The Master Took Everything

I'd been trying to remember what novel it was I'd read, which novel I was reminded of by Elon Musk and his fans, in which the protagonist, a follower, a hero-worshipper, breaks down and sobs toward the end of the story, an old man who has wasted his life serving someone who didn't deserve it. 1984? No, that wasn't it, although Winston Smith weeping as he loves Big Brother at last is a similar scene, a similarly heartbreaking catastrophic defeat. Today I remembered: it was The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I read it not long after the movie came out in 1993. And I was struck above all by that scene near the end, and I have always felt that I was taught an important lesson there, not to give myself away to those who are not worthy.

I remembered the lesson always, and the image of the old man crying because the Master had taken everything from him, although I forgot for a while which book it was from. So what does this have to do with EV's? Well, I think about Elon Musk's fans. Tesla owners, Tesla shareholders. I also think about Trump's fans. Trump and Musk, and other narcissistic sociopaths, only take, they don't give back. I feel sorry for those who waste their lives giving to unworthy heroes, expecting rewards which they will not receive.

 

Over and over again, we hear people who've been cast aside by Trump, from chumps who'd paid for Trump University all the way up to former Cabinet members. After they had served him loyally, extremely loyally, but not extremely enough. They express their surprise, and we are surprised, wondering how they could have failed to noticed the thousands of similar cases which preceded their own. We're astonished that they could have been surprised.

 

The difference between Musk and Trump is that Musk is a little bit more clever, a little bit less obvious in his predatory behavior. But only a little bit.