Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is the Time Person of the Year for 2021. Seeing the face of the world’s richest man on the cover of Time has not gone well with many people for several reasons. Musk for being the owner of Tesla; a leading electric vehicle manufacturer and for pioneering the projects like Solar City may be contributing to clean energy initiatives that the world needs the most due to the threat of climate change. However, the world’s richest man is a controversial personality for his opinions on wealth tax, Covid19 response, and projects that don’t seem to add much to the sustainability of economic systems in the long run.
The debate whether Musk is the right choice for being a person of the year is necessary to know if he is actually worth leaving an impact through his initiatives or he has made it here just for being the world’s richest man.
Critics about Elon Musk Being Time Person of Year
The sustainability of the planet and human beings is in serious jeopardy due to global warming, pollution, climate change, and also pandemics. The current model of economic development through ruthless exploitation of Earth’s resources is increasing inequality along with putting the natural resources at risk. Given such a situation, the endeavors like Tesla and SpaceX may have some solutions to offer in terms of being the clean energy alternates along with helping human beings explore the inter-planetary options. However, these projects seem just capitalist endeavors rather than solutions to some pressing problems of the present time like poverty, rising inequality, lack of socially inclusive infrastructure, and the inability of the Earth to be a safe home for human beings.
A Call for Musk to Pay more Tax
The goals that Elon Musk has achieved seem much personal in nature and don’t make him really the inspirational entrepreneur that the world needs. Perhaps, this is the reason why these are not the commoners but also some political figures who have shown reservations about Elon Musk being the Time Person of Year in 2021.
Senator Elizabeth Warren on this occasion talked about how Elon Musk was a freeloader as his businesses got the tax exemptions. She called for changing the tax code so that the rich had to pay more taxes.
The wealth tax issue in the United States has garnered more attention in wake of the pandemic that has exposed how the poor and marginalized factions of the society are more likely to suffer in such circumstances.
In 2019 teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg was the Time Person of the year and it did make sense as she was inspiring through her commitment to a better world.
Why Tesla May Not be An Intuitive Project Afterall
There has been a greater than ever focus on using cleaner energy alternates due to the atmosphere’s reduced capacity to absorb the emissions from fossil fuels. Due to this Tesla seems the need of the hour for it makes efficient electric vehicles. However, when it comes to solving the mobility issues in a way that commutation is socially inclusive and ecologically friendly, then car-free options appear more sustainable. Elon Musk becoming the Time Person of the Year may imply that what he has to offer is problem-solving, while in reality, it seems futuristic only in terms of something that has a greater possibility of making the capital productive.
Here is a meme that mocks how Tesla was actually a flawed project for it was catering to the needs of car owners, while what the world in reality needed was to resolve the problems of socially marginalized like pedestrians, cyclists, and the kids. It just portrays how an invisible child should have been the right choice for the Time Person of the Year because there are products for the rich men but not for the kids whose mobility options seem more limited due to the current development model.
