MUSK: THE UNBEARABLE SILLINESS OF BEING

It looks like nobody is prepared to talk about it seriously. Let me try. And to do this topic justice, I will have to lead you by the long road (derech aruka). The Alter Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Lyadi, a founder of Chabad movement, outlined this method in ‘Tanya’, a foundational text of the Chabad. It goes like this. Whether in daily activities, or rhetorically, one can choose to put things succinctly, cut corners and ‘get there quickly’. That would be taking the short road (derech kztara). Only that method leaves a lot of room for misunderstanding, endless back and forth, correcting uncertainties and errors and explaining that takes a looooong time. It is better to go by the long road-to allocate proper time for explanation and/or activity. That way, corrections and repetitions will not be needed. One is likely to ‘get there’ in a shorter time frame ultimately. So, the long road it is.

My in-laws have had this family Chanukah tradition dating from the days when the father of the family was still alive. The father was, and remains, a much revered individual. Nearly a quarter of a century passed since the time of his death yet in a way his departure is still a raw scar on the family body. His memory is sacred and his little ways are remembered in detail. So far the background and now is the tradition: when Chanukah candles were lit in the family house, the traditional Chanukah hymn was sang by all. Maoz Tzur that is. And, considerably less traditionally, the entire family , led by the father, performed a strange and endearing ritual: they gesticulated, marched and saluted like the Soviet soldiers on the Soviet military parades on the Red Square. How was this tradition born? What was the logic? Simple. A mixture of light-heartedness and the conditions of the Cold War. Maccabees were an embodiment of military valour, and so singing the hymn describing their heroism was accompanied, very humorously, by the nod to another display of military valour, in our times. The popularity of this ritual went down a bit with time as children grew and married, new family members entered the family and it took effort to explain to them what was going on. It became embarrassing at times. Then grandchildren grew and brought in their spouses, there was more work to be done. Same effect. The core family still performs the ritual, what can I say…Such is the power of love. And the unsure newcomers mostly stand around and watch. Because , ultimately, love cannot be explained.

It was in this atmosphere that it happened. One year, not that long ago, the entire family gathered together for Chanukah candles lighting in Jerusalem. It was a precious time, we had lived in different countries by then. The hymn was sung, the rituals performed and then the utterly bizarre (not at all actually but follow me for now) happened. All I can remember is that my brother in law was happy to see me, he sang the hymn and then turned his beaming face to me and extended his arm in a salute. It was a vigorous movement of an arm of a man who was happy to see me and eager to greet me as strongly as he could. It was a Nazi salute or, rather, a ‘Nazi salute’. If someone observed us from outside the window, that person would be in no doubt as to the meaning of that gesture. For anyone else it was clear that there are only so many ways in which you can extend your body when you are very happy. There is a finite set of gestures. The room filled with roaring, hysterical laughter  and I remember my brother in law’s wife saying to him ‘Congratulations, you just invented a new tradition’.  ‘Only if it was a little more conventional’, someone said. ‘It will take getting used to but I am sure, in our age of openness, this should not take long’, I said. More laughter, and more and more.  For several years after that , my own family and kids did exactly that , the Nazi salute or the ‘Nazi salute’, when we lit the Chanukah candles. For the laughs. And a bit of ‘celebrating’ my brother in law’s innovation. Some cultures appreciate morbid humour, I came from one such culture. Non-morbid jokes are classified as ‘actually not funny’. Anyhow, that thing did not hold. Ultimately, my partner wanted to put an end to it due to distastefulness and then it faded. So far so good.

Now Musk. How many ways are there to extend your body vigorously? I asked myself this question when I heard about his Nazi salute or ‘Nazi salute’, then remembered my dear brother in law and smiled under a moustache. Then I forgot about it. Until I came across the analyses of Musk’s gesture. According to these analyses, some are more sophisticated that other, Musk is now an antisemite. He was in the closet until now, and now he is out of the closet. I did not know if I wanted to write about it because I had nothing worthy to say except that Musk’s behaviour is silly. Just silly-that is it. Is that diagnosis sufficient for an essay? I only decided to write something when it became clear that the whole unfolding debate around his gesture  is utterly at cross-purposes with the reality.

In 1998s, Lars von Trier, an undoubted artistic genius of our time, released his ‘Idiots’. It is a film about a group of people pretending to be profoundly mentally disabled, in public. The critics described the film as a ‘dark comedy’ and the behaviour of the protagonists as an attempt to release the ‘inner idiot’. I thought that was right on the money, and in a much broader sense. The release of our own inner idiots is something that happens pretty much non-stop because this thing, silliness , is a built-in part of us. We just forgive it to ourselves much easier that we forgive it to others. That release of silliness takes form of words, gestures, poses. And intense silliness invites intense gestures, which are limited in number. Silliness is omnipresent. We, the members of the human race, indulge in it, all of us, do we not? Those who do not are considered too serious, morbidly earnest, lacking in humour. According to my good friend, who is a matchmaker in the Hardali (strictly orthodox-nationalist) community, the super serious types, despite all myths, have a certain difficulty finding a suitable partner…Now, judge for yourself, how bad is that not to be silly …? You cannot even marry without it…Silliness is equated, in the West anyhow, with being human. It is not approved explicitly but somehow ‘understood’ and even expected. To be honest, I am in favour of super-seriousness, I grew up in a culture where light-heartedness almost could not be afforded by anyone who hoped to have any respect or self-respect. Soviet immigrants to Israel were notorious for their non-smiling, sombre and serious style, but the West is different….There is still quite a bit of that in Eastern Europe.

The discussion about Musk which has not even began, could and should be of an entirely different nature. Only that it would not be self-righteous but a very earnest discussion. Have the Musk detractors, or indeed allies and followers, paid attention to the human drama that has been unfolding live since his appearance as a political figure? The midlife crisis, the permanently uncertain family situation, more than one tragedy with his children, the immense wealth and the inevitable involvement with the disorientated and affluenza-troubled individuals? Add to this his very recent rise as a political guru the size of Jordan Peterson, only quicker? And the crowds of ‘followers’ shouting ‘Deliver us!’? It is difficult to be a God, as two Russian authors humorously put. All considered, silly vigorous gestures are petty cash in the till. There is much more to come, my prophetic soul foretells.

The reason to have these discussions in earnest ultimately is not for Musk’s sake. We cannot control anything in his life. We can and should try to control our own sanity and bring proverbial hygiene to public debates about and around politics and leaders. It would be important to remember that those public figures that appear to us as superficially aligned with our own ideas of social good and social evil may be actually, partly or wholly, dysfunctional, that elites are not infrequently prone to kinks and substance abuse and emotional disinhibition. And, worse, some public figures are mercilessly encouraged by their ‘followers’ who are willing to overlook absolutely every bit of evidence pointing to callousness and dysfunctionality of their chosen, in a desperate hope to have their way politically. It would also be important to remember that ‘You shall not make idols’. That was said long time ago, about 3,000 years ago may be. The reason that it had to be said in the first place is precisely because this is what we do effortlessly when left to our own devices.

Is Musk a Nazi then? A Nazi enabler? If only life could be so pleasurable and simple…If only.