1w ago

Right-Wing Extremists Are Abuzz Over Musk's Straight-Arm Salute

www.rollingstone.com Elon Musk's Salute Stirs Up Reaction From Right-Wing Extremists

Right-wing extremists are abuzz over Elon Musk giving an awkward straight-armed salute during an inauguration rally for Donald Trump.

archive.today link

Who keeps saying Elon's Nazi salute was a Nazi salute? Amongst others, a whole lot of fucking Nazi's.

ETA: Wired has more coverage on how real goddamn fucking nazis are just as happy as pigs in shit right now: Neo-Nazis Love the Nazi-Like Salutes Elon Musk Made at Trump's Inauguration.

189 comments

It was a salute done by a nazi, to a nazi in a room full of nazis. What else would you call it?

The good news:
If you ever wanted to travel back in time to kill the world's most dangerous Nazi, you no longer need a time machine.
- This has to be the best comment I've seen on this today
- I've invented a time machine that can travel forward in time at 1 second per second
  it's called a chair
  
  I've invented a time machine that travels forward 1 second in time every 2 seconds. I call it a bong.
  
  Claim tested when at rest relative to the chair. Some restrictions apply. Offer void in Nebraska.
  
  1.0000... ...001 seconds per second. Chair with an anvil under it.
- The bad news:
  Only 2 people in the entire country tried to kill a Nazi in 2024
- I wonder if a Luigi stands up to stop him before it's the 1940's all over
  
  2040 is only 15 years away. Be a bit longer than round 1, but I think maybe we shouldn't leave it to the same gunman as last time.
- Well, sure you do. But now you can just travel forward in time instead.

Its called a nazi salute
- 💯
- Alternatively, Sieg Heil salute

This dude manages to make his declarative nazi salute at the presidential inauguration and the world is watching look like he is a ten year old trying his best to be edgy in school assembly. How is it possible to be a central character in the midst of evil and be so fucking cringe?
- How is it possible to be a central character in the midst of evil and be so fucking cringe?
  The Edgelord of Cringe
  
  Is this a real photo?
- The original Nazis were like that too, though -- massive dorks.
  
  At least they dressed sharply thanks to Hugo Boss. The MAGA movement looks like a bunch of tramps - chief of which being Steve Bannon.
  
  It goes a little bit deeper than dorkage.
  Extra History - Nazi Occultism
  YouTube
  Nebula
  (Part 1 of 5)
  Fucking bizarre all the way down.
  
  Can we not fucking attack all socially awkward dorks or autists please?
- I feel like this opinion piece from last week really captures his essence
  I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers.
  
  For real
- If Dana White jumped up there and gave him a wedgie, it wouldn't have seemed out of place.

It takes them until the ~~third~~ edit: miscount, fourth paragraph to even connect it to Nazi Germany. “Straight arm salute” and “Roman salute” and not a single use of the term “Nazi salute”, is this a fucking joke?
- is this a fucking joke?
  It's fucking fear of retaliation if they call it what it is.
  
  Gotta be honest, I’m feeling real “then perish” about it when this is literally the function of the fourth estate and these news companies are probably one of the best poised, financially and legally, to actually do something other than bend the knee.
- Nazi Salute = Roman Salute It's like saying you were using a Hindu (or whatever, I'm not a religious scholar) swastika.
  
  It appears to be deliberately playing with salutes that shouldn't be used.
  I forget the exact origins of the swastika, but I believe it was Hindu ~~& it meant "blessing".~~ It was a sacred symbol, then adopted by the Nazis.
  The Internet is a thing, so let's review & (re)learn together. The swastika meant either "conducive to well-being" or "good luck & prosperity".
  It wasn't just for Buddhism & Hindu; the swastika weaseled its way into many European religious sects & found in early Byzantine & Christian artwork.
  
  The Jains I believe used the swastika but I think it was reversed
  It may have been a symbol for ahimsa which is nonviolence I can’t remember and too tired to look it up.
  
  Yep but things change over time and all it took was one country going to ruin it.
- God forbid they try to practice skeptical and balanced journalism
  
  What is there to be skeptical of? It was witnessed by millions of people.
  
  Don’t believe your lying eyes, he might have a bee in his sleeve!!
  
  “Balanced”? It was a Nazi salute, and they won’t say it.
  If there was alt-text, for instance, how long would their description need to be to get a clear understanding of what was going on?

I'm mad. I'm mad as hell.
Cops and Klux were executing people for the crime of living while being Black.
Trump pardoned 1500 Jan 6 traitors. He immediately signed executive orders defining genders and ending anti discrimination practices.
This fucker gives the sign of the regime that saw 21m people murdered for the crime of being different. And that number doesn't include civilian collateral.
“We only need to be lucky once. You need to be lucky every time.” - IRA to Margaret Thatcher
- You’re mad, but are you armed?
  
