Men leaving a mark on the world seems to be the theme of this semester's documentary film class. Two more in the past two weeks -- a contrast almost as stark as Eliot Spitze and Fred Rogers but very, very different. Yesterday's film was about Donald Trump's methods of building an enormous golf course/resort in Scotland. The Donald is not a favorite of anyone taking this class. The documentary firmly contrasted his arrogance with the Scottish farmers whose property abutted the beautiful dune/marsh area that was destroyed by the building of the ill-planned monstrosity. The extent of how Trump's money had bought the government officials and was used to make the local people miserable made the roomful of thoughtful, sensitive viewers revolted -- but certainly not beyond discussion (not this group!)
Last week's "hero" was Elon Musk, the Australian transplanted to Silacone Valley, who put his own fortune into building the Tesla electric car (he has other enterprises as well and is not in danger of going penniless). A man who believes in producing something truly useful, truly innovative, if anything more driven than Trump, and far, far less arrogant, probably far smarter. It was the difference between greed driven ego and belief driven willingness to work and put himself on the line for an idea.
Yes, there will be plenty of golfer in the future but Trump's one completed course (of two planned) is getting thumbs down reviews in golf magazines, and the project has not resulted, as the government expected, in a local economic boom. On the other hand the Tesla electric car is getting highest marks from the car magazines and will probably be the electric car by which all others from all other manufacturers are measured. 'nuf said.
2 comments:
Oh June -- now I care less about Trump than before. Of course my before was ranked about a minus 0. Such hubris that man has. And yes GREED. The young car designer sounds like the kind of person we need more of in the industrial world. Not that I am an industrial type of person but I do realize its here to stay so lets get it right. Nice post -- barbara
Thanks, Barbara. The car maker is a whiz -- he also is making space craft to take tourists up and back and has had at least one client successfully transported -- of course the fee is enormous. But he seems to think that will be a big thing in the future. But first we do need electric cars.
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