You’re not wrong, I just don’t think it’s the whole story. I really do think there was a media campaign of different kinds (podcasts and other “intellectual” media) for a period to create an intentional public image. I mean maybe his rise in the public awareness was organic, I just don’t think so anymore.
I am fairly sure a campaign like that was used to elevate JD Vance, there was also this Eric Weinstein guy that was appearing a lot in stuff I saw for a while, those two both closely associated with Peter Thiel. I can probably come up with other examples. I think Musk had a similar “look how smart and great this guy is, everyone!” campaign, and I think the difference is Musk had enough money that he could afford not to rely solely on that image, and he had enough ego that he could never not be himself online for long.
You’re not wrong, I just don’t think it’s the whole story. I really do think there was a media campaign of different kinds (podcasts and other “intellectual” media) for a period to create an intentional public image. I mean maybe his rise in the public awareness was organic, I just don’t think so anymore.
I am fairly sure a campaign like that was used to elevate JD Vance, there was also this Eric Weinstein guy that was appearing a lot in stuff I saw for a while, those two both closely associated with Peter Thiel. I can probably come up with other examples. I think Musk had a similar “look how smart and great this guy is, everyone!” campaign, and I think the difference is Musk had enough money that he could afford not to rely solely on that image, and he had enough ego that he could never not be himself online for long.