Thread by @PnictogenHorses

there's a phenomenon that @realDonaldTrump, @elonmusk, @mtaibbi, and a host of other famous and influential persons—especially celebrity #CEOs—have done well to exploit. they've milked this phenomenon for every ounce and every drop of social credit that can be wrung.

(1/x)

it's simply this: @elonmusk *looks* incompetent, which somehow "proves" he's a master planner.

somehow the strings of public embarrassments and temper tantrums and arbitrary decisions adds up to a grand strategy. that's what an #ElonMusk acolyte would say, anyway.

(2/x)

as always, I can't guess as to whether @mtaibbi or @bariweiss or @ShellenbergerMD or any of the other smaller disasters who've crowded round the larger disaster that is @elonmusk *really* believes in the man. I use words like "cult" but I don't know if it's accurate.

(3/x)

in any case, the elaborate pretence that @elonmusk MUST know what he's doing is but one instance of a much larger-scale problem. #capitalism and Western civilization and #Christianity are all suffering from this ailment: they're full of people who ask to be taken on faith.

(4/x)

it's one of the most reliable traits of these clowns: no matter how many times they've been refuted or embarrassed, they *keep going*, with the expectation that all their words be taken at face value.

@elonmusk does this. @mtaibbi does this. even @MattWalshBlog does it.

(5/x)

it's their secret to success, and it's an artifact of #Christianity: it's easy to pretend like you always know what you're doing, if you pretend (like @dalepartridge or @DouthatNYT does) that when you open your mouth, it's really God who's doing all the talking.

(6/x)

and God makes no mistakes, so that "proves" @dalepartridge makes no mistakes, and it "proves" that people like @elonmusk and @realDonaldTrump make no mistakes, because they're but instruments in the hands of the #Christian God.

I'm not convinced. are you?

~Mona Drafter

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