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Is Elon Musk the Liberal Version of Donald Trump? (extranewsfeed.com)
3 points by elliesalvaje on March 9, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments


Interesting notion.

Especially interesting is: Who puts forth this kind of article? It kind of disses those on the left and the right, which is unusual.


Comedians desperate for any kind of hit, regardless of ideology. The author imagines this is "satire", but it's pretty ham-fisted.

The title is OK, though omitting "Graciously" would fit the notion of "Pretending to be a news article" better. The first sentence is pretty good.

It quickly goes off the rails. "89 hour Twitter marathon" isn't funny; it's just random. It's too long to seem realistic, so you're telling two jokes at once (one trying to tee up the actual joke of the article, the other one exaggerating).

Having Musk actually say "brain dead psychopath" is the wrong tone; it's negative where it should be positive. "The world needs another eccentric..." lands because it's positive, but the rest of the next sentence is just a rant.

It then gives up any pretense of actually being a news article and just rags on Trump.

It's not that I like Trump. Exactly the opposite. I'm just pointing out that "Trump is bad" isn't satire. Satire would be "Trump is good" in a way that makes it clear that he's actually bad.

The point being... who "disses both the left and the right?" A satirist who thinks that "dissing" is funny.

If you're after satire that really does do a better job on both sides, try theonion.com. Of course they're still leaning pretty heavily into the right, partly because that's their proclivity, but mostly because they've been fed so much good material.

But they're also hitting Cuomo, Senate Democrats, and Biden. That one is an especially good example:

https://politics.theonion.com/biden-comforts-families-of-syr...

That's spinning a negative thing (air strikes) as if it were positive. That hits you much harder than simply ranting at them. Similarly, the best piece against the right ("CDC Launches Ad Campaign Featuring Racist Mascot In Effort To Get More Conservatives Vaccinated") twists in the middle (i.e. not about the CDC or the vaccines at all). That's cleverness.

Er, sorry for the rant. You asked. There is a good bit of satire to be written about how Musk's twitter somehow fills a needed niche vacated by Trump, but that's not it. Maybe something more akin to "Area man complains, 'Elon Musk Twitter Feed Just Not As Good, But It Will Have To Do'".


I just noticed your post. You gave some pretty useful feedback, and you're right. The article is not as polished as what The Onion would publish.

That being said, I'm confused as to what article you're reading. My goal wasn't to point out that Trump was bad, but to rag on Elon Musk. We already know that Trump is an idiot, and making fun of Trump gets stale. We already know Trump's atrocities. However, we portray Elon Musk in a positive light when he's just as bad as Trump. The left praise Musk for his science and technological innovations. But Musk and Trump are just two sides of the same coin, and my list on Musk can show you how Trump has done similar actions in the past.

Musk is generally seen in a positive light, so hence the negative tone of the article. If Musk was already seen in a negative tone, then your positive tone is correct.

Your title is definitely funny/subtle. I would probably change it to "MAGA Supporter complains, 'Elon Musk Twitter Feed Just Not As Good, But It Will Have To Do'". Although the entire article would have to be rewritten to match that softer tone.




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