For a while, Elon Musk has proven that just because someone is smart in terms of technology, they can still be a complete moron in everything else.
Musk purchasing Twitter was one stupid mistake. Rebranding Twitter to X was an even worse blunder. Even dumber was how Musk has been running X and what he has been posting to his account since purchasing the company.
Back in June 2023, Musk stated on his X account that the words “cis” and “cisgender” are considered slurs. On Jan. 10, he doubled down on this horrendous take.
Musk wrote on his X account, “Cis is a heterophobic word. Shame on anyone who uses it.”
This was idiodic on multiple levels. Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or asexual people can all be cisgender. Cisgender is in no way derogatory and even if it was, it would not be used to attack only heterosexuals.
It gets even worse when someone replied, “We should repurpose it like the N word. What up, my cis?”
Another person replied, “Only cis people are allowed to say it. If any non-cis person says it they get fired from their job.” To which Musk agreed.
I am positive anyone with functioning brain cells knows the word “cisgender” is not a slur and only denotes the opposite of “transgender.” Both “trans” and “cis” are Latin roots, although the root “cis” is not used as often as the root “trans.”
X’s algorithm has recently been hiding posts containing the word “cis” with a content warning. This has led to some users censoring the word by replacing the “i” with an asterisk.
It is completely asinine to believe the Latin root is a slur, especially when no harm whatsoever has come from its use. No sane cisgender or heterosexual person will feel threatened by the use as a real slur would.
How Musk runs the platform has been awful. One would believe having a subscription service tied to X would be the worst of the problems, but at least one can opt-out of that. Monetization on X has been declining because advertisers do not like how the platform is running. Back in November, during an interview at The New York Times, Dealbook Summit, he spoke his mind about the advertisers pulling monetization.
“Don’t advertise. If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself,” Musk said during the interview.
Insulting advertisers in such a way is obviously not going to end up well. If Musk cared about the success of his platform, he should at least learn the basics of dealing with advertisers. One would think running a successful company like Tesla would give Musk some sense in running a business, apparently not.
I feel Elon Musk should take a break from the public. Maybe he should spend some time with his children and might possibly learn something useful from them. Musk may be intelligent in terms of technology, but he should expand his horizons and learn more about how to function in the world without an echo chamber.
Nico Brazill can be contacted at
nbrazill@kscequinox.com
