Elon Musk’s story of his “awakening” to the danger of wokeism is a tragic, though increasingly common, one: He was hoodwinked into OK’ing hormone treatment for his then-minor child.
In an interview with Canadian thinker Jordan Peterson, Musk revealed that he “was essentially tricked into signing documents” to approve transition of his son, Xavier Musk, who now goes by Vivian Wilson and cut ties with Elon in 2022.
Riffing off the term “deadnaming” (for using someone’s pre-transition name), he says: “My son is dead — killed by the woke mind virus.”
Musk isn’t the first well-meaning parent who went along with the process to make their child happy and/or avoid a teen suicide, only to realize they’d been duped: Even liberal parents are beginning to question the assembly-line cottage industry seemingly hell-bent on transitioning kids as quickly as possible, with little concern about long-term consequences.
Some of those parents have formed groups in recent years, like 4th Wave Now and Parents of Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria Kids.
And young adults who are “detransitioning,” like Chloe Cole and Helena Kerschner, testify powerfully to the side of the debate that the trans extremists don’t want mentioned.
But Elon Musk had the resources to do a bit more — notably, by buying Twitter and turning it into a genuine haven for free speech, particularly on these issues and others where the cultural elite are desperate to censor discussion.
He’s moved on to confronting every aspect of the “mind virus,” including DEI and ESG (Diverstity, Equity and Inclusion delusions and Environmental, Social and Government mis-investing).
And even to becoming an enthusiastic Trump-Vance supporter.
Trans extremists push a false narrative to override parents queasy about their kids taking life-changing hormone therapy and/or getting double mastectomies and other radical surgery in high school: Resistance is child abuse, they shout.
Musk is not only putting his formidable mind to combating such lies, he’s put his money (a hefty $44 billion for Twitter, now X) into ensuring the liars can’t silence their critics.
The cultural left has gone nuts, and is creating a whole series of wake-up moments for average Americans and once-unsuspecting gazillionaires: In a similar way, the campus reaction to Oct. 7 radicalized mega-investor Bill Ackman.
The sheep are waking up, and some of these sheep are very big deals.