely:
Just about everyone who has dealt with Elon Musk ends up regretting it and disliking him. He’s got enough billions of dollars that he can afford to alienate the entire world and not care about it.
SpaceX is largely a creation of NASA and the Pentagon.
They received something like $15 billion in contracts and direct subsidies to get started.
Now the US military intends to create their own Starlink satellite communication system.
It dawned on them when Musk came out for Russia, the enemy of the free world against Ukraine, that depending on a communications system owned by a cartoon villain like Musk was a really bad idea.
Essentially they are ending up paying for Starlink twice.
Musk claims that he was essentially deceived into signing documents to allow for the child’s medical gender reassignment.
First reaction: So much for all that “Elon Musk the visionary space-genius entrepreneur” shtick.
Second reaction: What the hell was he high on when he signed those documents? I’ve heard rumors about him doing far more dangerous drugs than weed, and this makes me wonder if he ever even got sober to deal with his own kids’ issues or decisions.
I wouldn’t call them subpar villains either. I just wouldn’t call them.
Oh, and Third reaction: Why is such an obvious drug-abuser getting so much love and support from the War-On-Drugs party?
@3 @7: Interesting mix of two rich people famous for not paying their bills.
It’s not just Musk, the whole techbro scene has gone evil:
The moral bankruptcy of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz
Who’d have guessed a eugenicist would be a terrible parent?
raven: Can’t the DoD just seize or expropriate Starlink assets? I can’t imagine the US MILITARY not having any legal means to do so, especially when it turns out the assets’ owner is having friendly chats with an aggressive foreign power AND unilaterally interfering with the mission he’s been paid to support.
Raging Bee @11: The war on drugs is only against poor people. Rich people are free to do all the drugs they want, otherwise the war-on-drugs-party would oppose Trump.
At least some people knew from the start that he’s an asshole.
[Parents] have a smaller voice in some ways — in very many cases — than the people who don’t have any children at all.
In what ways, exactly?
Bad birds flock together.
raven @ #8 — And for evidence of your point, Tesla’s (and Google’s) poor earnings results are hitting the market this morning. I have a friend who bought a Tesla a few years ago. He likes his car but despises Musk. He also has a trans daughter.
Reginald Selkirk @ #12 — Don’t leave out Peter Thiel. As I understand it, he’s got something to do with JD Vance, among other things. (I was going to object to your “whole techbro scene has gone evil” because I’m in tech, but realized I missed the “techbro” part…I don’t think I fit that category.)
May he go all in on fighting this “woke” virus that he spends his vast fortune and ends up in a refrigerator box down by the river with Alex Jones.
Raging Bee @11: I have to agree with Microraptor. The War on Drugs isn’t a war on drugs. It is a war on the lower class and Black people in particular. Rich White people will always be able to get cocaine or whatever suits their fancy.
@18: Got it. You’re a robro, not a techbro.
Reginal Selkirk @ #21 — It’s a play on my name.
@22 Don’t Explain the Joke
This was why he bought Xitter.
He can get rid of the woke mind virus by keeping his mind sleepwalking, which I suppose has been going on for a while.
@4, Peter Isherwell of “Don’t Look Up” was a parody of Elon Musk, actually.
#14 @ Raging Bee
You might be confused about the things that the industry-captured Department of Defense is doing.
The purpose of the Military Industrial Complex is to profligately spend money. They are literally doing what they think they should be doing. Not only did they get to fling away zillions of USD once, now they get to do it all over again. Wheeeeee!
From the Lebensborn to the Quiverfuls, fascists sure do have an insane obsession with breeding.
This man is deeply unintelligent. Just a walking advertisement for failing upward and proof there is no meritocracy.
I don’t follow his logic. Why isn’t everyone with the woke mind virus transitioning? Youd think having a dozen children might wake you up to the fact that people are their own and you can’t control their thoughts or identity.
@6 Selkirk
Vance is an authoritarian who frequently looks upon other people as potential slaves.
Xpost from Mano Singham yesterday.
This is forced birthing and female slavery.
If you don’t own and control your own body and aren’t free to move about like the rest of the population, what are you? A slave.
FWIW, being pregnant and giving birth is unpaid work, usually but not always voluntary.
Some women are in fact, paid for being pregnant and giving birth though. It can be a paid job. “The price of US surrogacy ranges from $110,000 to $170,000 for most families.”
We’ve been here before. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act enabled people to reclaim their property even if their slaves had escaped to a free state.
Vance wants to pass a law a lot like this, only for pregnant women.
The GOP isn’t for small government. They are for dictatorial government.
More family values from the GOP:
Trump told nephew to let his disabled son die, then move to Florida, book says
That’s not why they call it deadnaming.
