[bko]

The upside of having an outspoken public figure at the head is that he's in charge and takes ownership. It's pretty wild that you can have some failure in your Tesla, and you can just tweet about it and if its a compelling issue you'll get the CEO to respond and address it directly. Imagine trying to get the attention of someone from Ford.

I don't know if you can have it both ways. Either you're a faceless soulless corporation and you're dealing with PR people and can't get a straight answer, or you're dealing with someone in founder mode but you'll have to hear their political opinions if you choose to use the social media platform they also own.

In other words, I don't think him being eccentric and generally disagreeable is unrelated to him building great products and companies. I wish more founders were eccentric and taking risk rather than trying to squeeze out every last dime of profits by outsourcing or cutting corners or the million other marginal things an MBA program will teach you to do.

[JumpCrisscross]

> I don't think him being eccentric and generally disagreeable is unrelated to him building great products and companies

Within the domain of the private sector, yes. The paedo comments were distasteful, but that's about it.

That changed when he became a political figure. (And a partisan one at that.) Musk, the brand, has fundamentally changed in a way that more resembles Soros or Murdoch than the bipartisan tech titan he was.

[chaps]

Your definition of "distasteful, but that's about it" is likely substantially understated from just about everyone else in the world.

[JumpCrisscross]

> Your definition of "distasteful, but that's about it" is likely substantially understated from just about everyone else in the world

Social media isn't most of the world.

I don't like it. But I also don't like most of social media. Musk faced no consequences for his paedo comments. He is facing consequences for his partisan activism. That's the difference between being a public and political figure.

[chaps]

> Social media isn't most of the world.

Not sure why you think this implication applies to my comment. If he yelled the comments in a public square, my comment would be the same.

[JumpCrisscross]

> my comment would be the same

As would mine. It's distasteful. But it brought and brings no consequences. Categorically distinct from his partisan activism.

[chaps]

Our definition of "no consequences" is very different, apparently. Have a good one.

[KerrAvon]

He was never a tech titan. He’s always been a racist emerald mine heir who lied his way into everything. You really need to read this book to get your head adjusted properly on Musk:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludicrous:_The_Unvarnished_Sto...

[bko]

You know who he donates to and know what he thinks. I'd prefer the other billionaires that just donate in private or buy a newspaper that until recently openly endorses candidates and has selective coverage of events based on politics

[JumpCrisscross]

> I'd prefer the other billionaires that just donate in private or buy a newspaper that until recently openly endorses candidates and has selective coverage of events based on politics

Sure. This isn't most prospective EV buyers. It's not a coincidence that the most-popular car colours are white, grey and black [1]. At the end of the day, most people don't want a loud car.

[1] https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/what-are-the-best-car-colors-...

[archagon]

He can also disable your car remotely if you mess around with the innards too much. Or otherwise target you for harassment if you annoy him.

[FireBeyond]

> He can also disable your car remotely if you mess around with the innards too much

And will.

Like if you poke around and find the existence of a new model car...

They'll remotely force downgrade your firmware, and remotely disable ports on your car so you can't upgrade it again.

> Or otherwise target you for harassment if you annoy him.

Or hold press conferences if you are in a fatal accident to make sure you get the blame, not whatever garbage happened to pass for Full Self Driving. And blatantly lie in the process. "The vehicle had been warning the driver about inattentiveness before the accident". No, Elon, the vehicle fired ONE "hand on steering wheel" warning, and it was EIGHTEEN MINUTES before the accident.

[freejazz]

> It's pretty wild that you can have some failure in your Tesla, and you can just tweet about it and if its a compelling issue you'll get the CEO to respond and address it directly.

I'd imagine just regular old good customer service would suffice but, you do you.

[amluto]

Regular good old customer service used to be pretty great, but it’s gone way down hill in the last couple years.