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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   29802 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 21, 2023

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Elon Musk's Shadow Rule

tl;dr After initially donating Starlink terminals and providing free internet at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Musk realized that it's actually pretty expensive to keep it on in a warzone, and asked the Pentagon to help pay for it, or he would turn it off. Eventually they hammered out a contract. Also, he proposed a peace plan involving Russia keeping some territory, which was roundly booed.

By all accounts Starlink has been a massive boon to the Ukrainians, since their ability to communicate basically hinges on starlink. But because he wasn't willing to keep providing it for free, he's a pro putin shill and a traitor to the US, and the service should be nationalized. It's not like the US and other governments haven't dragged their feet on providing the best firepower (ATACMS, for example).

Perhaps the counteroffensive grinding to a halt means a new scapegoat is needed.

I was ready to agree that public opinion is dumb and people have unrealistic expectations. Then I read the article.

I still think people are being hyperbolic, but now I’m inclined to think the same of your summary. Leave the whataboutism and the hysterics about “nationalizing” Starlink to Twitter.

They’re calling Musk a shill because he brags about friendly chats with Putin. And he didn’t just decide to cut service out of his shrewd financial obligations; he had one of those chats and then (allegedly) chained Starlink to the Ukrainian side of the front. Those are pretty central examples to gloss over, don’t you think?

To be clear, I’m not sympathetic to the detractors. They dodged the entire procurement, contracting, etc. process out of urgency, and now it’s bitten them in the ass. The correct thing would have been to treat Musk as a vender (sic) and get him under contract before he went on another flight of fancy. The New Yorker isn’t going to win any awards for its performative surprise. I’m pretty sure they just hate and fear the guy.

But come on, your summary is just shilling in the other direction.

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