Elon Musk made an announcement that he is moving the headquarters of Space X from California to Texas. Fine. It’s his company and he can do what he damn well likes with it, although uprooting the lives of the many employees because of his personal pique about some public policy is the action of an entitled jerk.
But what struck me was the reason he gave for the move.
He called a new law signed Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that bars school districts from requiring staff to notify parents of their child’s gender identification change the “final straw.”
“I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” Musk wrote.
What exactly are these people protecting their children from? If children are identifying their gender differently in school but not telling their parents about it, that says to me that the problem lies at home, not at school, that their children are afraid of what their parents might do. Experiencing doubt and uncertainty about one’s gender identity must undoubtedly be very difficult for children to deal with and if they feel the need to seek a school teacher or counselor to discuss this, then requiring schools to inform parents will only result in the children not talking to counselors and instead seeking someone who may be a lot less responsible or qualified.
People like Musk like to portray the home as a safe place and parents as protectors, while schools are alien environments staffed with adults who may not have the best interests of the students at heart. But that is too simple a view because the reality is far more complex. We know that for some young people, the home is not a safe place at all but instead where they experience abuse, emotionally, physically, and sexually. I have worked with many K-12 schools and teachers tell me that for some of their students, the school is where they find some stability and safety and peace, and teachers are sometimes viewed as parent figures. Even in college, I have had students share with me concerns that they felt that could not tell their parents.
This can be tricky terrain for teachers. Just as parents can abuse the trust that their children place in them, so can teachers. Teachers have to be very careful not to misdirect or, worse, take advantage of them. We are not trained counselors. All we can and should do is provide a sympathetic, non-judgmental ear, a safe space for them to talk, and point them towards resources that can better meet their needs. Students at my university know that there is a counseling service but they sometimes prefer to first approach a professor whom they know and think might be sympathetic than to go to a stranger. I then call the people at the counseling office that I know and make the introduction and that starts the process.
It is better for students to have at least the option of talking to someone other than their parents. What people like Musk seem to really fear is for their children to have such options. When they talk about their need to ‘protect their children’, what I hear is that they want to control them.
It is also telling that wealthy people like Musk are able to tell high elected officials like the state governor what they want done and get miffed if their demands are not met. He recently announced that he will be giving the campaign of serial sex offender and convicted felon Donald Trump (SSACFT) $45 million per month until the election. You can be sure that it is not done out of the goodness of his heart but that he is buying access there too.
I also don’t completely buy his claim that he is moving to Texas because of the transgender issue. The above link also says, “Musk has also said that he has moved his residence from California to Texas, where there is no state personal income tax.”
For people like Musk, money is almost always the driving force behind their actions and not paying taxes is one of their main goals. But their transphobia enables them to falsely stoke fears about dangers posed by the transgender issue so that their greedy nature is masked.
Post Script: I just learned that Musk has a transgender daughter who in 2022 filed for a name change and a new birth certificate and to cut ties with him.
For many kids, the reality is the exact opposite.
Their home is an abusive place that they don’t live in, they hopefully survive it.
When some parents find out their kids are gay or Trans, they just drive them out or kick them out.
40% of homeless kids are gay or Trans.
These kids aren’t runaways, they are pushouts.
No one is looking for them and no one wants them back.
In my area, the city and county have a program to house homeless kids and get them in school up to age 18. It is highly successful and the kids are really glad to live in a place where they feel safe. Safe from their unstable home life and abusive parents.
The reason why California passed their no school notification law was to protect kids from a well known and common danger. Their parents.
Musk never, ever misses a chance to show that he is a very horrible person.
He is an abusive parent himself.
His oldest child is Trans and has announced that she is changing her name and doesn’t want anything to do with her father, Elon Musk.
I will never buy anything even remotely associated with Elon Musk. I found Twitter useful but refuse to even look at X.
Quite a few people feel the same way.
When Musk came out as a real life cartoon villain, sales of Tesla cars dropped.
He managed to quickly drive many of X’s advertisers and readers away as well.
What aren’t these people afraid of?
Blacks, Latin(x)os, Middle Easterners, Native Americans, Asians. Lesbians, Gays, Bis, Transgenders, Queers, etc. Jews, Muslims, atheists, Sikhs, Hindus, miscellaneous. Communists, Socialists, Democrats, unionists, leftists and liberals in general. Feminists, freethinkers, non-conformists (unless wearing face paint, buffalo horns, and/or tea-bags). Government employees at all levels, teachers, librarians, election workers, health care workers, census takers, building inspectors. Strangers. “Traitors” within their own groups.
You. Me.
@3
They aren’t afraid of a theocracy run by their own religion.
@3 -- guns, ironically.
@3 again:
In fairness I’d have said that’s at least as much, if not more, of a problem on the left.
sonofrojblake @6: yes, there are most definitely wackaloons on both the left and the right. The difference is that, on the right, they’re in charge; and I think that’s a difference in kind, not just a difference in degree.
Musk and his ilk are afraid they’ll miss out on some extra ‘reasons’ to abuse and ridicule their children. “How do I hate thee, let me count the ways…”. (Apologies to the sonneteer.)
The claim made by Musk, that this particular law was the deciding factor in the decision to relocate, is a lie. This would have been a decision taking place over the course of months, possibly years; this is just an opportunistic jab at the left and a chance to be visibly ‘anti-woke’ to his adoring conservative fans. Multiple other enterprises of his have moved to Texas, probably due to favourable tax break or similar; this is just a continuation of that process.
If the claimed reason was genuine, then Musk is utterly capricious as this law is not something that affects the business whatsoever. If there is a fan of his that genuinely believes that the stated reason for relocation is genuine, then that person is implicitly accepting Musk as being one of the worst businessmen in the world.
Holms:
Is it?
(Care to quote the specific claim at hand?)
Care to quote the specific claimed reason?
—
““I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” Musk wrote.”
Nothing specific there about his own enterprise (which one, again? Oh right, SpaceX), but rather a vague hyperbolic generality.
Heh. Hey, Holms, remember how you imagine I am the hyper-literal one?
(heh)
<snort>
If there is a fan of his [heh] that genuinely believes [chortle] that the stated reason [left to the imagination] for relocation is genuine [fake reasons aren’t reasons!], then that [imaginary] person is implicitly accepting Musk as being one of the worst [sic] businessmen [tsk. Gendered, that is] in the world.
Sure. Obviously, to Holmsian types, being the richest person in the world is surely tantamount to being one of the worst businessmen in the world.
<snicker>
@9 Holms: It probably is a lie, an excuse for moving when in reality he wants tax breaks and freedom to abuse his employees.
It’s a mistake to say that Musk is always a deep planner though. He bought Twitter because he made an offhand statement about doing it. As a big investor he isn’t allowed to lie about his investing plans and the SEC held him too it. It was easier to go through with buying Twitter then back out and face some penalty.
If only the OP had given some clue, even a miniscule hint as to that…
Holms, quoting that which I quoted is not an actual response.
I mean, sure, the ostensible reason is that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children, but he’s neither a family nor a company, is he?
So, why would families and companies be forced to live, allegedly?
It is if the answer to your question is in the quote. JM seems to have understood my point, not sure why you didn’t. Maybe ask him?
@ 11 Morales
Leaving aside the hyperbole -- yes?! Obviously. In the same way being a wealthy dictator of an impoverished nation makes you one of the worst political leaders.
This is seriously news to you?