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Journalism of Courage
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s latest claim, that the Great Pyramids of Egypt were “obviously” built by aliens, drew plenty of criticism on social media, but also got him an invite from an Egyptian minister to visit the monuments to see them for himself.
“Aliens built the pyramids obv,” Musk tweeted on Friday. He also tried to substantiate his claim in another tweet in which he quoted Wikipedia.
Archaeologists and several Egyptian ministers were among those who responded to the 49-year-old billionaire’s bizarre claim.
Rania A. Al Mashat, Egypt’s minister of international cooperation, invited Musk to visit the pyramids so that he could study them better. “Mr Musk we are waiting for you,” she tweeted.
Later, Musk tweeted a link to an article debunking his own claim and explaining how it was done.
On social media, there were plenty of reactions to the claim with most people criticising Musk for spreading blatantly false claims:
https://twitter.com/wilsonchandler/status/1289215454980972544
https://twitter.com/EgyptWithAhmed/status/1289157915316817920
https://twitter.com/AymanElashri/status/1289142672893136896
According to the Smithsonian museum’s website, there has been speculation about how the pyramids were constructed and workers are believed to have used copper tools like chisels, drills and saw to cut relatively soft stone.
“A tomb painting of a colossal statue being moved shows how huge stone blocks were moved on sledges over ground first made slippery by liquid. The blocks were then brought up ramps to their positions in the pyramid. Finally, the outer layer of casing stones was finished from the top-down and the ramps dismantled as the work was completed,” the museum’s website says.
