Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Free speech is a wonderful privilege to have, and it’s great to be able to share your views to an audience online. However, with freedom comes responsibility, and we have to understand that it can be harmful to spread ignorant views on the internet.
One man who doesn’t seem to have realized that yet is Elon Musk. Musk has been under fire for his controversial claims many times, and most recently, he’s been called out by TikToker Danmxcmillan for sharing a post on X that made many raise their eyebrows. Below, you’ll find Dan’s video that breaks down the post, as well as some of the reactions viewers had.
We're all entitled to share our thoughts on social media
Image credits: Marten Bjork / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
And Elon Musk, the owner of X, certainly doesn't hold back when posting on his platform
Image credits: The Royal Society
But now, Musk is being called out for sharing an "interesting observation" that many found problematic
"Elon Musk has retweeted a post saying that women cannot be free thinkers because they can't defend themselves physically in an interesting development in a public mental breakdown."
Image credits: danmxcmillan
"Mister Musk calls this an ‘interesting observation’ so let's see what it is."
"The post says that people who can't defend themselves physically (women and low testosterone men) parse information through a consensus filter as a safety mechanism."
Image credits: elonmusk
Image credits: danmxcmillan
"Then goes on to say that 'only high testosterone alpha males and autistic people are actually free to understand whether things are true. This is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making.’
‘Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think’ and only men."
Image credits: danmxcmillan
"Elon Musk shared this post with 196 million followers because he thinks this is an interesting observation."
Image credits: danmxcmillan
"This man thinks that it’s an interesting observation that women are too physically weak to defend themselves so therefore are incapable of being a free thinker. I mean what can you even say at this point."
You can see Dan's full video breaking down the post right here
Image credits: Gül Işık / Pexels (not the actual photo)
This is not the first time Elon Musk has made headlines for his controversial behavior and views
If you’re not familiar with Elon Musk, allow us to provide a bit of background information. He’s the 53-year-old, South African CEO of Tesla Motors. He co-founded PayPal and SpaceX and is currently one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a whopping net worth of $228 billion. Musk also acquired Twitter, which he later renamed X, in 2022, and he’s been extremely active on the platform since.
But aside from his business ventures, Musk often finds himself in the news because of his controversial views and personal life. He has at least 12 children with at least three different women, some of which have extremely unique names.
Musk made headlines in 2020 when the first child he shared with the singer Grimes was named X Æ A-12. (His name was later changed to X because his original name violated California law for having characters that weren’t in the English alphabet.)
Grimes and Musk then had another child, this time a girl, via surrogate in December 2021. She was named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk but given the nickname Y, as Grimes admitted that the government wouldn’t recognize all of the symbols in her name.
Coming up with unique names for his children is far from the only controversial thing Musk has done, though. In November 2023, SkyNews published a piece breaking down some of Musk’s recent controversial moments, one of which was “endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory.”
Image credits: Mati Mango / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The owner of X has been called out for sharing questionable content on the platform before
He also backed controversial war accounts on X and admitted denying help to Ukraine as they attempted to make a sneak attack on Russian ships in September 2023. Musk has also banned certain journalists from X, yet he decided to welcome former President Donald Trump back onto the platform after he had been permanently banned.
Elon Musk also appears to have questionable views about women. The post that he’s been called out for sharing recently is not the only time he’s made misogynistic claims online. For example, Taylor Swift recently endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who’s currently running for president in the United States. Swift signed her post “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady,” referencing a remark Trump’s running mate JD Vance recently made.
Musk then thought it would be a good idea to respond to Swift’s photo with a post on X saying, “Fine Taylor … you win...I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.” Elon was also called out in 2021 for sharing a “joke” on X about a “new university” he was considering starting (the Texas Institute of Technology and Science), that would have “epic merch” thanks to the acronym that the school’s name would create.
Image credits: Vlada Karpovich / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Musk has also been accused of inappropriate behavior towards women in the workplace
But unfortunately, Musk’s inappropriate behavior doesn’t exist only on the internet. In June 2024, Musk was accused of fostering a “sexist ‘Dark Ages’ culture” at SpaceX. Former executives in the company noted that policies are not enforced with the CEO, and apparently, Musk had been pursuing women at the company.
“Elon Musk trumpets SpaceX as the leader to a brave new world of space travel,” the lawsuit filed in California states. “But (he) runs his company in the Dark Ages – treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter, and offering the reprise to those who challenge the ‘Animal House’ environment that if they don’t like it they can seek employment elsewhere.”
While it’s easy to look at this post that Musk shared and assume that he must be joking or that it won’t be taken seriously, some of the replies made it very clear that he wasn’t the only one who thought this was an “interesting observation.”
One reply read, “Low T men and white liberal women are destroying the world.” Another said, “Soy is in almost all foods in America for a reason. The weak and feminine are easy to control and manipulate.” Whether Elon truly believes this message that he shared or not, there’s no question that he’s amplified a harmful, misogynistic idea.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this post in the comments below, pandas. Then, if you’re interested in checking out another Bored Panda article discussing Musk’s questionable behavior, look no further than right here!
Many viewers agreed that the post Musk shared sends a terrible message
However, some thought that the post made some valid points
