Reading Tim Higgins's 2021 book POWER PLAY: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century made me dislike Musk intensely. It also led me to read up on how the U.S. government (starting, IIRC, during the Obama administration) enabled Musk's earlier rise in the aerospace industry. Turns out his slash-and-burn approach to the federal government is a colossal case of biting the hand that fed you very handsomely.
I've been recommending Jonathan Taplin's THE END OF REALITY (2023), which focuses on Musk and three other billionaire tech bros: Marc Andreesen, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg. As is becoming ever more obvious since Trump's 2nd election, they're all anti-democratic to the core. It really is long past time for the pro-democracy forces to pay much more attention to the unelected fourth branch of government: Big Money.
Sigh. This kind of doubling down on a purity test is how the left always ends up eating itself.
As I said before: Getting rid of the stock, sure. Not buying a Tesla right now or the foreseeable future, also sure. Protesting at dealerships, okay.
But actively harassing people who happen to have this car at one of the stupidest points in American history is not cool.
A car is the second largest purchase after the home. It's not like demanding people switch grocery stores, or cancel their spotify account. It's a huge purchase and even if made via financing or lease, changing it comes with huge financial penalties... you're asking people to incur that as we stare down the barrel of a Trump-crashed economy.
I've wanted an EV for a while. I can tell you that used EVs aren't thick on the ground, and new ones are still quite expensive. Getting a gas car would just put more money into the hands of the people that forked over millions to put Trump in power in the first place.
EDITED TO ADD: So I just looked up which companies have abandoned DEI policies, and that includes Ford and Toyota. Are we going to be calling for those drivers to get the finger as well? Or can we stop letting the big guys make us hate each other and direct our ire at the cause of the problem instead?
I don't think it's a purity test. If this particular tactic isn't for you, just skip it. Different people are going to have different comfort levels with this. Personally, I don't feel a need to give Tesla owners a thumbs down, but it's also a pretty tame action. And not an unreasonable suggestion from Evan.
It absolutely is a purity test. You're 100% with us in all ways or you're against us. You're essentially demanding that anyone who owns the car to dump it or they'll be subjected to harassment. And yes, it's harassment. Not only does no one want to get gestured at while going to work and trying to make rent, you just know people aren't going to leave it at a thumbs down. People in your comments already saying they're being ruder than that, and with tempers running high, there will be fights.
And it won't do sweet FA to Musk. It just makes anyone who bought the car a victim of his BS twice over.
I totally agree with you. This is a purity test, and those demanding that people sell their cars or face their ire and harassment are totally out of line. Honestly, despite claims to the contrary by the author, it is not financially feasible for many people to sell their car at a loss and purchase a new one. I drive my cars until they are no longer drivable; I do not go out and get a shiny new car every couple of years.
Just fyi -I am one who only knows 2 Telsa owners (my brother & sister) neither are wealthy conservatives. My brother is a scientist who as long been into electric vehicles (trying to get the rest of the family to buy them - I am one of 7 children). My brother has even authored an article or 2 on electric vehicles. Neither are in the position to be a Sheryl Crow (I applaud her action) - so the only ppl I know, did not buy this as a status symbol. Ps - they have the cars - not the god awful, nasty looking "trucks".
They are not the only ones. I am neither, wealthy, conservative, or a male wanting a car as a status symbol. When I bought my Tesla, I was looking for the most reliable EV that I could find at the time with a decent range.
Progressive lesbian here who really wishes that jerks not demand that she make unreasonable sacrifices for their cause. Would I buy a new Tesla today? Absolutely not. But I already own the car, so I'm not depriving Elon of anything at this point. If Evan really wants me to stop driving my car, is he volunteering to buy me a new one?
"I am genuinely sorry that your car is a flashpoint now. But that’s Elon’s doing, not mine."
No, when you encourage people to harass other people who are driving to the pharmacy or picking up groceries, for no other reason than the brand of car they are driving, a car purchase which predates the fascist revolution by a long spell, then it is entirely your doing.
Hope you feel good about yourself. Try directing your action at the perpetrators of this coup, not at your fellow citizens who were hoping to help slow the rate of global warming.
I live in California and see a ton of Teslas every single day (and usually one Cyber Truck on my commute as well). I was just thinking this morning about how my dad wanted a Tesla a while ago (definitely pre-COVID) but my mom said she didn't like Musk and put her foot down - go Mom for her prescience!
Like Fox, I also tend to flip them off rather than a thumbs down but I also probably can't drive safely while constantly signaling them just because I see so many!
Screw the thumbs down crap. I flip them the "BIRD" or Im not being honest....both to myself and others. Remember, Im from Bernie country where we "calls it as we sses it." THIS is not the time for niceities when OUR country is the wager!
I paid $89K for my Model S in August 2020. I sold it the Wednesday before the inauguration for $33.5K. Even before the current slide started, I've never owned a car that depreciated that much in four years.
I hated that car for most of the time I owned it. It was fun to drive, for sure; but it was delivered with body panel defects that they charged me $1500 to fix (which took them 15 minutes and a tube of glue -- I watched them do it). This happened in my first few days of ownership. I understood right there that I'd bought a car from crooks. They lost my repeat business that day.
