COVID-Narcissism
As panicked Americans have scoured the Internet for accurate information on COVID-19, medical professionals work under impossible conditions, politicians improvise and the news media has scrambled to find a consistent narrative, some with questionable motives are simply in the way. Even (or especially) in a crisis, egomaniacal celebrities simply can’t resist grabbing the headlines.
The race between self-serving social media influencers, publications, and politicians to set the agenda has resulted in numerous incidents of misreporting filled with harmful factual inaccuracies that pose a real risk to the nation. Yet no matter how narcissistic some may be, they don’t hold a candle to a cult-like celebrity CEO with millions of followers eagerly awaiting each update.
Serving as Exhibit A in our strange new world is Elon Musk, current head of Tesla Motors and SpaceX. With over 32 million followers and regular adulation from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Musk has a perpetual free pass to spout off rambling, pseudo-scientific claims.
He’s been able to craft the image of someone on the leading edge of technological innovation and this gives him seeming intellectual credibility the public wouldn't usually afford other pop-culture celebrities such as a Katy Perry, Christie Teigen, or others with a large social media reach.
Musk has a long history of grandstanding at key moments when it benefits his 24/7 stock-pumping PR machine. During the 2018 Thai cave rescue crisis, where 12 young soccer players and their coach went missing deep inside an inaccessible cavity, Musk attempted to hijack the multinational effort to free the group with an offer to send unsuitable mini-subs to the scene. When it was rejected by Vernon Unsworth, a UK citizen and Thai resident who oversaw the operation, Musk called him a “pedo guy” and later a “child rapist”.
As misinformation ran amok, the early days of virus coverage earlier this year were shaky at best. At a time when health experts were trying to warn the public of its severity, Elon Musk was tweeting about the virus being "dumb" and keeping his workers inside factories despite the elevated level of risk.
While the Trump administration and states called for social distancing, 1.7 million people liked Musk's “dumb” tweet. Countless others who didn't even follow him on Twitter no doubt heard his comment and who knows how many used this as justification for ignoring public warnings.
He blatantly ignored Alameda County’s stay-at-home order imposed by encouraging Tesla employees to keep working, right as the virus was exploding across the Bay Area. His “encouragement” to ignore warnings by continuing to work proved even more dangerous with the revelation that some had tested positive for the virus. Since then, a number of others at both the electric car maker and SpaceX have met the same fate.
He followed this up by downplaying the need for ventilators at a time when officials were warning of shortages. While a simple clarification from ABC News correspondent Nate Silver helped correct him, the subsequent idea that Tesla should actually manufacture the units inspired a breathtaking con game.
Because his company had no immediate ability to build them (as Ford and GM are already doing in an effort called “warlike” by the Washington Post), Musk set about to procure “ventilators” from China and elsewhere that turned out to be BiPap machines, similar to CPAP units used primarily for sleep apnea patients. Medical opinions have been mixed on the viability of adapting them to treat those suffering from COVID-19. At best, they are a less-effective backup option.
Stickers featuring the Tesla logo were then affixed to the sides of boxes and publicity photos taken with medical staff at each location where the dubious donations were made. Musk’s PR team then disseminated the images widely on social media. To date, the company has not manufactured a single ventilator unit and on April 7, announced a near-total shutdown of Tesla that includes unpaid furloughs as well as substantial pay cuts for those mostly non-manufacturing employees who do remain on the payroll.
With a history of aversion to authority, it really shouldn't be a surprise that Musk would be so careless with his actions. The results have been downright dangerous. Just two days after the president ordered all businesses to cease such activity for national security reasons, Tesla announced a disturbing partnership with China’s ruling Communist Party.
In another alarming incident, a SpaceX rocket blew up because, as NASA investigators found, the company ignored crucial security protocols and standards. It's a pattern of carelessness that has gone largely unchallenged and that may be contributing to its persistence.
As the country tries to rally through this crisis, keeping the public informed will be critical to saving lives. While broader issues of malpractice by the press are becoming topics of increasing debate, the business media’s harmful love affair with Musk deserves greater scrutiny.
Left unchecked, mega-influencers can have devastating impacts on public health and national security. Musk’s cult-like media following is doing real damage to our country at a critical moment.
When will he finally be held accountable?
Brian Maloney is the co-founder of the Media Equality Project
