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Elon Musk says kids with rich parents are lazy, talks of how he started his first company

 Is Musk successful because his father was rich? This was the topic of discussion on Twitter recently and Musk jumped right into it and had a few things to talk about his early life.


HIGHLIGHTS
Elon Musk has criticised kids with rich parents, saying they are not motivated enough.
Musk was a topic of discussion where people were digging up his upbringing.
Musk, however, comes from an affluent family.
“With great power comes great responsibility, a responsibility to give it back to society and a responsibility to see that those resources are put to work in the best possible way to help those in need.”

These words were once uttered by none other than Bill Gates, who, for a great deal of time, remained the world’s richest man. While Gates is no longer the wealthiest man on earth, Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk — who will own Twitter soon — is. He is also a topic of discussion, highlighting how Musk is not doing enough for society and whatever he has achieved so far is because he grew up in an affluent family. This topic arose again as some of Musk’s fans said that his inherent richness had nothing to do with his success, while his critics pointed out that it was easy for him to build the legacy that is today because he is rich.

“If being born to a well-off family is why @ElonMusk succeeded extravagantly in life then explain to me why all these rich kids go to art school, never get a job, and waste away,” a user tweeted. Musk, who is known for engaging heartily with his fans and critics alike, was quick to respond to this tweet. He said, “Yeah, kids starting with lots of money usually have much less motivation than those who have nothing.” But right after Musk dissed rich kids, he offered his version of the story, mentioning the motivation that led him to start his first company.

“When we started our first company (Zip2) in 95, I had over $100k of student debt, a computer I built myself and a few thousand dollars,” he added. Musk basically implied that his education loan was the motivation why he built his first company and turned it profitable. But he, by all means, was never poor. Neither was his family. And Musk is not denying anything here. He made a point that "people with nothing" are more motivated to chase different things in life. That may be partly true, but Musk is missing a point here. The point is that being brought up in an affluent family gives a person a safety net. Let me explain.

The financial status of a family has a major role to play in the career of a child. When the family is rich, the child gets to decide what they want to pursue without having to risk anything. Taking a gamble when you are being provided for by your family is easy. The simple knowledge that even if their new venture does not succeed, they will still be fine because of their family’s wealth makes them have an upper hand when it comes to taking risks in life. Others, who do not belong to rich families, are less likely to take risks in life because of the lack of a safety net. The constant fear of failure and the aftermath is what stops them from dabbling in new projects even if they have the zeal for that.

“It’s the risk of losing everything and having no safety net that is the issue for people. When you have nothing or have more than most, taking gambles isn’t nearly as daunting,” one of his followers responded.

The reactions to Musk's tweet were split. While some were still not convinced that Musk built himself into what he is today on his own, an Indian fan of Musk, who can often be seen having a conversation with SpaceX CEO on Twitter, pointed out that “people spread lies” when they say Musk belonged to a rich family and his father owned emerald mines. “While starting Zip2 you guys didn't have a place to stay and had to shower at YMCA. Also while in college didn't u guys turn your room in a nightclub to afford rent?” said Pranay Pathole. Musk responded to that as well.

The Tesla boss agreed. “Yeah, we paid for rent by turning the house into a nightclub and charging $5.” But he did not acknowledge the part about his upbringing in a rich family. In earlier interviews, Musk had said that his father owned emerald mines in South Africa and that his family owned a private plane.

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