What is it called when Elon Musk, a grown man often called a “genius,” gets on the presidential stage and makes a Nazi salute? Supposedly it’s an “awkward gesture.”
During his speech, Musk beat his chest then raised his right arm at an angle identical to the Nazi salute, repeated the action, and then seconds later said, “my heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured.”
While major news outlets have tried to cover this PR disaster by saying it was simply an “awkward gesture,” the truth is it was more than a Nazi salute. It was a test to see how much bigotry the American people are willing to tolerate, and it’s one that we have failed.
His fans have tried to justify it using autism, which Musk has admitted to having. Yet, I grew up beside friends and classmates with autism spectrum disorder, and they never accidentally held up a Nazi salute. They did not have the same resources or education as the richest man in the world, but they knew not to.
Other baseless arguments used to justify it were that it was an “awkward gesture” or a “Roman salute.” So, have you ever “awkward” gestured your way into doing a Nazi salute?
While it is true that a Roman Salute exists, BBC News said, “The Roman salute was widely used in Italy by Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party, before later being adopted by Adolf Hitler in Germany.”
Double whammy! A symbol used by not one but two fascist parties.
Still, his supporters will stop at nothing to prove it was not a Nazi Salute, even if it’s to their detriment. At the National Pro-Life Summit, Michigan priest Calvin Robinson made the same gesture and quoted Musk saying “my heart goes out to you” while doing so. His license was promptly revoked as stated on the Anglican Catholic Churches’ website.
Gestures offensive or not have consequences. When Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem to take a stand against police brutality and racial injustice, he was slammed as being unpatriotic and told that “politics do not belong in sports.” The action nearly cost him his NFL career. Yet, bigotry, which is no different than fascism, has a place on the stage of American Politics.
In another desperate attempt to justify it, Musk’s far-right supporters have posted out-of-context photos of democrats when speaking, that seemed to mimic the same gesture, but the actual videos said otherwise. France 24 also debunked this when fact-checking the claims.
Yet, some are still pushing the narrative that he was giving his heart out to the people. If that were truly the intention, he would have said it before or as he was speaking, not seconds after. As someone who’s been awarded on multiple occasions in debate, I can tell you that gestures are accompanied by words, or it simply doesn’t make sense to an audience.
The reason that seconds after doing a Nazi salute twice he suddenly feels the need the give his heart out to the people is that his only motivation in saying so is to cover his behind.
His actions after making the gesture are even more telling of his goal. If in some upside-down universe, it was truly an awkward gesture, he could have simply apologized. Yet after making his salute as per usual Musk went on a tirade on “X” formerly “Twitter.”
Stating “His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming,” along with a laughing emoji. To him, a symbol used to justify the death of millions is just a joke, something to be mocked and downplayed.
Even more alarming, days after CBS News reported that Musk attended a video conference of the far-right German group known as the AfD just two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day. He stated, “There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.”
But, those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it.
How can we move past the unjust death of six million people? The seven million Jews in America not only watched this gesture being made. They watched us ignore it like it was just another day. Our inaction is being complicit.
Do not ignore the signs. Extremists will try to say you did not see what you saw, that you did not hear what you heard. The next four years will be shrouded in more so-called “murky gestures” and “misunderstandings.”
However, we cannot allow it, we cannot make excuses for it, and though we are being flooded with massive amounts of distraction, we cannot ignore it.
His salute was easily dismissed by the media. Do not do the same. It was a dog whistle to Neo-Nazi extremists and a test to see if we would recognize it and by dismissing it, we have failed. For a moment there was outrage but just as quickly as it happened we forgot.
So, will you choose to see or not to see?
