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V-3

Updated: Mar 25

Drawn on December 20, 2024 | Published from Miami

Nazi salute to Starship.
V-3
“Banana? Ein been poopin' era eina cheese-n-crackers withouten!”

— Adenoid Hynkel (Charlie Chaplin) yelling at Field Marshal Herring, The Great Dictator. (1940)



What if SpaceX were a different racket from the grift we thought it was — even slimier snake-oil than the Red Planet fantasy tax-siphon we've come to expect from the Hyperlooping technocrat Elon Musk? Beyond the Starlink deployment debacles and the relentless hype of sunken-cost poured into this quack’s broken promises, could there be a darker twist shattering the Godwin ceiling rather than that of space? This gambit, nurtured in the shadows of South African apartheid, eugenics, doomsday cultism, and alt-right crypto-libertarianism [more here] is a dystopian cocktail of supremacist nostalgia and techno-utopian delusion, dreaming not of humanity’s future among the stars, but of a select few escaping the utter wreckage they helped create on Earth.


Imagine if those multi-billion-dollar Starship explosions were never designed to return in one piece. In tech parlance, "V-1" and "V-2" are typically shorthand for developmental stages. But at SpaceX — a tech company — might those labels be more than just milestones of progress, instead signaling the natural evolution into a "V-3" program; a not-so-subtle nod to the infamous Nazi rockets that rained terror upon Europe in the final years of World War II?


Without goose-stepping all over Charlie Chaplin's copyright on Herr Hynkel’s iconic 'XX' insignia from The Great Dictator, perhaps it’s time for a rebranding — one that more accurately reflects the sinister enthusiasm behind the Tesla tycoon's very public Nazi salutes at the 47th president's inauguration [1], on Martin Luther King Day, a malevolent gesture he seemed all too giddy to share with the world. And if suddenly gripped by paralyzing doubt over whether those were indeed Hitlergrüße, give 'em a try in a crowd and see what happens. (Sarcasm Alert! WAADL does not recommend trying anything of the sort anywhere at anytime.) For the record, this wasn’t his first venture into expressing fondness for the bad guys [2] — he had already endorsed AfD’s mission in an interview with the party leader, Germany’s watered-down, far-right Nazi offshoot [3]. Yet, many still insist on dismissing his repeated chest-slap and arm-wave as innocuous [3].


“We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.”

— The Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin) portraying Dictator Hynkel, excerpt from the final scene. (1940)



While 1930s Europe may have suffered from thinking too much and feeling too little, the Jewish Barber’s speech serves to remind that history isn’t so much prone to repetition as it is a victim of lazy plagiarism. Really, in 2025, we feel too much and think too little. Yet, one truth remains unwavering across all moments in time:


“The hate of men will pass and dictators die; and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

— The Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin). (1940)



[1] Musk's Nazi salutes:

[2] Musk Endorsement of Alice Weidel and AfD (Alternative für Deutschland):

"Only the AfD can save Germany" 1:03 AM · Dec 20, 2024 · 52.1M Views


[3] Musk interview with Alice Weidel:


Musk whatabouting the Nazi leadership's role in mass murder:



All audio is AI generated.

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