On Jan. 20 at the post-inauguration rally during Elon Musk’s speech celebrating the inauguration of Donald Trump, Musk performed an arm gesture that looked to be a Nazi salute, and he is now facing scrutiny over the controversial arm gesture.
Musk talks about how important this past election was and expresses his gratitude by saying
“Thank you for making it happen, thank you.”
Before placing his right hand over his heart and then throwing the same arm into the air in front of him. He then turned around and performed this gesture again.
Immediately after he delivered his speech, Musk was receiving major backlash on all social media platforms. The main concern was that this gesture was too close in resemblance to a Nazi Salute. This ‘Nazi Salute’ or ‘Seig Heil salute’ was used in Germany during the time of Hitlers ruling in support of him, this was used by people who agreed with his ideologies, like members of his military.
The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened hand, typically followed by the phrase “Heil Hitler!” For someone to salute something so frightening surrounding the war, mass murder, Auschwitz and other concentration camps that Hitler enforced, is scary for this nation.
It had viewers wondering if they’d have a certain future as this was dystopic to see. This salute, when interpreted this way, can be extremely disrespectful and insensitive.
There has been lots of speculation over social media over why such a successful public figure of so much status would do such a gesture on live television. However, his involvement in Germany’s culture and protecting German people makes this all slightly suspicious.
On Jan. 25, Musk made an appearance on video at Germany’s Alternative fuer Deutschland election campaign event in Halle, publicly expressing his support for the far right party. This would be the second time this week. He repeatedly speaks about how Germans should take pride in their heritage.
“There is frankly too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that.”
This brings up the idea that he is directly speaking on negative history surrounding Germany.
“Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents,” Musk says. “Let alone their great grandparents,”
Supposedly referring to Germany’s Nazi history. He then goes to speak in favor of voting for the right party and encourages others to do the same, advocating for a “great future” in Germany.
Some would argue he was just expressing his love and thanks for the nation by performing a ‘Roman Salute.’
Not quite, a ‘Roman Salute’ refers to a gesture where a person extends their right arm out in front of them with their palm facing down and fingers together. This Salute was originally popularized by the Italian Fascist party under Mussolini. Despite this being widely adopted by Hitler’s Nazi regime to only salute Hitler and his actions later on, there isn’t even any real evidence of such a salute existing in ancient Rome in the first place.
This ‘Roman Salute’ was never even actually Roman. No historical Roman records or artwork depict this specific gesture as any kind of positive greeting. There is evidence of certain salutes involving raising a hand but none were in this certain manner.
So in this day and age, that gesture is only known as a symbol of fascism and the horrors that occurred during World War Two, nothing more. There should be little doubt about what this gesture truly means.
In conclusion, this gesture is seen as insensitive. If you were to be walking down the hallway and see someone perform this salute the average person wouldn’t reciprocate the action because they know of this gesture’s painful past history. People on social media going out of their way to defend Musk even though they have no idea of his true intentions are blowing the situation out of proportion when the most logical thing to do is to stick to the facts.