The Musk Crisis is a Salute to American Diversity

In ancient Rome, should a member of the public wish to approach an official, they had to raise their weapon hand, the right hand, to show it was empty and they meant no harm. Now, it is called the Roman salute, by and large associated with fascism. Elon Musk's salute at a rally held after Donald Trump's presidential inauguration, palm held to his chest and right arm extended towards the crowd, palm down resembled the Nazi salute that accompanied the "Heil Hitler!" bark. It drove political interpreters nuts. Was Musk playing Himmler to Trump's Hitler? Is Musk, the most outr é of tycoons, a Fascist? Due to his status as the world's most powerful billionaire today, and Trump bestie, his gestures reflect on America itself.

- Ravi Shankar

The Roman salute was appropriated by Fascists in the 1920s; the term 'fascism' comes from the Roman word 'fasces', which were bundles of rods with an axe stuck in the middle that symbolised Roman official and religious power. Martin M Winkler's book The Roman Salute: Cinema, History, Ideology argues that il saluto romano is not Roman at all but was popularised in pre-1935 films which did not show much action. The Italian Fascists, and then the Nazis, seized the salute as their own. Winkler suggests that the historical truth of the Roman salute in cinema exemplifies "potent fiction" edging out "real history". Musk is well-known for his battles with history and going where no man has gone before. Electric cars, moon rockets, space colonies, hyperloop, neuralink, Tesla, PayPal and Starlink exemplify one