So Elon Musk got snubbed from the UK's International Investment Summit. Big deal, right? Wrong. This has the stench of hypocrisy and short-sightedness.
Musk isn't everyone's mug of beer. He does tend to be perhaps a bit too vocal at times on certain subjects, and some of his social media posts have been questionable. But since when do we ban billionaires from investment summits over Twitter habits?
The UK's government claims Musk wasn't invited because of what he said during the riots this August. Sure, he spewed wild conspiracy theories. But are we vetting every investor's opinions? That summit is likely full of oil tycoons and hedge fund managers; are their social media accounts all squeaky clean?
What bothers me is the double standard involved here:
It is all right for them to welcome investments from countries with flawed human rights records, yet they draw a line from a tech billionaire due to conventional tweets. That's all about optics, not economic growth.
And Musk, he's Tesla and SpaceX, the game-changing force in industries. Shutting him out does smell of a self-inflicted wound. Where do we draw the line? Are we going to police every investor's social media?
That's a very slippery slope.
I am not suggesting Musk should get away scot-free. But to ban him from all economic discussions, that's overkill. It is like the UK was shooting itself in the foot.
What was Musk's response, then?
Classic Elon: another inflammatory comment about the UK, and presto.-it's got everyone talking. That is what he does best.
It's all just so frustrating. We should be focusing our efforts on securing investment instead of being mired in Twitter drama. Meanwhile, Tesla had been considering a new European plant, and the UK was actually in the running until now. How much economic growth just slipped through our fingers?
That feels, ultimately, like a missed opportunity wrapped in political posturing.
What we need is to decouple both personal opinions and economic realities.
But hey, what do I know? Some blogger peering over the fence as the UK drops the ball on a huge economic opportunity. Maybe next time, instead of uninviting controversial figures, we could try actual dialogue. Crazy thought, I know.