‘Elon Musk Is A Scumbag Russia Supporter..’

At least that’s what someone wrote in the chat section of our new member orientation webinar today.

It was in response to my business partner mentioning that I like Elon Musk.

And the truth is, I do. He makes me laugh. He inspires me. I love my new car, made by his company. I learn from him. I admire him in many ways.

But I don’t worship him.

He’s human, and I realize there are pieces of his life and business strategy that aren’t for me.

As far as him being a Russia supporter, I’m not sure how one could arrive at this conclusion based on the fact that SpaceX (one of Elon’s companies) has been providing free internet service to Ukraine, the only internet service that works, since the start of the Russia/Ukraine conflict, and footing the bill.

Actually, let me take that back. I do know how one could arrive at that conclusion.

By taking a narrow view of things, rather than examining the bigger picture.

I read that recently, Ukrainian officials called upon Space X to activate internet service in Crimea, as they prepared for a surprise attack.

According to Elon, this area had been designated a “No internet access” space by the U.S. government.

So had Elon followed the Ukrainian request, he would have been acting contrary to U.S. policy.

Furthermore, Elon explained that in his view, this would have been a Pearl Harbor-like attack that would have likely escalated the conflict, potentially leading to disastrous consequences for the entire globe.

He felt this was not a good thing to do.

But all this is beside the point.

There are plenty of other items you could pick from Elon’s life, or from something he said to arrive at negative view of him.

And this leads me to…

Last week I posted a quote from Jordan Peterson, a man who some might call ‘A Controversial Figure.’

The quote, in my view, seemed to carry a great truth.

One of the first comments was from a lady who said something to the effect of…

“I stopped reading the moment I saw who the quote was from.”

I wondered, ‘If a truth is uttered, why does who said it matter?’

I remember being inspired by a quote from Karl Marx, early on in my personal development journey.

“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”

I still feel like that line carries some wisdom in it, and perhaps can be somewhat of a reminder to strive to have charitable hearts as we continue to build whatever it is we’re building.

That being said, as I continued to learn more about the man, Karl Marx, I disliked more and more of what I read.

The way he treated his family and associates seemed despicable to me.

His philosophy went on to march forth as justification for unimaginable suffering and death across the globe.

Still, I would like to see myself never rejecting an idea, simply because ‘Karl Marx’ said it.

That’s mentally weak.

Ad Hominem is a logical fallacy where you attack the messenger, rather than dealing with the message.

All kinds of people say all kinds of things.

Rich people sometimes say poor things and poor people sometimes say rich things.

Liars even occasionally tell the truth.

‘Intelligence is the ability to make finer distinctions‘ -Rich Dad

So the greatest wealth lesson you never learned, is the one that could have come from the person you prejudged and dismissed, that may have been able to teach you things of great worth.

As for Elon Musk, he is the wealthiest man on the planet, he’s built companies that are changing the world in BIG ways.

Does this make him a perfect messiah of character to worship?

Of course not.

But it does mean, to me at least, that there may be some ideas or ways of thinking or leading that I could adopt, to help myself and others do even greater things in life and business.

I’d never be in a position to learn those things, having come to the same conclusion as the person who gave me the title for this post.

Winston Churchill once said ‘The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.’

Yes, there it is, regardless of who said it.

And that’s the point.

If we are to consider ourselves seekers and lovers of the truth, we must be willing to mine it, wherever we find ourselves digging.