We dive into a weird but revealing article about the phalanx of private security that Elon Musk has amassed around him, spending a small fortune on ex-operators who plan escape routes for his events, clear rooms before he enters, and assess (perceived) threats to his personal safety. His “mushrooming security apparatus” has caused a feedback loop or paranoia and isolation as he becomes further removed from any social connections to other people. We relate this to a broader zeitgeist of fear in American society that has given rise to—and is fuelled by—the explosion of growth in private security firms.

••• Inside Elon Musk’s Mushrooming Security Apparatus https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/technology/elon-musk-security.html

••• The Thin Purple Line https://harpers.org/archive/2024/09/the-thin-purple-line-jasper-craven-private-security-guard/

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