Recently, on January 20th of this year, President Donald Trump had his inauguration ceremony, where Elon Musk gave a speech. At some point in his speech, Musk had placed his right hand over his heart, followed by a hand salute that is sparking controversy as this salute resembles a Nazi salute. Since then, there has been widespread criticism and debate.
Well known individuals such as Jerry Nadler, Yolanda Diaz, and Ruth Ben-Ghiat, have seen Elon’s salute as a fascist symbol. Whereas the Anti-Defamation League defended Elon Musk, saying that he made an awkward hand gesture in his moment of excitement. Abraham Foxman, former director of the ADL, believes that the gesture was a “Heil Hitler Nazi Salute.”
Elon had then responded to all of the criticism and hate through his social media app “X” or formally known as Twitter. He wanted to criticize what the media had to say by stating, “What can I say? I got caught up in the moment. But it wasn't a ‘seig heil.’” The legacy media is pure propaganda.
This hand gesture also got the attention of many extremist groups. White nationalists and neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe had stated, “I don’t care if this was a mistake, I’m going to enjoy the tears over it,” said Christopher Pohlhaus, who is the leader of the American neo-Nazi group also known as the Blood Tribe. As well as another named Andrew Torba, who is the founder of the social media app known as Gab, said that “Greater things are already happening, lmao.”
This commotion with Elon Musk’s hand salute has overall fired up a discussion amongst political and public figures. Having an impact on their actions and responsibilities, especially when it comes to anything that can be taken the wrong way as supporting extremist ideologies.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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