Civics and industry co-exist in a healthy society. Musk has consistently demonstrated that he has no civic sense and, when injured, will randomly lash out at whoever the hecklers around him tell him to lash out at.
That's not a quality that's worth celebrating, regardless of how much innovation he might enable. We can and should expect better of people, especially extraordinarily wealthy and powerful ones.
What about the civic sense of proving that great electric cars can be made at a profit, space launch costs can be cut 90%, and Starlink can enable communications by people who live under oppression?
Doesn't actually doing things that matter to the human race matter far more than saying comforting words and avoiding giving offense?
I don't think any of these things imply civic sense. At best, it shows a man with decent business acumen. At worst, he's an opportunist and a reactionary who has substantially degraded the level of political and social discourse of the country he lives in.
Of the things you've highlighted, Starlink has perhaps the strongest case for being evidence of civic sense. But that case is a potential one; in practice, Starlink (and Musk's vision) has yet to impress[1][2].
> I don't think any of these things imply civic sense.
I recommend a biography of Musk.
He makes his electric car patents freely available, to advance the transition to electric cars. He started SpaceX with the purpose of making humans a multi-planetary species. He's repeatedly bet his entire fortune on these goals.
He's civic minded where it counts. And he's delivered results.
As for business acumen, he takes financial risks any other businessman would consider to be insane.
His accomplishments are enormous - showing how to make electric cars at a profit, and cutting the cost of space launches by 90%. And now Starlink, too.
Standing up for free speech includes standing up for the right to express ideas you don't like. I'm sure he'll allow you to post your opinions, too.
Suppressing free speech is the first step towards tyranny.
Just be mindful that the US is the only country that has this attitude towards free speech.
Everyone else including Western countries like UK, Australia, Canada etc have a different take. Which is that hate speech is not conducive to a healthy society and that it doesn't lead to tyranny. Whatever that even means in modern discourse.
