What makes Elon Musk so powerful?
This post was written by a student. It has not been fact checked or edited.
From my standpoint, Elon Musk is as powerful as he is due to his money and social media influence.
With his substantial wealth, Elon Musk was able to buy various businesses such as Tesla, SpaceX and, of course, X.
Due to his status as a billionaire and the owner of X, a platform that many have used for years, a lot of attention drifts to him and what he does. There exists the obvious fact that whatever one consumes, gets remembered, therefore becoming part of one's knowledge. Yet there is another psychological fact by Stanley Milgram’s “authority experiment”, published in 1974, which explains that when something or someone is seen as an authority figure, followers and believers of their doing will do as they say and replicate their actions. Using this theory on Elon Musk, one realizes that Musk has a lot of attributes that many can only dream of. All of which are complemented by his wealth.
Additionally, humans often search for a purpose and something to follow, someone like Musk would be a good contestant as a role-model: He has billions of dollars of NetWorth, multiple companies, a family and is notably intelligent – a dream come true to many.
Especially his followers; He keeps them hooked by seemingly constantly being caught up in something big or completely new, one of the latest being him having become a “special government employee” of Trump’s.
Even people who don’t necessarily care about what he does are now confused – How did Elon Musk get here? Why is he suddenly in this new position?
The answer to these questions is simple: He has money to give and influence online and offline. But more importantly, now he has more eyes on him all over the world, watching as he starts his journey as a political figure. Now he has the opportunity to drag more people with him, to convince them of his ideas; For example, his political ideals, as seen in his support for right-wing parties, such as the call with the leader of Germany’s AfD.
In conclusion, Elon Musk’s money and social media influence are the primary sources of his power, with his newfound political position amplifying it.
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