I get the point they’re making, and I agree with most of the piece, but I’m not sure I’d frame it as Musk’s “mistakes,” because he literally won the game. He became the richest person on earth. By our society’s standards, that’s like the very definition of success.
Our economy is like quidditch. There are all these rules for complicated gameplay, but it doesn’t actually matter, because catching the snitch is the entire game. Musk is very, very bad at all the parts of the economy except for being a charlatan and a liar, which is capitalism’s version of the seeker. Somehow, he’s very good at that, and so he wins, even though he has literally no idea how to do anything else.
edit: fix typo!
edit2: since this struck a chord, here’s my theory of Elon Musk. Tl;dr: I think his success comes from offering magical technical solutions to our political and social problems, allowing us to continue living an untenable status quo.
the quidditch metaphor is particularly apt. in the game, while the seekers are chasing the golden snitch (which is mostly separate from the main game), the rest of the players - the chasers and the beaters - are busy trying to score goals by getting the quaffle through the rings at each end of the pitch. and (as we read in the books) since quidditch games can last days or even weeks, catching the snitch doesn’t necessarily guarantee a win as, during that time, the opposing team may have scored enough points to offer the snitch’s 150-point value.
and, while the seekers represent billionaire CEOs like musk, the beaters and seekers scoring goals represent the managers and laborers trying to make a profit.
I get the point they’re making, and I agree with most of the piece, but I’m not sure I’d frame it as Musk’s “mistakes,” because he literally won the game. He became the richest person on earth. By our society’s standards, that’s like the very definition of success.
Our economy is like quidditch. There are all these rules for complicated gameplay, but it doesn’t actually matter, because catching the snitch is the entire game. Musk is very, very bad at all the parts of the economy except for being a charlatan and a liar, which is capitalism’s version of the seeker. Somehow, he’s very good at that, and so he wins, even though he has literally no idea how to do anything else.
edit: fix typo!
edit2: since this struck a chord, here’s my theory of Elon Musk. Tl;dr: I think his success comes from offering magical technical solutions to our political and social problems, allowing us to continue living an untenable status quo.
Such an odd but perfect comparison lol.
Haha thank you. Tbh I’m not much of a Harry Potter fan, so I’m not really sure where that came from.
the quidditch metaphor is particularly apt. in the game, while the seekers are chasing the golden snitch (which is mostly separate from the main game), the rest of the players - the chasers and the beaters - are busy trying to score goals by getting the quaffle through the rings at each end of the pitch. and (as we read in the books) since quidditch games can last days or even weeks, catching the snitch doesn’t necessarily guarantee a win as, during that time, the opposing team may have scored enough points to offer the snitch’s 150-point value.
and, while the seekers represent billionaire CEOs like musk, the beaters and seekers scoring goals represent the managers and laborers trying to make a profit.
I literally have no idea what the rules are so any further meaning is purely a happy coincidence for which I can’t take credit.
The world would make more sense if everything was explained via harry potter references.