[rondini]

What a ridiculous bad faith deflection. No other auto maker is explicitly and aggressively aligning itself with the current administration and their policies. Tesla’s CEO wants to associate his company with a political vision and is vocal about using his money to further that vision.

[goosejuice]

How is it bad faith? Most automakers have a history of doing terrible things. It's just which causes you choose to ignore.

[rsynnott]

There's a difference between 'history' and 'present', is the thing.

[goosejuice]

Geely is making a killing in Russia where other automakers pulled out. Khashoggi was assassinated in 2018 by the same people that own most of Lucid. The Chung family's political embezzlement is recent memory (2007).

It's pretty difficult to be morally consistent in your purchases. Where you draw the line is a personal choice.

[CamperBob2]

There are plenty of automakers besides Tesla and the Chinese, and your BSAB perspective contributes nothing helpful.

Yes, companies like Porsche and Ford were founded by Nazis. But that was then and this is now. If the CEO of one of those companies throws a Hitler salute in public, they will be unemployed the next day. If the CEO of Tesla does the same thing, they will be handed $50 billion, patted on the back, and told, "Good job." That's a perfectly good reason for someone who is in the market for a car to choose one over the other.

[goosejuice]

Then please tell us which EV people should trade their Tesla in for and which moral judgements to make. You seem to think it's easy, I'm arguing it's not.

To be painstakingly clear I'm not defending Elon and I'm definitely not suggesting that people shouldn't avoid Tesla for whatever reasons they choose. My issue is inciting vandalism, or violence, against consumers who have made their own choices in this complex web.

[CamperBob2]

I'm not in the moral arbitration business, sorry. Buy whatever car meets your needs and fits into your budget. I'm just pointing out that people who avoid buying Tesla because they don't want to feed Musk even more cash are not unjustified in their feelings. It doesn't sound like we disagree in that respect.

I don't have a good use case for EVs myself, but there was a time when I wished I did because I believed in what Tesla and Musk in general were apparently trying to do. I thought he was doing what I'd like to think I'd do in his shoes -- building cool stuff, trying to make a positive contribution to human progress, and making bank in the process. But his true agenda unfolded in a very different direction relative to one of those ideals, and for me, two out of three doesn't cut it.

(And yes, people who fuck with other peoples' cars occupy the next level down from Nazis in my personal Inferno. No argument there.)

[tekknik]

this attempt to force alignment through terror will fail as it did last time.