Culture matters. And it matters especially where the Tesla billionaire was born and raised.
To Americans — and probably many others as well — Elon Musk’s manner and behavior are something of an enigma. Why, they ask, does a billionaire act like him? Why does he have the strange humor he does? “Why does he say things like that?” they ask in frustration.
Many of the Tesla CEO’s comments do seem purposely designed simply to be silly, and thus to show how much he enjoys silliness. On the very day before his takeover of Twitter was finalized, he renamed himself “Chief Twit” on his Twitter bio, a title he later changed to “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator” after he was deluged with grievances. And he loves digging at the norms of polite society — “stirring the pot,” as they say in South Africa. In November 2021, he tweeted, “At least 50% of my tweets were made on a porcelain throne,” then added, “It gives me solace.” He even challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight.
Musk’s humor is deeply South African, where bluntness is the norm, even among women, and offending others isn’t a major concern.
People ask, “How can such a prominent person do such absurd things? Doesn’t he care that they cause people to misunderstand him, urge others to ignore him and denigrate him?” I’ve heard people try to explain this in all manner of ways: that he’s clueless about people because of his autism, that he’s adolescent at base, that he just loves to shock people.
I’ve never had those reactions, and the reason is simple: That’s what people have been saying about me for years. Like me, I think it’s simply that he doesn’t give a fig if people think he’s being ridiculous because he enjoys what he’s doing much too much.
Now, I don’t claim to be Elon Musk’s clone, or even to know him well enough to write this from a position of knowledge. I’ve never interviewed him — not that he’d let me — and I’ve never met him, though he lives not 20 miles from me in Austin, Texas. I certainly lack his genius, and I’m not a billionaire, or even faintly rich. I’m just a retired academic who now writes fiction about the later Roman Empire.
Musk’s humor is deeply South African, where bluntness is the norm, even among women, and offending others isn’t a major concern. People are expected to be tough enough to handle it, and there’s a special satisfaction in cutting down the pretentious. When Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris and dubbed herself a childless cat lady, Musk posted: “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.” Those eager to prove their enlightened and feminist views found it crude and tasteless. Every South African I know found it hilarious.
