[concordDance]

I continue to be puzzled by people's strong opinions on Elon. He's says dumb things on social media but there seem to be unusually strong sacred contagion effects from that.

Buying petrol from Shell or cereal from Nestle? No problem. Buying a Model 3 from Tesla? No way!

Honestly, I'd be surprised if there weren't a ton of people with the same views on immigration or trans issues or covid or whatever, each associated with a company you buy from every year.

Though personally, I always thought Cybertruck looked pretty naff.

[ender341341]

If you went out on the street and asked random people to name CEOs of nestle or shell I'd guess you'd have a super majority who don't know.

There's a reason most CEOs stay quiet, when you become the face of a company your actions reflect on the companies you represent, and when you spend billions of dollars to make sure that your antics are broadcast as far and wide as possible it's not surprising that your antics affect your companies.

There's a reason most spokespeople for companies have to sign some level of acceptable public behavior contract.

[concordDance]

> when you spend billions of dollars to make sure that your antics are broadcast as far and wide as possible

Why on earth do you think that is why he bought Twitter?

[homefree]

I think it's just politics mixed with his Twitter ownership making him enemy number one of the mainstream press (replacing Zuck - they like Zuck now).

You get article after article hating on him - it ends up affecting reputation and public sentiment.

Humanity is lucky to have him, despite his faults.

[1shooner]

>Humanity is lucky to have him

This is more hyperbolic as anything negative I've read about him the press.

[dylan604]

wait, who likes Zuck?

[kibwen]

It's Elon Musk that's lucky to have humanity, not the other way around, given that his primary skillset is in deftly taking credit for the achievements of others.

[sickcodebruh]

The separation of art and artist is a complex thing that differs from person to person. I think one universal aspect is that one's willingness to divest from art (or product, in this case) is relative to the ratio of disgust felt for the artist to desire for the product. Elon has reached a point of cultural over-saturation while Tesla's products move in the wrong direction on the ladder of cultural cache, the result of their (Tesla vehicles') own foibles and the industry as a whole just becoming more competitive. While plenty of people won't buy his cars, I'm sure they will or would still use a Tesla Supercharger if they could, because the value there is simply too compelling and the relationship is brief but powerful.

Elon in particular has become a liability thanks to his deliberate efforts to be the face and voice of Tesla. For me and clearly others, it's no longer possible to think of Tesla independently of him. His products need to be that must better to work against it and they're just not making the cut.

Other products -- Shell, Nestle -- are reevaluated for disgust-vs-need each time. Most of us have tiny, brief interactions with these companies. There's no meaningful relationship, so I'd have to be extremely furious with a brand to avoid their product. Right now I'll get gas from Shell but not Lukoil, for instance.

[metabagel]

I have avoided Exxon and Mobil stations for about the past 30 years. What's wrong with Shell?

[iscrewyou]

Buying petrol doesn’t apply if someone is already looking for an electric vehicle. There’s plenty of cereal brands to choose from. Same as electric vehicles/trucks. Everyone has opinions to what they choose to spend money on…and people generally do that when given more than one choice.

[alweirjt]

Elon isn't morally worse than my grandparents. It's currently much easier to rally people around things they hate than things they like or support. It seems like that was always true to a certain extent, but social media in particular has dialed it up to 11. Most of my coworkers and family define themselves by what they hate rather than what they like. I put a lot of effort into not going in that direction.

[metabagel]

Did your grandparents buy a company and fire two-thirds of the empoyees, and then try to deny them severance?

[alweirjt]

Of course not. They never had the opportunity. If they had been born wealthy enough to treat companies like toys, they very well might have.

[concordDance]

> Did your grandparents buy a company and fire two-thirds of the empoyees

Of the things he's done that's actually one of the least questionable.

Twitter was going to have to fire those people soon any way due to not making enough money to keep paying them and they've gone on to do better things any way.

[bagels]

They didn't buy twitter to amplify their objectionable takes on things.

[concordDance]

I'd bet a lot of money thats not why he bought twitter.

[bagels]

Why do you think he did?

He's indicated he thinks that Twitter's liberal censorship was an existential threat to man. I think boosting his own messaging has to have been one of the motivations (though maybe not the most pressing one).

[r3d0c]

ah yes the "you live in society yet you criticize it" logic, you think i have a choice in the fact that we live in a fossil fuel car dependant society?

what a shallow unnuanced "critique", on brand for this website

[alistairSH]

It’s hard to divorce the man from his companies. Recent revelations about labor abuse/accidents at his factories. Forcing his companies to respond to media queries with poop emojis. The shitshow that is self-driving (and the marketing thereof). The scammy auto insurance offered by Tesla. The list goes on.

[Thaxll]

He's also a very racist person.

[ovao]

I’d be curious to know why you’d say that.