I wrote about this just recently because people should know what the word meant to trans communities when it was coined, and what it still means in too many circles. Yes, there’s drift, but I don’t really give a fuck what Musk wants the word to mean or think it means. He’s appropriate trans culture to twist it into something it never was.
Anyway, I think anyone discussing deadnaming should learn (or be reminded) what deadnaming actually is.
https://pervertjustice.substack.com/p/apparently-even-people-who-work-with
A week or so ago, The Phantom daily comic strip started a parody on Mr. Musk, in the strip they refer to him as Ian Mollusk. Though that was not only funny but pretty creative.
CD: When a RICH MAN says a word, it means exactly what he says it means, no more, no less. (Subject to change without notice.)
seachange: I wasn’t talking about the “Military Industrial Complex,” I was talking about the actual military — the guys in uniform who give the orders and have actual responsibility for outcomes and lives under their command.
Woke mind virus is just another chowderheaded offshoot of that horrific meme idea Dawkins unleashed upon us because he was uninformed in sociology, cultural anthropology, memory research history (sad given his background), etc.
Virus is a pathogenic analogy not unlike those used to disparage Jews in Nazi Germany. The “bacillus” etc…
See: https://www.wiesenthal.com/assets/pdf/deadly-new-virus-intersects.pdf
So when you’re comparing groups you despise to a virus you are disparaging people in pathogenic terms not unlike how Jews were characterized in Nazi Germany.
But I say we turn it around. Viruses were involved in one of the great evolutions of mammalian novelty:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6177113/
So a woke mind virus can yield beneficial novelty too, just like an actual endogenous retrovirus. Wokeness is a placental scaffolding for greatness.
raven@30 Selkirk@6
Selkirk had me scratching my head over the 3/5 compromise. There might be something there. I almost posted a reply earlier but perceived disanalogies were bothering me. Intriguing idea though given the fashy forced birth turn we are about to suffer if Harris doesn’t stave it off for another four years. She is our only hope.
This is not a super-villain origin story
Unless, of course, Vivian becomes a super-villain…
Akira MacKenzie #28
And simultaneously, a complete disregard for the actual well-being of children.
It’s not strictly a patriarchal thing. It’s more of an issue with narcissism, which itself plays a role in the fragile male egos fueling patriarchy. Parents who see their children as extensions of themselves are pretty much always narcissists, though not all narcissistic parents are men. Mothers can also be narcissists. I unfortunately speak from personal experience as the daughter of a narcissistic mother.
There’s an interesting gender dynamic involved in a narcissistic parent’s relationship with their kids. The child of the same gender as the narcissistic parent usually (but not always) ends up the scapegoat and has to endure the bulk of the overt emotional and/or physical abuse. I don’t know that there’s much research yet regarding narc parents and transgender kids. I haven’t had an opportunity to look into it yet. Though, it’s sadly all too common for a narcissistic parent to reject any child that doesn’t fulfill that parent’s expectations (for good or for bad). If you’re the golden child, then you’d better always be a positive representation of that parent or they’ll tear you down and discard you like garbage. If you’re the scapegoat, then you’d better internalize that you’re irreparably broken and unlovable or the parent will find a way to make life even worse for you than it already is. It’s basically psychological warfare.
The kids are just a source of narcissistic supply, nothing more. Nor is there any legitimate love. Affection or approval is always conditional upon fulfilling your assigned role and can change by the minute with whatever the parent needs in that moment. Needless to say that it really screws a person up. Tragically, at least one of the children often goes on to become a narcissist themselves, which perpetuates the generational cycle of abuse.
I think it’s also important to add that narcissists tend to flock to each other, so it’s no coincidence that Musk, Peterson, and Trump are all admirers of each other. I think understanding narcissism is critically important because it’s really the foundation of their behavior and how they interact with the world. As well, the more people understand it, the better they can support those who have a narcissistic parent. Most of us suffer in silence.
I sincerely hope Vivian has a good support network, can find peace within herself, and knows that it’s not her fault. Disconnecting with the toxic parent is the standard of care in these scenarios. As awful as it sounds, Elon wanting to disown her is probably for the better.
@ 39
But how ELSE are they going to separate those strong and worthy enough to pass on their genes from the inferior and degenerate? I mean all that affectionate parenting and education will just breed wimps. /s
As far as I know (and I might be incorrect) this framing of the story is a very belated attempt by Musk to flip the script of what happened.
In early 2022 Vivian Wilson turned 18, and being of legal age, she went to the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, to petition for a change of name, recognition of change of gender, and issuance of a new birth certificate. My understanding at the time was that she was seeking legal separation from him – not the other way around.
The fact that now, over two years later the toxic parent is still unable to understand that his daughter is an independent adult living her own life completely separate of his, just shows how unfit he is to be a parent and what a bubble of right-wing authoritarian delusion he lives in.
To quote Vivian herself, in explaining her reason for the change of name:
Vivian Jenna Wilson, 18 April 2022 (declared under penalty of perjury)
Xanthë, yeah.