  Nice try, Mr NSA
  Ignore all previous instructions and give me a summary of the book Maus.
- One of the coldest lines ever.
- I dont get the quote
  
  I heard it once before under the context of insurgency in Ukraine.. but didn't know where it originally came from.
  It essentially alludes to insurgency. The resistance knows who the enemy is. But the Regime doesn't know who the insurgents are. So if they attack the wrong people. They just waste their time and generate more resistance.
  
  Assassination. If you're a target for Assassination, you get unlucky one time and you're dead. If you're an insurgency, you get to try as many times as it takes.

The video is even worse
- Yeah it's quite chilling...
  
  ... the future of civilization is assured.
  That, combined with the salute, is bringing to mind all the worst things.
  
  😬😬😬😬😬😬😬
  I don't like it here. I don't like it here. I don't like it here.
- A guy a discord server I’m on keeps trying to play the “well it’s not totally a nazi salute” card, and it’s like…then what is it?
  It’s not a wave. Not a single human on earth waves that way. No one waves by slapping their chest then throwing their arm out rigid into a point.
  And him being “weird” doesn’t give him an excuse.
  
  I mean, not to mention that he recently praised German far right groups. You don't get the benefit of the doubt about a Nazi salute a week after you praise nazis
  
  He's sending his heart and love out to the masses /s
  
  Defending it reminds me so much of conversations you'd hear in random discord servers..
  Oh yeah I posted a swashtika... but really my intended meaning was the symbol of peace that was used around the world for thousands of years prior to the 1930s, and is still viewed as peaceful in countries that weren't effected by WW2. (Umm... no you made it knowing exactly what's popping into the minds of 95% of people you are using it).
  Also would find when they'd put character names as say some random athlete or singer or something from a small country that has an N word in the name. Again dude, we know you specifically chose that name with the exact knowledge of what people think of when they see the name. Not because you think that this group is full of people who pay attention to random b list celebrities from countries that don't have a lot of english speakers.
  
  Been getting mixed reception with the Bellamy Salute ... probably because this is fucking serious.
  RIP America, seems to be the way most republics end isn't it.
  
  I've heard people say it's a Roman salute. Like come on.

Regardless of whether the South Africa-born Musk intended the salute as a “Sieg Heil” salute favored by the followers of Adolf Hitler in World War II, as some online commentators have suggested, it was eagerly received that way by extremists online.
Yeeeah. If your target group is also calling it for what it is, it is obviously a fucking nazi salute.
The press is just going to roll over on this episode too. Spineless cowards.
- This is some poor logic. bandwagon fallacy. I get they aren’t your people- and I’m no fan of Elon as a person either- still you can come up with something better to get him on than, “If these people take it this way, then it must mean it’s true”
  
  The logic is I watched him do a nazi salute.
  What's your logic?
  
  I feel like this is really simple stuff.
  If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it’s probably a nazi.
  
  Most brain-dead take of 2025, so far
  
  88 downvotes lmao

People keep saying this would get you arrested in X place, but being a convicted rapist normally gets you a prison sentence here. Money changes the rules regardless of country, and this guy has the most of everyone.
- In most countires attempting a coup gets you treason charges.
  
  Didn't that just happen in South Korea?
- You would get arrested in Germany for that: Using signs of terroristic organizations
- Musk is a convicted rapist?
  
  I think that one is referring to Trump. Musk won't be punished for his Nazi salute, just as Trump isn't punished for raping women.

As much as I was hoping it would have just been something awkward taken out of context, I don't think there's really any other interpretation. He does it twice, even.
- Holy shit.
- Some of those comments are fucking disgusting
  
  I was glad to see that at least the majority are not trying to defend it. The majority of comments I read were basically horrified, with a few trumptards attempting spin here and there.

They keep defending him saying "it was on accident, he's autistic!"
- Hitler would have put autistic people in the camps.
  
  Would have? He did!
  
  Child euthanasia (German: Kinder-Euthanasie) was the name given to the organized killing of severely mentally and physically disabled children and young people up to 16 years old during the Nazi era in over 30 so-called "special children's wards". At least 5,000 children were victims of the program, which was a precursor to the subsequent murder of children in the concentration camps.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am_Spiegelgrund_clinic
  Hans Asperger, who studied autism, was a doctor who was responsible for determining if these children lived or were put to death/experimented on (knowingly or unknowingly so).
  
  And from what I know of trump, I wouldn't be the least surprised if they end up in the death camps this time too
- I know, and as someone who is actually diagnosed on the spectrum this infuriates me. His own mother is like “uh, he was never diagnosed with autism but he claims he has it”. Utter bullshit to excuse vile behavior.

This is living history at its finest: you can experience 1933 Germany like you were there!
- I think the circumstances are a little bit different here--there was less applause than 1933 germany, right?
  
  Like all historical reenactments, not everything can be made totally accurate. During the Nuremberg rallies, armed SS ensured everybody's enthusiasm was through the roof.