The car's cruise control never worked properly -- so badly, in fact, that I never even turned on the FSD that I paid $5K for. The thing tried to kill me on the regular. Tesla's "service" insisted there were no problems, and insinuated that I was probably just too old and clueless to understand the car. (I'm a twin-engine pilot who regularly takes small planes across the country. I assure you: Tesla's so-called autopilot is not beyond me.)
I sold it to a broker who exported it from Seattle to California, where he says he gets a lot more for them than he does elsewhere in the country. I wonder if this is still as true in late February as it was in mid-January.
I’ll share this with a protest organizer but in case I don’t get to I am happy to talk with press as a Tesla owner dying to get ride of mine for these reasons
I didn't buy a Tesla because the batteries only last about 5 years Replacing a Tesla battery can cost between $15,000 and $22,000, depending on the model and battery size, if done outside of the manufacturer's warranty period; with a typical Model 3 battery replacement costing around $16,550 for a full 75kWh battery swap.
Also they have a tendency to explode, especialy when wet.
While giving thumbs down to individual car owners is 'fun' it may get you shot, because
NOT ALL DRIVERS ARE UNARMED!
Here's a better idea: Instead of holding 'protests' at car dealerships, file a lawsuit against Elon for destroying the country. Because, you know what? Protests at car dealerships mean exactly DICK!
if you actually read and understood what I wrote you would agree that, protests, while a wonderful way to meet like-minded friends will have no long lasting effect on the price of Tesla stocks.
Know why?
The first time the police show up, all the protestors will scatter like cockroaches in the light.
NO ONE WILL GO TO JAIL TO PROVE A POINT ANYMORE!
Those who want to buy a tesla will go to a different dealership until the crowd goes away.
This ain't the 1960's my dear and no person as powerful as elon really gives a flying fuck in a rolling doughnut about protestors. He will still be the richest person in the world tomorrow and the next day and the next month and the next year until someone bigger, meaner and with less morals takes it all away and then he will retreat to the island he bought when no one was looking and laugh at your feeble attempt to intimidate him...
Reading Tim Higgins's 2021 book POWER PLAY: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century made me dislike Musk intensely. It also led me to read up on how the U.S. government (starting, IIRC, during the Obama administration) enabled Musk's earlier rise in the aerospace industry. Turns out his slash-and-burn approach to the federal government is a colossal case of biting the hand that fed you very handsomely.
I've been recommending Jonathan Taplin's THE END OF REALITY (2023), which focuses on Musk and three other billionaire tech bros: Marc Andreesen, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg. As is becoming ever more obvious since Trump's 2nd election, they're all anti-democratic to the core. It really is long past time for the pro-democracy forces to pay much more attention to the unelected fourth branch of government: Big Money.
Two new books for my reading list. Thanks!
Glad I could help! Your to-read list is probably twice as long as mine, and mine is definitely out of control.
Sigh. This kind of doubling down on a purity test is how the left always ends up eating itself.
As I said before: Getting rid of the stock, sure. Not buying a Tesla right now or the foreseeable future, also sure. Protesting at dealerships, okay.
But actively harassing people who happen to have this car at one of the stupidest points in American history is not cool.
A car is the second largest purchase after the home. It's not like demanding people switch grocery stores, or cancel their spotify account. It's a huge purchase and even if made via financing or lease, changing it comes with huge financial penalties... you're asking people to incur that as we stare down the barrel of a Trump-crashed economy.
I've wanted an EV for a while. I can tell you that used EVs aren't thick on the ground, and new ones are still quite expensive. Getting a gas car would just put more money into the hands of the people that forked over millions to put Trump in power in the first place.
EDITED TO ADD: So I just looked up which companies have abandoned DEI policies, and that includes Ford and Toyota. Are we going to be calling for those drivers to get the finger as well? Or can we stop letting the big guys make us hate each other and direct our ire at the cause of the problem instead?
I don't think it's a purity test. If this particular tactic isn't for you, just skip it. Different people are going to have different comfort levels with this. Personally, I don't feel a need to give Tesla owners a thumbs down, but it's also a pretty tame action. And not an unreasonable suggestion from Evan.
It absolutely is a purity test. You're 100% with us in all ways or you're against us. You're essentially demanding that anyone who owns the car to dump it or they'll be subjected to harassment. And yes, it's harassment. Not only does no one want to get gestured at while going to work and trying to make rent, you just know people aren't going to leave it at a thumbs down. People in your comments already saying they're being ruder than that, and with tempers running high, there will be fights.
And it won't do sweet FA to Musk. It just makes anyone who bought the car a victim of his BS twice over.
I totally agree with you. This is a purity test, and those demanding that people sell their cars or face their ire and harassment are totally out of line. Honestly, despite claims to the contrary by the author, it is not financially feasible for many people to sell their car at a loss and purchase a new one. I drive my cars until they are no longer drivable; I do not go out and get a shiny new car every couple of years.
