Here’s the link to the video, as Mailchimp kept glitching when I tried to upload it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crr7j0udrc4
I will start by stating that this was not a “my heart goes out to you” gesture. That kind of gesture usually includes a closed fist over the heart or both hands extending from the waist, palms up, and open in a welcoming gesture. I’m not saying Musk, in his own way, didn’t start it that way with the hand on his heart, and he might have intended for the full gesture to be what he started, but with a stern look on his face, a stiff arm stretched out, fingers together, and palm down, it didn’t end that way.
Side Note: There are photos of him making the gesture almost precisely as I described above. Here’s one example: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1i8z5ft/so_elon_does_know_what_a_proper_my_heart_goes_out/
In my opinion, this was a Nazi Salute, though probably given as a Freudian slip. (This is me being generous.) If you couple the gesture with all the things Trump has said and done to suggest that he’s leaning towards becoming a dictator, you can’t blame people for seeing the gesture, being made by one of his biggest supporters, as a Nazi Salute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_and_fascism#:~:text=Trump's%20embrace%20of%20far%2Dright,%2C%20antisemitism%2C%20and%20white%20supremacy.
For those on the right who claim not to see it, even if you don’t believe it was his intention, you know what it looks like. Just know that I know you aren’t that stupid or blind. Stop acting like you are. Stop acquiescing to your leaders. They aren’t Gods. They make mistakes. Make them own up to them and move on. All Musk has to do is say he didn’t intend to make the gesture, and he’s sorry that it came across that way. You should be demanding that of him instead of defending him. You can make excuses for him because he’s obviously on the spectrum, but you can also make him see what he did wasn’t appropriate.
Next, talk to your German friends. I’m seeing a great deal of comments on multiple social media sites from Germans saying, “They would be locked up if they made this gesture.” For me, that’s enough. I only have a little German in me, and I’m not Jewish, so honestly, my opinion doesn’t matter. It is the opinion of the descendants of those who lived in that world. They would know more about what it was like to live under that kind of rule and with that kind of hatred in their history. Listen to them. If they tell you it didn’t bother them, yay, but so far, the number of Germans and Jewish people I’ve heard be upset by the gesture far outways the one person I’ve heard from who wasn’t.
For those who want to compare it to a Roman salute in a way to say it wasn’t that big of a deal, remember the Romans enslaved people and destroyed people’s lives. cities, cultures. They may have been innovators and only did what concurring nations did at the time, but we no longer live in that kind of world. We are no longer barbarians who rape and pillage. More importantly, it’s not what US citizens do…anymore, and it is definitely not what true CHRISTIANS do.
I’ve also watched the videos of the still images of other people in politics doing the same. The videos I’ve seen are different from what Musk did. I can’t say those people didn’t make the same gesture at some point, but if the images are stills from the videos, I can’t say they were making the same gesture. The videos may be from a different part of the speech, but I couldn’t find any other videos, so I had to go with what I found. The people I watched clearly made an utterly different gesture than Musk. His was clearly similar to a Nazi salute, and if you are denying that, you’re choosing to be obstinate.
Lastly, when something, no matter what it is, is used for such a horrific Evil like the Holocaust, all other meanings no longer matter.