There are 3 people who have tremendous world recognition, and have one thing in common: they are a thorn on the side of the global ‘establishment’. I am talking about Donald Trump, the infamous narcissist, Elon Musk, the genius time-traveller, and Roger Waters, the eternal rocker-activist.
We all know why Trump is a thorn, but what are Musk’s and Waters’ sins? Well, to begin with, Elon Musk bought Twitter, sorry X, and removed many of its anti-disinformation rules and protocols in the name of freedom of expression. He also expresses his opinions without a qualm. In addition, he dabbles into politics without being asked.
As for Roger Waters, he is very vocal about injustice and suppression of freedoms. He has often criticized famous and important people, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump (he called the former and idiot, and the latter a pig, when the man was the US President) and certainly he has been one of the few famous people to have openly supported Julian Assange, whose US extradition matters to him. Now I am not going to expand on these issues, but the other day, I noticed that strangely enough, all three of these famous, listened-to, and vocal thorns on the side of the establishment, have developed ‘legal’ problems.
Once again, I don’t think I have to say much about Trump. Last I recall there have been 91 charges against him on various accounts. As for Elon Musk, I saw a long list of cases listed by Reuters, which goes from US SEC’s lawsuit over his takeover of X (Twitter), to a number of class action suits on SpaceX recruitment discrimination, Tesla autonomous driving, and (the best I read) US Justice department’s allegations that SpaceX refused to consider asylum seekers and refugees for jobs because of citizenship status! I am puzzled by this last one: SpaceX does very sensitive work, the US often requires US citizenship for many sensitive work, and the very same Justice department, supported by the administration, often discriminates against anything or anyone Chinese or Russian dealing with supposedly sensitive technologies!
As for Waters, we suddenly hear and read that he is possibly, maybe, potentially antisemitic, and sometimes even accused of being pro-Nazi. And proofs? They often come from the symbols in his shows/concerts from The Wall. Shows and symbols that have been used for over 40 years, without any problems, but now suddenly they become foul?! Oh yes, I forgot, one of his old buddies, Bob Ezrin, has claimed that Waters in the 70s during the recording of The Wall, created a ditty: «I can’t remember the exact circumstance, but something like you know .... The last line of the couplet was ‘cos Morry is a f***ing Jew’». So the guy, suddenly remembers from the 70s, does not remember when, or much, but he remembers exactly the last line!! To add further to his burden, I have read that the state department is weighing on this matter, and claiming that he has possibly antisemitic tendencies!
Without pretending to defend Waters, just remember, The Wall is recognized as a masterpiece album, which is the story of a child whose father is killed during the second world war, who is over-protected by his mother, becomes isolated, and becomes a fascist. That album is nothing but a repudiation of fascism, and how isolation could lead to such personalities (and btw, it is all written by Roger Waters). And let’s not forget Waters’ grandmother was murdered in the Holocaust.
Again, I am not defending any of these people, but I am just puzzled that suddenly within a span of 2 years, these 3 powerful and listened-to people who have been and are all thorns on the side of the ‘establishment’ in one way or another, have developed legal problems. No I am not claiming Law-fare, but I am just puzzled.
Paris, January 15, 2024,
Zeejay