You’d have to be a “chronically online” user of X, aka Twitter, to know just how prolific a tweeter author Joyce Carol Oates is, but to those who are, her takedowns have become legendary.
And recently, the 87-year-old award-winning writer set her sights on the owner of X himself, Elon Musk. And the gazillionaire babyman is FURIOUS about it.
In response to one of Musk’s fanboys cheering him on after he threw a tantrum over a Texas Democratic politician who wants to rein in Musk’s activities in the state, Oates wrote:
“So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie… pride in a friend’s or relative’s accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died…”
“…In fact he seems totally uneducated , uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the ‘most wealthy person in the world.'”
It’s the kind of observation that makes you go, “wait a minute—EXACTLY!” It’s hard to put a finger to exactly what always seems so off about Musk (aside from the obviously evil antics). Oates nailed it in a tweet.
And Musk, in what has become arguably his greatest talent, immediately showed that Oates’ takedown really hit him where he lives.
In a post addressing Oates’ takedown, Musk wrote:
“Oates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human.”
Uh oh, someone’s feelings are hurt! Hit dogs holler, as the saying goes, and Musk ended up posting about Oates again in another tweet.
He wrote:
“Everything she says in her post about me can be shown to be demonstrably false with a simple search.”
“Oates is a lazy liar and … an abuser of semicolons!”
Hoo boy, Ms. Oates is really living rent-free in that head of yours, hey Elon?
But if you think Oates was chastened by his bellyaching, think again. She issued another expertly astute summation of the man that only required a single sentence.
In response to another X user’s observation that “wherever [Musk] goes, he wants to leave,” she perfectly summed up his fall from grace in recent months:
“‘wherever he goes, he wants to leave’– that’s because when he gets there, he has brought his own self along; & whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation.”
Whew! That pretty much says it all!
On X, people were astonished by how thoroughly and easily Oates dismantled Musk.
Anyway, stay mad, Elon!
