Elon Told Americans They're Too Stupid And Lazy To Hire. It Did Not Go Over Well!
The MAGAverse is already imploding.
How did you spend Christmas Day? Well, if you are anything like Elon Musk, and you probably are not, you spent it telling the very people who elected you President of the United States that they are just too stupid, lazy, and genetically inferior to work for you.
“There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley,” Musk posted on his own personal social network — a sentiment quickly echoed by frequent Xitter user Mario Nawfal, who announced that the US semiconductor industry alone needs over 160,000 engineers by 2032, and that the AI industry needs a whole bunch as well, and that they ought to be fueled in part by (dun dun duuuuun) streamlining high-skilled immigration.
Musk responded:
No, we need more like double that number yesterday! The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low. Think of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win.
This … did not go over well, incurring anger from racists outraged at the very idea of Musk hiring “more brown people” instead of white people.
“Everyone in America knows that whites are discriminated against and are not even considered for these jobs.” — USBornNRaised
“This is disgraceful. We are worried about native born Americans. If you continue pushing ideals that dilute our culture, you will become one of the most hated men in America.” — DMichaelTripi
“I’m white and more talented in IT than most Indians I consult for. They won’t hire me FT because I’m not brown. Acknowledge their racism and do something about it.” — Rizz346
“This is so disappointing. America first means Americans first. H1B visas are being horribly abused by big corporations. Your hiring departments aren’t showing you applicants from the US who happen to be white. Guaranteed.” — MelaniM
“the number of white men qualified for these jobs, but that aren’t being hired for these jobs, is insane” — girlymisogynist
So weird how these people can all comprehend how structural racism works when they imagine it happening to white people!
Then there were those folks who just don’t understand why he doesn’t train Americans to work at his businesses instead. Like this guy …
“There are over 330 million people in America. Surely, there must be enough among them to build your ultimate team? Why would you deny real Americans that opportunity by bringing foreigners here?”
To whom Elon responded:
“Your understanding of the situation is upside-down and backwards. OF COURSE my companies and I would prefer to hire Americans and we DO, as that is MUCH easier than going through the incredibly painful and slow work visa process. HOWEVER, there is a dire shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in America. This is not about handing out opportunities from some magical hat. You don’t get it. This is blindingly obvious when looking at NBA teams, as the physical differences are so obvious to see. However, the MENTAL differences between humans are FAR bigger than the physical differences!!”
I think my favorite thing about this is the fact that he’s very obviously gone so far down the scientific racism rabbit hole that he’s now using it to determine that white Americans are mentally inferior to workers from Asia. We’ve seen hardcore racists, for years, do this whole dance of “We’re not white supremacists for believing that white people are smarter than Black people, because we also believe that Asian people are smarter than white people, so there!” Elon clearly didn’t get the “We don’t actually mean this, we just want everyone to agree that we are smarter than Black people!” memo.
Musk’s DOGE pal Vivek Ramaswamy tried to ameliorate the situation by telling the angry villagers that it wasn’t necessarily their IQ or genetics that were the problem, but their entire culture. You know, the “culture” they’re obsessed with keeping pure from the influence of brown immigrants?
The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH:
Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG. A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.
A culture that venerates Cory from “Boy Meets World,” or Zach & Slater over Screech in “Saved by the Bell,” or ‘Stefan’ over Steve Urkel in “Family Matters,” will not produce the best engineers. […]More movies like Whiplash, fewer reruns of “Friends.” More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers. More weekend science competitions, fewer Saturday morning cartoons. More books, less TV. More creating, less “chillin.” More extracurriculars, less “hanging out at the mall.”
What year is this again?
Now, keep in mind that Republicans have just spent the better part of the last two decades losing their absolute shit over the slightest suggestion they should listen to smart people over their own personal guts when it comes to things like vaccines, global warming, the age of the earth (and, for some, the shape of the earth).
It didn’t go over well.
And soon enough, all of MAGA began to implode. In one corner, you had Elon, Ramaswamy and David Sacks (who was surprised to discover that MAGA hates legal brown H1B visa immigrants as much as they hate brown undocumented immigrants); in the other you had Mike Cernovich and Ian Miles Cheong (who isn’t even an American); and Laura Loomer, Jack Posobiec and Ann Coulter … sometimes actually making some decent points. Or, you know, points that would be decent were they not motivated entirely by racism and xenophobia.
“Nobody can afford to live off of $70,000 a year in today’s America,” Loomer added. “Stop crying about declining birth rates when you want us to live like a bunch of welfare queens. Can’t have a family and keep having more kids while making $70,000 a year and also working 80 hours a week. You can make more money working 40 hours a week and overtime at McDonald’s each year.”
“American workers can leave a company. Imported H1B workers can't. Tech wants indentured servants, not ‘high-skilled,’” Coulter said.
“Today was the day we found out who is getting rich by screwing over the American worker,” wrote Posobiec.
Loomer kept Loomering, though, and eventually Musk called her a troll and took away her blue check, her Premium Xitter subscription, and her subscribers. You know, because of how he bought the site to preserve free speech (for people who praise him and Trump, also for those who like to use racial slurs in their every day conversations).
“Telling the truth isn't trolling,” responded Loomer, who once chained herself to Twitter headquarters after getting banned. “Read the room! You bought your way into MAGA 5 minutes ago after Trump almost had his head blown off in Butler. Remember when you voted for Biden and propped up Ron DeSantis and you said Trump was too old? We all know you only donated your money so you could influence immigration policy and protect your buddy Xi JinPing.”
The weirdest thing about all of this is that they’re all so, so close to getting it in certain ways, while also still completely not getting it. Because it is entirely possible to not be racist against immigrants and to support American workers (and all workers, actually) having jobs that pay fair wages — and even enjoying our popular culture, while also reading books.
There are people who do all of those things. There are even politicians who support all of those things. They’re just not Republicans.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
I eagerly await the missives and ensuing arguments from this bunch about Americans either being too dumb and lazy or not hard working enough to pick lettuce at slave-labor wages too.
"...The number of people who are super talented engineers AND w̶i̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶p̶e̶a̶n̶u̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶e̶c̶h̶b̶r̶o̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶e̶u̶r̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶h̶o̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶o̶p̶r̶i̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶g̶r̶a̶t̶i̶t̶u̶d̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶r̶t̶u̶n̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶ super motivated in the USA is far too low..."
Fuck Musk, fuck Muskism. Fuck every single dipshit who enables him or tries to curry favor from him.