User submission

375.7K

Someone Tries To Attack Elon Musk For Spending $90M To Launch Car Into Space, Gets Brilliantly Shut Down

Sometimes people can have their heart in the right place, mean well and stand up for their principles, but get it all wrong.

Such was the case recently, when liberal sites The Other 98% and Democratic Socialism Now shared a meme that quite rightly questions the need for tax cuts for the United States’ wealthiest citizens, while millions of Americans struggle to make ends meet.

Discussion of the issue certainly has its merits, with the complex theory of trickle-down economics creating intriguing arguments both for and against this kind of tax policy.

This meme however, seemed to strike the wrong tone entirely. By going after Elon Musk, arguably one of the only billionaires who is using his wealth effectively in advancing the cause of science and humanity, it attracted a barrage of negative comments.

Many people, who would describe themselves as liberals, wholeheartedly agree with criticisms over tax cuts to the wealthy. However they consider Musk’s outlook and achievements to be much more positive than those of the Koch brothers for example, and came out strongly in support of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. As a strong proponent of science and progress in areas like space exploration and renewable energy, Musk is probably not the best example of the stereotypical greedy, selfish billionaire. And describing the launch of a Tesla Roadster as the payload for his Falcon Heavy Rocket as just for ‘fun’ displays a fundamental lack of knowledge about the entire event.

So while the fight for social and economic equality is certainly a noble one that should be lauded, it is important to pick the right battles. Scroll down below to see the meme and some of the responses to it, and let us know what you think in the comments.

Elon Musk recently launched a car into space

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-27

Image credits: National Geographic

And while many agreed this was brilliant, there were some who didn’t

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-20

Image credits: SpaceX

This meme was posted on the Facebook pages of The Other 98% and Democratic Socialism Now

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-1

Many people disagreed with the meme, including this guy with his brilliant response

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-10

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-11

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-12

Others were quick to join in

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-13

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-14

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-15

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-16

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-21

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-22

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-23

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-24

elon-musk-tesla-space-launch-response-25

376Kviews

James is a Bored Panda reporter who graduated with a BA in Peace And Conflict Studies and an MA in African Affairs. Before Bored Panda, he was an English teacher and also travelled a lot, doing odd jobs from beer-slinging to brickie's labourer and freelance journalism along the way. James loves covering stories about social and environmental issues and prefers to highlight the positive things that unite us, rather than petty internet squabbles about fictional characters. James is the grumpy, contradictory one who thinks that Bored Panda, due to its large audience, has a social responsibility to inspire and inform its readers with interesting issues and entertaining, well-researched stories. Let's do our bit to make our little corner of the internet a smarter, more truthful and less angry place!

Read less »

What do you think ?

POST

Giovanni 6 years ago

I can't believe that in a world so resource starved and with a always growing population people are still blind to the importance of space travel and colonization.

21points

iblowsheep 6 years ago

yeah so humanity can travel outward screw up other planets.

20points

Load More Replies...

Pamala Vela 6 years ago

MRI's are a result of space travel. They needed a way to see inside the tiles on the shuttle so they developed a way to do it. Works to see inside of people as well. It just saved my life, as my cancer was detected early. If you think it's a waste of money - you do not know all the facts.

0points

Andrew Karnitz 6 years ago

Space exploration is vital to humanity in that it adds to our base of knowledge, but I don't believe that it's the key to our survival as a species, at least not in the way you seem to think it might. Humans lived on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years with a static population of, science and math tell us, 1 million to 10 million. Roughly 10,000 years ago, humans discovered the secrets of agriculture, became sedentary, and created "civilization". While we as a species have indeed learned a huge amount about the universe in the period of time since, our population has exploded, and its become so large that it is straining the Earth's carrying capacity, through both exploitation of resources and pollution. If we can't, as an intelligent species, realize that population growth itself is a trigger to our extinction, we'll just ruin any planet we might inhabit- and it won't take nearly as long for us to ruin that planet.

0points

Master Markus 6 years ago

Maybe work on promoting sustainable living and ecological protection instead, no? I think cutting down the population is more desirable!

0points

thibault bernier 6 years ago

I can't believe, while all our research have proved to us that we can not reach any place suitable for us to survive in, other than earth... people still think it is ok to scavage the s**t out of earth, the only suitable place for human being.... Just because someone have enouhgt credits to do f****d up stuff, doesn't mean it is ok to do so. Yes credit, because you seems to forgot that he didn't pays for it, it is mostly greedy investors. Stop living in a dream, stop consuming like mad men and prepare for hard times, econmy buble is, once again, going to burst....

-2points

Rick Fitz 6 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Shruti Naik 6 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Robert Rice 6 years ago

The Money ELON spent,and the car he shot into space,WERE HIS MONEY,, AND HIS CAR,His people designed the rocket,Shot it into space,and recovered the 2 boosters ( and POSSIBLY) the third one,Who are you to b***h,about him spending HIS MONEY,Way to go Elon,Hoping you have many sucesses,in the future.

17points

Royal_Emperor 6 years ago

Wow! It was a test flight to see if he use reusable rockets for heavy payload. No one would pay to send expensive satellites on a test flight. Even if he did send a ball of concrete people will still complain about unnecessary use of fuel and resources etc...etc..

9points

Jeff Chastain 6 years ago

And everything that SpaceX tests is something NASA doesn't have to test, so get over it.

2points

Load More Replies...

Load More Comments

POST

Giovanni 6 years ago

I can't believe that in a world so resource starved and with a always growing population people are still blind to the importance of space travel and colonization.

21points

iblowsheep 6 years ago

yeah so humanity can travel outward screw up other planets.

20points

Load More Replies...

Pamala Vela 6 years ago

0points

Andrew Karnitz 6 years ago

0points

Master Markus 6 years ago

Maybe work on promoting sustainable living and ecological protection instead, no? I think cutting down the population is more desirable!

0points

thibault bernier 6 years ago

-2points

Rick Fitz 6 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Shruti Naik 6 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Robert Rice 6 years ago

17points

Royal_Emperor 6 years ago

9points

Jeff Chastain 6 years ago

And everything that SpaceX tests is something NASA doesn't have to test, so get over it.

2points

Load More Replies...

Load More Comments

Related on Bored Panda

Someone Tries To Attack Elon Musk For Spending $90M To Launch Car Into Space, Gets Brilliantly Shut Down

Elon Musk recently launched a car into space

And while many agreed this was brilliant, there were some who didn’t

This meme was posted on the Facebook pages of The Other 98% and Democratic Socialism Now

Many people disagreed with the meme, including this guy with his brilliant response

Others were quick to join in

Games

James Caunt

James Caunt