The Dangerous Words of Elon Musk Incites Hatred and Division Against The Childfree

There’s a reason Elon Musk is obsessed with your uterus

Elon Musk’s recent comment about people without children isn’t quite the proclamation he thinks it is.

We’ve been down this road before when he suggested we face a population crisis. Elon's agenda is trying to coerce, shame, and manipulate society to reproduce with impunity. And why? Let’s just say he’s thinking of his wallet and doesn’t have your best interests at heart.

Elon Musk is a fairly influential character with 147 million followers on Twitter and is positioned as the richest man in the world. His obsession with reproduction is icky, but the real danger is how his insidious little comments sprinkled around on Twitter avalanche their way through right-wing media.

In a recent Tweet, Elon Musk said:

“The childless have little stake in the future.”

This is an old rhetoric. Every now and again, this rhetoric is dug out from its dungeon and paraded around so the villagers can shower it with rocks and faeces, along with their whooping, whaling, and cries of “shame.”

As I said in my article, “People without kids still have ‘skin in the game’ just ask Chelsea Handler.”

“I pity the person who needs to have children in order to actually care.”

In fact, there is a rising percentage of non-parents who are forgoing having children precisely because they care about the future.

In one fell sweep Elon Musk builds on an already polarised divide between parents and non-parents, irrespective of how these demographics came to be in that position.

Elon spares no sensitivity toward those who long to be parents but will never be so. There is no acknowledgment that parenting isn’t for everyone. And no recognition of diversity and that there isn’t a universal way to live.

Salivating hyenas in the form of Jack Posobiec and Ashley St. Clair, who have 2.2 million and 701 thousand followers on Twitter, respectively, sunk their teeth into Elon’s words and shared a video of themselves rag-dolling the “purposeless” and “loveless” people who choose not to have children. Their conversation and subsequent engagement are disillusioned and illogical.

By way of introduction, Jack Posobiec is an American alt-right political activist, television correspondent, and presenter, and he has also been described as a conspiracy theorist. Ashley St. Clair is a right-wing commentator and author of anti-trans books for children.

Ashley talks of purpose and suggests that non-parents do not understand purpose. According to Ashley, comprehension of purpose is refined only for parents.

I wonder if Ashley knows that non-parents are responsible for creating a whopping 42% of charitable foundations. And, of course, the one in seven parents who abuse or neglect their children each year are still revered higher than non-parents because, well, at least, they are doing their reproductive duty! Being a good parent is irrelevant, apparently.

The irony is missed on them when Jack brings the conversation to the fact that many world leaders today don’t have children (a job that certainly comes with a purpose).

They share a picture of Kamala Harris and Angela Merkel. While neither of them has biological children, they both have step-children. Ashley denigrates these high-achieving female leaders as unable to make decisions and continues to rant and rave about people without children having inferior decision-making skills compared to parents. She espouses something incoherent about a lack of empathy.

Perhaps Ashley would be interested to learn that science shows that parents don’t have a monopoly on empathy.

Then, of course, we have a whole heap of leaders who are parents but whose decision-making qualities can be questionable at best, and certainly, their parenting skills also leave a lot to be desired: Boris Johnston, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and King Mswati to name but a few.

Political and sexist weaponizing is at play in Jack and Ashley’s conversation. Why is it always women who are scapegoated in the childfree attack? And it also just so happens that these scapegoated women sit in political parties opposed by the judgemental bigots holding the conversation.

By the way — French President Emmanuel Macron has no biological children; he has stepchildren. But I have never seen him shamed in the same way female politicians are.

Other world leaders, past and present, who don’t have children include Theresa May, Shinzo Abe, Paolo Gentiloni, Nicola Sturgeon, and Julia Gillard.

Being a parent is not a prerequisite for being an effective and compassionate leader.

Ashley segways the conversation into sacrificial love. Suggesting that childfree leaders all lack sacrificial love.

I wonder if it ever crossed her mind that for some of these leaders, their love for humanity, their country, and for leading to the best of their ability has caused them to sacrifice any desire for parenthood.

Ashley suggests “sacrificial love is purpose.” Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But either way, this sacrificial love she speaks of is not limited to the parenting experience. You don’t need to have children to make sacrifices.

But let’s dig deeper because the word “sacrificial” is revealing and problematic.

Ashely is painting herself as a martyr as if she has surrendered her life for her children. Oh, what a hero! But let me ask you, is doing what you want to do a sacrifice? She wanted to have children, so she had them. She has the funds and support to continue leading the life she led before having children. Exactly what sacrifice is she making?

If love feels like a sacrifice, I suggest you speak to a therapist.

Parents who harbour the view that love is sacrificial place an enormous burden of expectation on their children. They see their children as extensions of themselves, possessions even. They are the parents who come out with comments such as “after all I’ve done for you” if their children resist their wishes. And god forbid their children follow a different life path to their prescribed blueprint.

Elon Musk’s transgender daughter cut ties with him after he refused to love and accept her for who she was. Isn’t a parent's love supposed to be unconditional?

There was a fair amount of pushback in the comments of Jack and Ashley’s video.

Ashley continued on her warpath in response to some comments and called everyone choosing not to have children “narcissistic” and thought she was making a valid point with her question, “Why do people choose not to have children lol. [SIC]”

I’m still waiting for her reply to my Tweet “A better question is why do people choose to have children? lol”

Ultimately, whether we choose to have children or choose not to have them, we are all following our yearnings. So are we all selfish? Because having children is no more virtuous or selfless than choosing not to have children.

And given the number of people attending therapy to undo the damage caused by a narcissistic parent, it is clear that narcissism isn’t restricted to people without children.

Unfortunately, the Elons, Ashleys, and Jacks of this world love their children on the condition the children subscribe to the parent’s political, religious, sexual, and gender orientation map of the world.

When will the hate stop?

Will the talking heads ever show acceptance and compassion for diversity? They aren't trying to understand; they come on air to vent their anger that other people aren’t living as they would like them to! They literally open their mouths and exchange farts. Judgemental inaccuracies fester in their halitosis.

If Jack and Ashley had the superior level of empathy and compassion they profess to have — because, you know, they are parents — they would involve others in the conversation to help enhance their understanding. But no, they don’t want to understand. They are not for budging. They only want to position non-parents as wrong and inferior and build a greater fog of shame around them.

Elon Musk puts out one tweet, and his syndicate of groupies turns it into a pandemic. He encourages division over finding common ground. He incites hate when he could encourage love! And that makes him inexplicably dangerous.

Thank you for reading Ali Hall

My eternal wish is that everyone who wants children will have them and be good parents. And those who opt out of parenting will be respected and accepted for this decision.