One of the most exciting things about visiting San Francisco a few years ago was seeing Twitter’s façade emblazoned with bluebirds. Back then, it was still called Twitter, and Elon Musk was a billionaire obsessed with the social network. In just a year and a half, X (as he rebranded the platform)’s popularity had plummeted, and his neutral vision had leaned toward fearlessly taking the political side. So much so that he resented California’s progressive laws and moved his headquarters out of the state.
Bye, X, bye.
The final straw for Musk was a new law that bars teachers from informing parents if their son or daughter wants to identify as a different gender. “What does this have to do with X?” you may ask. Totally unrelated, but the billionaire has a transgender daughter named Vivian Jenna who hates Musk with all her heart, and to win back her love, Musk has decided to risk it all on transphobia. Well done, Elon.
Musk is not only moving SpaceX’s headquarters from San Francisco to Austin (regardless of what employees say), he is also moving SpaceX from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas. His reasoning is that the law “attacks families and businesses.” The public, instead of reacting with hands in the air, mostly just shrugged.
It is noteworthy that only a year ago Elon wrote “San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco. Even if others have abandoned you, we will always be your friends.” Apparently, that is no longer the case. Not only that, but he believes many will follow his lead, posting a photo of himself wearing a cowboy hat in an AI-generated post (of course). The energy of a divorced man does not come alone, as it must be embraced.
Of course, this is a political decision, and the hope is that it will grab people’s attention and change the situation. It remains to be seen how long this farce of a heartless billionaire demanding that we all love him will last.