Tesla Motors and SpaceX’s 51-year-old CEO Elon Musk continues to opine about controversial topics, defying PR experts warning about talking too much to the press. Interviewed by 53-year-old Fox New No. 1 host Tucker Carlson, Musk vented his opinions on population growth, something debated for decades, while predictions of a population explosion never panned out. Countries like China and India continue to see declining birth rates despite having populations estimated in the 1.4 billion range. China ended its one-child policy in 2015 when demographers noticed its population numbers declining. Carlson, known for his controversial personal issues and interviews, finds Musk one of the most rating-rich interviews. Musk, whose SpaceX Starship rocket exploded today shortly after takeoff, has more irons in the fire than most the mega-billionaires on the planet.
Musk expressed concerns about global population growth, saying that human’s urge to procreate, claiming birth control and abortions all contribute to declining population growth in the industrialized world. Musk told Carlson that the procreating urge had been “subverted” by today’s emphasis on controlling population growth through education and medical prescriptions. Only recently, Amarillo, Texas District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk placed a ban April 7 on the FDA-approved morning after pill mifepristone. One week later, the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals placed a stay April 13 on Kacsmaryk ruling. Now in the Supreme Court is expected to rule week on whether Kacsmaryk overstepped in legal authority, tampering with an FDA-approved medication. Musk calls all those efforts to reinstate abortion pill mifepristone “subverting” procreation.
Carlson asked Musk why it “subverts” the procreation urge to use birth control and education to give people a choice to whether or not to procreate. “Why is that? I mean, the urge to have sex and to procreated is—after breathing and eating—the most basic urge. How has it been subverted,” asked Carlson. “Well, it’s just, in the past we could rely upon, you know, simple limbic system rewards in order to procreate. But once you have birth control and abortion and whatnot, now you can still satisfy limbic instinct, but not procreated,” Musk replied. Musk likes to opine on any topic asked by inquisitive journalists, the same thing they’ve been doing to 67-year-old Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Musk learned from Gates its OK for billionaires to hazard opinions on any topic. Gates, a college dropout and computer programmer, became an instant expert on the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Now Carlson expects Musk’s sage-like wisdom about his views on abortion, procreation and population growth. While it’s true that China and India’s population rate has declined over the last decade, it’s also true that they both exceed 1.4 billion. Musk has sired 10 children in the last 20 years with three different women, doing his part in expanding the U.S. population. Musk dabbles in a lot of things, showing like Gates, he’s curious about many topics, including microbiology and genetics. But both Musk and Gaates have only slightly more knowledge than the journalists asking them questions largely for ratings and readership. Musk told Carlson that humans haven’t dealt with the procreation deficit because of access to birth control and abortion. Like climate forecasters, there very little science and abundant conjecture when predicting the end of the world.
Giving Musk interview time with Tucker Carlson benefits both parties, knowing that it gives Musk more global publicity and boosts Tucker’s ratings for his Fox talk show. “I’m sort of worried that hey, civilization, if we don’t make enough people to at least sustain our numbers, perhaps increase a little bit, the civilization’s going to crumble,” Musk told Carlson. With naïve logic like that, it’s astonishing that he’s done so well in most of his entrepreneurial pursuits. Whether Tesla Motors survives or not or SpaceX gets to Mars, Musk continues to rake in unthinkable amounts of cash, making him at the top of the billionaire hierarchy. If Musk did his homework on population growth, he’d know that the third world, especially in Africa and South America, have no problem with population growth. Only industrialized countries see a leveling or decline in growth.
Speculation on national TV about the future of civilization makes Musk look like a seminal thinker. “The old question of like, will civilization end with a bang or a whimper? Well, it’s currently trying to end with a whimper in adult diapers, which is decreasing like hell,” Musk said spewing his rubbish on Fox News. Why Musk doesn’t stick to Twitter, Tesla, SpaceX, or any number of his other businesses is anyone’s guess. Carlson is perfectly happy to let Musk talk about anything, since he’s developed his own following that hangs on every word. If he wanted to be helpful in the U.S. economy, he’d call 80year-old President Joe Biden out on his reckless proxy war in Ukraie for fueling global inflation and slowing down growth. No, Musk and Carlson prefer to talk about utter rubbish, having no bearing on anything. Musk needs to think twice before granting media interviews.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