It has the vibe of “You can’t quit, because I’ve fired you!”.
I think the elongated muskrat should be classified legally as a venomous invertebrate life form.
And, while I’m naming invertebrates, it just hit me, we should start calling him J.D. Vancehole.
@Crip Dyke (32)
Yes, thank you. I had forgotten that
I already think of him as Shady-pants. I barely knew anything about him until the convention, but he seems like he is a bog standard misogynist who would be at home in the slymepit with the rest of the neckbeards and dude-bros.
The one thing that amazes me about JD Vancehole (I am so stealing that) is how he manages to somehow have even less charisma than Ron DeSantis.
Xanthë @ 42: I also recall the daughter having disavowed her father. But I guess this is confirmation that the disavowing is mutual.
John Morales, numerobis:
To me, this is not more of a vibe of “you can’t fire me, because I fired you” or mutual disavowal.
This is a direct attempt to continue trying to fuck over his daughter’s life when she has been absolutely clear she wants nothing to do with him.
…a bog standard misogynist who would be at home in the slymepit with the rest of the neckbeards and dude-bros.
A neckbro?
The one thing that amazes me about JD Vancehole (I am so stealing that) is how he manages to somehow have even less charisma than Ron DeSantis.
Trump would have done better picking Sarah Palin.
Xanthë, fair enough.
I think a lot of people hate musk over his politics and I think that’s unfair to do, but on the most basic human level, this was a terrible thing to do to your kid. I hope she’s doing ok.
Also, to be fair you are working with black widow spiders. You want to build a super villain? Come on. Just saying
too much of “politics” these days seems to consist of arguing over who gets to count as people.
I’ve no patience for that. If your “politics” are just verbose bigotry, then you can fuck off with that nonsense.
I don’t like musk because he is an exploitative billionaire, who promotes bigotry
@.54. ducksmcclucken : “I think a lot of people hate musk over his politics and I think that’s unfair to do..”
Why so please?
I mean Musk’s politics are his choice and have become ever more extreme to the point where he is supporting & aiding literal Nazis – and Putin as well Not just olding uttterly repellent and toxic harmful political views but giving them extra powe rwith his undeserved wealth. Why is it “unfair” in your view to hate him for that?
There are so many legitimate reasons to hate Musk sure but hating him for his political views also seems very fair and well justified to me. Again, its NOT just him holding such fascist eugenicist, bigoted, unbased in reality political positions its also him empowering them for others and making the world so much worse by them too.
This guy somehow seems … more honest than Musk
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/immortal-3
I’d say the daughter lost a father more than the father lost a son, but then again if the father is Elon Musk not much is lost.
And, to massively reinforce all this:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/111064/beware-the-mump
Beware the Mump
by Robert Reich | July 25, 2024
Donald Trump | Elon Musk
@54 ducksmcclucken wrote: I think a lot of people hate musk over his politics and I think that’s unfair to do,
I reply: When his ‘politics’ means he uses that massive wealth and his horrible site: Xitter (correctly pronounced as shitter) to try to destroy all honesty and decency, that is no longer ‘politics’, that is evil sociopathy. Everything he stands for is hateful and destructive and bigoted. (am I being too subtle?)
Crip Dyke at 32: I had not read your piece before, and when I did just, out loud to my wife, I ended up crying rage tears through your powerful words. If you have not already read it, people, go do it right now.
This place has been an amazingly important educational foundation for me for many years now, and my ignorance often embarrasses me. I’ve always considered myself a compassionate person, but when you don’t even know the simplest facts about a group that suffers every day just for being themselves, it hurts like hell to find out just how out of touch you are.
People can be so utterly shitty, so completely heartless. Of course, we’re not all that way, but, damn, too many folks who are get admired by the disgusting scum who support them, and who get fulfillment out of othering and hate. Elon Musk, Trump, and all the other narcissists who just seem to be everywhere in places of influence and power right now, are such garbage human beings. Lauren Walker at comment 40 has some excellent insights. I hope lots more research is done on narcissism, if only so we can spread the word and find ways to keep them out of positions of power.
@62 Paul K wrote:
Crip Dyke at 32: I had not read your piece before, and when I did just, out loud to my wife, I ended up crying rage tears through your powerful words. If you have not already read it, people, go do it right now.
https://pervertjustice.substack.com/p/apparently-even-people-who-work-with
I reply: of course, you’re right. I read it and whole heartedly agree. This world needs a lot more empathy and a lot less selfish, hateful bigotry!
Lauren @40, you are right.
I’m surprised that Musk knew what the kid’s first name was before she transitioned (he probably looked it up for this interview.)
He just scatters his (superior) genes to make sure that the white race stays the majority, and should he ever notice the resulting offspring, it’s for nothing but to feed his narcissism.