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Elon Musk and Grimes should leave their baby out of their constant need to troll us

Anyone born to a couple like this will always be in the public eye. But can that not wait until the child is old enough to decide whether it wants to take part in that lifestyle?

Chris Stevenson
Wednesday 06 May 2020 15:14 BST
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Elon Musk calls coronavirus lockdowns 'fascist'

Most people will likely know Elon Musk more recently for his use of Twitter missives than for his exploits as an entrepreneur with Tesla and his SpaceX programme.

From the liberal left, Professor Neil Ferguson to even shareholders in one of his own companies, Musk is never shy of ploughing his own path and courting the media controversy that involves. The tycoon is obviously aware of the rewards, and the pitfalls, of such an approach for his brands. Whether he is doing it for his businesses or for his own entertainment is clearly of little consequence.

He is also within his rights to mess with the media, if they want to report on him, his family and his businesses or even write pieces such as this – and put that information through whatever prism he wishes. The release of the name of the first child for Musk and singer Grimes, also known as Claire Boucher, is a case in point. Their baby's name? X Æ A-12 Musk.

Both are clearly having fun with the media, their fans and the perception of them as eccentric personalities. I wish them all the health and happiness in the world over the birth, and indeed, they aren't the first high-profile to agree on an unorthodox name. From Zowie Bowie and Dweezil Zappa to Apple Martin and any number of recent celebrity babies, "interesting" names have a long history and don't shock anywhere near as much as they used to.

The bigger issue for me is the exposure given to the newborn. Tweets about the name are fair game, but we are already at the stage of photoshopped images of the child from Musk. I'm just not sure this type of light-hearted trolling – or any other kind – needs to feature the newborn baby prominently.

I'll hold my hands up and say that I'm contributing to the swell of media coverage around the issue and will take all the "hypocrite" emails and tweets that are coming my way, but the bigger issue of digital privacy has been on my mind for a while.

Grimes given up vegan diet during pregnancy and says she craves cow milk in interview with Bazaar

For my generation (an old millennial) we grew up with technology gradually creeping further into our lives as we became teenagers. It was something new, and at times worrying. But at least we were old enough to start to make decisions about how much we wanted to participate very quickly.

For children born in the last few years, the use of technology is second-nature. There is not much to be done about that, it is something they will be dealing with all their lives. All we can do is teach them to be safe and make responsible choices.

But does that mean it needs to begin straight away – or even during pregnancy as it did with Musk and Grimes? Baby pictures have always been an embarrassing part of growing up and that no doubt multiplies when it involves not dusty, old photo albums but images shared all around the world.

Any child born to a couple like Musk and Grimes will always have a public life. It is understandable if the couple want to be in control of the media narrative about their newborn – and that is merely my speculation about the potential reasons for their actions; they may just want to share their joy as far as possible. But can it not wait until the child is old enough to decide whether it wants to be an active part of that public life?

In the end, it comes down to parental choice and I have no doubt that Musk and Grimes will protect and love their child as much as they are able. But I couldn't help feeling a twinge of pity – however small – for the newborn this morning. It is quite the world they are being born into.

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