Just fyi -I am one who only knows 2 Telsa owners (my brother & sister) neither are wealthy conservatives. My brother is a scientist who as long been into electric vehicles (trying to get the rest of the family to buy them - I am one of 7 children). My brother has even authored an article or 2 on electric vehicles. Neither are in the position to be a Sheryl Crow (I applaud her action) - so the only ppl I know, did not buy this as a status symbol. Ps - they have the cars - not the god awful, nasty looking "trucks".
They are not the only ones. I am neither, wealthy, conservative, or a male wanting a car as a status symbol. When I bought my Tesla, I was looking for the most reliable EV that I could find at the time with a decent range.
Progressive lesbian here who really wishes that jerks not demand that she make unreasonable sacrifices for their cause. Would I buy a new Tesla today? Absolutely not. But I already own the car, so I'm not depriving Elon of anything at this point. If Evan really wants me to stop driving my car, is he volunteering to buy me a new one?
"I am genuinely sorry that your car is a flashpoint now. But that’s Elon’s doing, not mine."
No, when you encourage people to harass other people who are driving to the pharmacy or picking up groceries, for no other reason than the brand of car they are driving, a car purchase which predates the fascist revolution by a long spell, then it is entirely your doing.
Hope you feel good about yourself. Try directing your action at the perpetrators of this coup, not at your fellow citizens who were hoping to help slow the rate of global warming.
I live in California and see a ton of Teslas every single day (and usually one Cyber Truck on my commute as well). I was just thinking this morning about how my dad wanted a Tesla a while ago (definitely pre-COVID) but my mom said she didn't like Musk and put her foot down - go Mom for her prescience!
Like Fox, I also tend to flip them off rather than a thumbs down but I also probably can't drive safely while constantly signaling them just because I see so many!
Your comment made me smile because Seattle is much the same way. I feel like half the population here either drives a Prius, Rivian, or a Tesla.
Screw the thumbs down crap. I flip them the "BIRD" or Im not being honest....both to myself and others. Remember, Im from Bernie country where we "calls it as we sses it." THIS is not the time for niceities when OUR country is the wager!
I mean, compared to spraypainting swastikas, thumbs down is pretty tame. But, sure. 👎
I paid $89K for my Model S in August 2020. I sold it the Wednesday before the inauguration for $33.5K. Even before the current slide started, I've never owned a car that depreciated that much in four years.
I hated that car for most of the time I owned it. It was fun to drive, for sure; but it was delivered with body panel defects that they charged me $1500 to fix (which took them 15 minutes and a tube of glue -- I watched them do it). This happened in my first few days of ownership. I understood right there that I'd bought a car from crooks. They lost my repeat business that day.
The car's cruise control never worked properly -- so badly, in fact, that I never even turned on the FSD that I paid $5K for. The thing tried to kill me on the regular. Tesla's "service" insisted there were no problems, and insinuated that I was probably just too old and clueless to understand the car. (I'm a twin-engine pilot who regularly takes small planes across the country. I assure you: Tesla's so-called autopilot is not beyond me.)
I sold it to a broker who exported it from Seattle to California, where he says he gets a lot more for them than he does elsewhere in the country. I wonder if this is still as true in late February as it was in mid-January.
Instead of this damaging "sell your car" campaign, how about De-badge your car?
I'm replacing the Tesla logos with Star Wars resistance logos.
It is one of the options Evan mentions for Tesla owners.
I’ll share this with a protest organizer but in case I don’t get to I am happy to talk with press as a Tesla owner dying to get ride of mine for these reasons
I didn't buy a Tesla because the batteries only last about 5 years Replacing a Tesla battery can cost between $15,000 and $22,000, depending on the model and battery size, if done outside of the manufacturer's warranty period; with a typical Model 3 battery replacement costing around $16,550 for a full 75kWh battery swap.
Also they have a tendency to explode, especialy when wet.
Hmmm...
Not all Tesla owners
Not all men
Not all women
Not all Blacks
Not all Jews...
While giving thumbs down to individual car owners is 'fun' it may get you shot, because
NOT ALL DRIVERS ARE UNARMED!
Here's a better idea: Instead of holding 'protests' at car dealerships, file a lawsuit against Elon for destroying the country. Because, you know what? Protests at car dealerships mean exactly DICK!
Did you read Evan's update? The protests are already having an impact on stock price and potentially sales.
Did YOU even read my response? NO, you did not!
BECAUSE
if you actually read and understood what I wrote you would agree that, protests, while a wonderful way to meet like-minded friends will have no long lasting effect on the price of Tesla stocks.
Know why?
The first time the police show up, all the protestors will scatter like cockroaches in the light.
NO ONE WILL GO TO JAIL TO PROVE A POINT ANYMORE!
Those who want to buy a tesla will go to a different dealership until the crowd goes away.
This ain't the 1960's my dear and no person as powerful as elon really gives a flying fuck in a rolling doughnut about protestors. He will still be the richest person in the world tomorrow and the next day and the next month and the next year until someone bigger, meaner and with less morals takes it all away and then he will retreat to the island he bought when no one was looking and laugh at your feeble attempt to intimidate him...