So everybody in computer repair knows who Elon Musk is. He’s building driverless cars. He also wants to send people outer space to live there. These are just some of his many accolades. In fact, he won tech of the year back in 2015. But now he’s selling flamethrowers. The Elon Musk flamethrower: What does it say about society?
In a short time, Elon Musk sold over $4 million worth of flamethrowers. Keep in mind that flamethrowers cost $500 a piece, plus tax. So you do the math. Furthermore, Musk sold over 1,000 of these things in just a matter of hours between January 27 and 28th. These are according to Musk’s own reports and tweets. I’m writing this around noon Eastern time on January 29. And Musk already made millions off these weapons. Think about that.
And here are some more statistics. He sold another 2,000+ late Saturday and another 7,000+ Monday morning. As of this writing, Musk sold around 20,000 flamethrowers. I saw a graph chart in which liteally shot up in a matter of hours. Then, consumers tweeted ‘what do you use this for’. Musk replied by suggesting using it to roast peanuts and cook other foods. I must admit, that is a good, practical way to use an Elon Musk flamethrower.
I know IT support king Elon Musk means well. But this trend concerns me and here is why. Look at the world we’re living in today. Every time you look around, someone is coming with creative ways to destroy life. We read stories of terrorists running over people with cars. We also read horror stories of mass shootings and other crimes. So yes, it concerns me that people could use this flamethrower for evil intentions. I want to be wrong and hope I’m wrong. However, I’m hoping people do use it for the right reasons, like cooking. But looking at how fast this thing is selling, well, am I being paranoid?