{"id":189571,"date":"2020-07-01T23:32:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T22:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/?p=189571"},"modified":"2020-07-01T23:32:37","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T22:32:37","slug":"elon-musks-coronavirus-self-own-to-go-down-in-the-history-of-self-owns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/?p=189571","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk&#039;s coronavirus self-own to go down in the history of self-owns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"c5b541d88d911dcbb84397def1a3492d\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- m -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3943282228430444\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"5751019935\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p> [ad_1]\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"id_text\">\n<p>All he had to do was keep his mouth shut.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Like so many of his fellow tech executives, Elon Musk believes that his success in one field connotes expertise in areas unrelated. This has gotten the billionaire CEO into trouble before (cough, <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/thailand-cave-rescue-diver-says-elon-musk-submarine-pr-stunt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">child submarine<\/a>, cough), but for whatever reason the advent of the coronavirus specifically teed up the <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/tech-ceo-fails-of-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">misstep-prone<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/elon-musk-red-pill-tweet-lilly-wachowski\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">redpiller<\/a> for what has to be the biggest series of self-owns from a tech exec so far this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With over <a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.who.int\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a half million and counting dead<\/a> and COVID-19 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2020\/06\/25\/coronavirus-live-updates-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cases spiking<\/a> in the US, the coronavirus has changed the world in too many ways to count. In early March, as the virus <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/culture\/9430\/chilling-italian-obituary-pages-show-the-rising-dead-from-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">visibly raged<\/a> overseas \u2014 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2020\/03\/21\/us\/coronavirus-us-cases-spread.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">picked up steam<\/a> in the U.S. \u2014 Musk did what Musk does best: wade woefully unprepared into a topic he knew little about.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Tesla and SpaceX CEO publicly <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/9331\/entitled-billionaire-elon-musk-thinks-coronavirus-panic-is-dumb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">declared<\/a> panic about the deadly coronavirus to be &#8220;dumb,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/9509\/elon-musks-coronavirus-tweets-somehow-dont-violate-twitters-new-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">highlighted<\/a> a possibly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/06\/15\/health\/fda-hydroxychloroquine-malaria.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dangerous drug<\/a> as a potential treatment, and <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/9509\/elon-musks-coronavirus-tweets-somehow-dont-violate-twitters-new-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claimed<\/a> that &#8220;kids are essentially immune&#8221; from the virus (they are not).<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-wrapper sort-rerender\">\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Kids are essentially immune, but elderly with existing conditions are vulnerable. Family gatherings with close contact between kids &amp; grandparents probably most risky.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1240758710646878208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 19, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Again, Musk didn&#8217;t need to be doing any of this. He could very well have stayed quiet and continued his life as a wealthy object of <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/trump-protect-elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump&#8217;s affection<\/a>. But, of course, he didn&#8217;t stop there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1240754657263144960\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Musk predicted<\/a> &#8220;close to zero new cases in US too by end of April,&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1240486275892662273\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">insisted<\/a> in mid-March that one of his companies would &#8220;make ventilators if there is a shortage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-wrapper sort-rerender\">\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We will make ventilators if there is a shortage<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1240486275892662273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 19, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"c5b541d88d911dcbb84397def1a3492d\" data-index=\"2\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- 2 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3943282228430444\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"5511153269\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Musk later claimed that he sent purchased ventilators to a long list of hospitals, however <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/04\/17\/tech\/elon-musk-ventilators-california\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CNN Business reported<\/a> at the time that many of the hospital in question said they received relatively inexpensive CPAP and BiPAP machines from Musk instead of the expensive and complicated ventilators. Companies that actually manufacture medical ventilators <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/experts-doubt-tesla-elon-musk-manufacture-ventilators\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">were not impressed<\/a> with Musk&#8217;s ventilator offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But wait, it gets worse. Instead of shutting up, Musk decided to <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/10280\/elon-musk-were-reopening-the-fremont-tesla-factory-arrest-me-if-you-want\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">feud with Alameda County public health officials<\/a> about the reopening of his Tesla plant. He called stay-at-home orders &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/10129\/elon-musk-calls-stay-at-home-order-fascist-during-tesla-earnings-call\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fascist<\/a>,&#8221; and reopened the Tesla plant. This, predictably, led to Tesla workers <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/mobility\/10608\/tesla-workers-reportedly-test-positive-for-covid-19-after-musk-forced-factory-reopening\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">testing positive<\/a> for the coronavirus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-wrapper sort-rerender\">\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected &amp; ignorant \u201cInterim Health Officer\u201d of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms &amp; just plain common sense!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1259159878427267072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 9, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Again, if Musk had merely stayed in his lane and allowed the public health experts to speak on matters of public health, then he would have avoided repeatedly showing his ass to the entire world. Instead he managed to dig himself a hole large enough to crash a Cybertruck into (yet still somehow <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/virginia-transit-officials-elon-musk-boring-company-tunnel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">only inspires mockery<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>SEE ALSO: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/experts-doubt-tesla-elon-musk-manufacture-ventilators\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Ventilator manufacturers aren&#8217;t impressed by Elon Musk&#8217;s offer<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is all starting to take a toll, even on diehard Musk fans. In late May, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/science\/archive\/2020\/05\/elon-musk-coronavirus-pandemic-tweets\/611887\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the <em>Atlantic<\/em> spoke with<\/a> a host of Musk boosters who, in the face of the CEO&#8217;s coronavirus-spurred unraveling, started having second thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sometimes it just seems like the smarter people are, the more vulnerable they are to overestimating how much they know about something outside of their specialty,&#8221; a Tesla stockholder and SpaceX fan told the publication. &#8220;&#8216;If I\u2019m an expert in X, then why wouldn\u2019t I be an expert in Y?'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This has long been a problem for Musk; the ongoing pandemic-instigated self-own just made it more apparent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, because this is Musk, the ongoing embarrassment that is his response to the coronavirus is sure to continue as long as the virus ravages the world (and possibly after that). In a year that&#8217;s full of tech executives making fools of themselves \u2014 Mark Zuckerberg&#8217;s repeated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/06\/21\/business\/media\/facebook-donald-trump-mark-zuckerberg.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">kowtowing<\/a> to Donald Trump and the fringe Right to <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/10802\/here-are-the-many-companies-pulling-their-ads-from-facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the likely cost<\/a> of tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars comes to mind \u2014 Musk&#8217;s continued insistence that he knows best, despite all evidence to the contrary, will never stop being a monumental self-own.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"c5b541d88d911dcbb84397def1a3492d\" data-index=\"5\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- 5 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3943282228430444\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"9258826580\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/10847\/elon-musks-coronavirus-self-own-to-go-down-in-the-history-of-self-owns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"c5b541d88d911dcbb84397def1a3492d\" data-index=\"3\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- 3 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3943282228430444\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"2884989920\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] All he had to do was keep his mouth shut.\u00a0 Like so many of his fellow tech executives, Elon Musk believes that his success in one field connotes expertise in areas unrelated. This has gotten the billionaire CEO into trouble before (cough, child submarine, cough), but for whatever reason the advent of the coronavirus &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":189572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=189571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189573,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189571\/revisions\/189573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/189572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=189571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=189571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=189571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}