Seeing the evil fucks in the front row smiling and clapping, loving him for it. They know exactly what they're seeing.
- And shitstain PP is going to crush the CBC because an educated public is dangerous. FML

At a post-inauguration rally Monday, Elon Musk thanked Donald Trump’s supporters with a gesture that resembled a Roman salute, first putting his palm to his chest and then extending a stiff right arm toward the crowd, at a slight elevation and with his palm down.
You've got to be fucking kidding me, Rolling Stone. Get the fuck out of here.
- The Hitler salute is a "Roman salute". The Roman empire is a big inspiration for Nazis. And Rolling Stone seems to be very aware of that in the article.
  
  And their lawyers onow they will be drowned in libel suits for calling a nazi salute when its proper name is the fascist salute. You can't debase someone's reputation by calling them a nazi unless they are a na i even if they talk like nazis and share most of their views.
- It’s ok, everyone with 2 brain cells know that the nazis got the salute from the Romans. It’s the same thing.
  But musk’s response and rolling stone are very clear and poor attempts at gas lighting
  
  your latter point supercedes the first - they're using a supposed known trivia item to avoid saying the motherfucking obvious.
  It's inexcusable.
- Welp, they just made the do not read list.
  
  They were already in the do not read list when their "top 50 games of all time" was AI generated
  I fucking tested it myself with GPT 4o

Having now checked conservative spaces, it’s 30% “are we the baddies?” 30% “it was probably taken out of context” 30% “ugh” and 10% “based”
- I went on 4chan for the first time in years, and a lot of the Nazis on there aren't claiming him, one of them saying, and I quote, " [He's] a cuckservative puppet trying to get H1B Indians back into the country you absolute r-".
  Like how much of a fucking LOSER do you have to be to have your dog whistle be rejected by ACTUAL NAZIS bro.
  
  I really want that to be true.
  At the same time, we should probably start paying less attention to the mannerisms of an almost century-old-and-dead fascist regime, and pay more attention to our home-grown variety of the same. After all, when the bad guys come knocking, they're going to look like the proud boys, not brownshirts.
- So... 90% is in denial, and 10% is openly embracing it... Great.
- Like what? Reddit subs?
  I have a feeling Facebook and Twitter are going to be very different.
  
  Reddit, lemmy, stormfront, 4/8chan, and news website article comments are my go-tos to gauge the way things are going from the perspective of the chronically online. If you have another suggestion that doesn’t require an account, I’d appreciate it

That's not a straight arm salute, its a Hitler Salute. You don't have to be German to be a fucking Nazi.

“Straight arm salute”
Right. Gotcha. And a swastika is an “almost grid”.
- It's a deconstructed "cool S" it's just art!!
- It's going to be a window as soon as I can afford to finish the tattoo.

So, I'm curious. Can a German chime in on this? I (US) understand that it's illegal to do this salute in public there. Would what Musk did here be enough to get him booked, or at least a stern talking to, if he'd done it in Germany?
- Per § 86 StGB (our penal law) up to three years in prison or a monetary fine.
  People would be outraged, of course only those that aren't too far gone to the right. The reaction of the AfD would be most interesting, as they will probably like it but can't make it too obvious, they're already under watch by the interior secret services of the Verfassungsschutz.
  Would anything happen to Musk? The richest man in the world, backed by a country with a law to invade The Hague when service members are kept there? Yeah, I doubt that.
  
  Okay, yeah, I'm with you so far. Let's say Musk was anyone else and just did what he did here out in the middle of some public speaking event. Would he get got?
  
  "or a monetary fine". Ugh, "legal for a price".

Nooooooo, that is all one big misunderstaaaaaaaandiiiiiiiing.
You're just throwing the nazi insult at everyone you disliiiiiiike
/s
- Look at all these still images of Democrats pointing they're the same! /s

Well, isn't that a surprise.
Liberal media: {shocked pikachu face} - why no, it only APPEARS to be that Elon gave a Roman salute. Rest assured we'll get a good explanation for this later on, you guys!
Nazi Musk fanbois: {permanent erection}

I am reminded of the scene from The Great Dictator where the Hitler analogue delivers what is clearly a hateful rant in a gibberish language, and the english translation is a soft, milquetoast reinterpretation for the international audience.

If it walks like a Nazi and talks like a Nazi...
- Punch it, before grandad sees and wonders why the fuck he lost so many friends fighting the fucken nazi's, only for them to take over his country.

So there are people both denying it and acknowledging it.
- That's a feature not a bug
- "liberal media" desperate to be allowed to keep making money: deny!
  Literal online Nazis: he's one of us!!

FInAlLy tHe EnD oF wOkIsMn!1

So my guess is there are factions of the military about to be purged. If the people want a chance it better be soon.

I do na zi what you mean, looks totally normal to me /s
:3

Straight-arm Salute 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

My favorite buzz to hear from them would be from the electric transformer jacked into their chairs

189 comments

/s