this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
253 points (94.4% liked)
Memes
45629 readers
1156 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
You say "correct" but you're not contradicting the meme. The reading that "apartheid South African" is referring to the man rather than the mine is to me more intuitive. Even if it wasn't it would be a possible reading, so I don't think you should say you're correcting the meme.
To me, "apartheid South African emerald mine owner" appears to mean that the mine was in South Africa. It does have a bit of ambiguity. I think that it's important to provide enough detail to make the scope of exploitation involved clear. Sometimes it can be simple, like "sweatshop" but, in this case, Musk has invested a lot of energy into his myth of a "self-made" man, especially in suppression of the origins of his wealth that it behooves use of done specificity to demonstrate how rotten even his origins were.
I support the desire to add context the fact you did add. My only concern is that your phrasing comes off as saying the meme is ahistorical or dramatised, when it's probably just the phrasing.
You're absolutely right. My wording is that way intentionally as a bit of a "hook"/humor. Not humor making light of human suffering but to make it bearable to discuss and draw attention to it.