Does the Musk apple fall far from the tree?

In the freethought community, we like to think that evidence-based thinking is something we hold dear, and that conspiracy theory thinking should be met with rational skepticism. We also tend to shy away from divine worship.

When humans are treated like gods, revered to extreme degrees, it gives them license to be thoroughly detestable but still maintain a cultish following as acolytes succumb to cognitive dissonance reduction. Elon Musk, on the back of his pre-Twitter business and technology successes, and given his heavy flirting with the alt-right and controversial declarations, has attracted a fervent following. And because they love him that much, they will forgive him everything, no matter what the wrongdoing. He might obviously be a hypocrite, but since God can do no wrong, Musk simply isn't or can't be a hypocrite (or any other failing that could easily be leveled at him).

In the open source intelligence community (OSINT) that is concerned with the war in Ukraine, which is largely embedded on Twitter, his actions have been increasingly causing consternation. This is not only on account of his bizarre decisions for Twitter, but also in his appeasement of Putin and regurgitation of Russian propaganda talking points.

It turns out that this "free speech absolutist" has not only previously been hypocritical on this stance, but more recently exhibited gross double standards in terms of democratic ideals and freedom of speech. Whether the autocrat is Russian or Turkish, Musk seems to have a Trumpian soft spot: