Elon Tweeting about Thailand and Reputation

[Krugerrand]

Earth is a testing ground for Mars, all he's doing is getting someone to foot the bill for it.

FYI, the Chicago Boring Company project is 100% being financed by Boring Company. For risking their neck, Boring Company will receive 100% of the monies generated.

 

[Seesaw]

The longer there is no statement or apology the more I think things are happening behind the scenes - potential reshaping the role of CEO or adding COO. I guess they could be thinking it would be good to have some actions attached to any apology.

I feel for the British guy having his reputation questioned without natural justice.

 

[Krugerrand]

It reflects on leadership even if a non Tesla account

No it does not. The leadership that got Tesla to its current place in history is exactly the same right this second. And that leadership is as strong as its ever been.

Elon got mad because some guy acted like a dick. Always the over-achiever, Elon tweeted something he shouldn’t have and out-dicked the dick.

 

[JRP3]

I feel for the British guy having his reputation questioned without natural justice.

But you're OK with Musk having his reputation questioned constantly for the last 15 years or so since he started Tesla, right? You do know that horrible things have been said about him by thousands of people over the years?

 

[PowerSource]

Elon is probably in Thailand now proving that his submarine works. His next tweet will be a video of the sub in the cave

 

[TheTalkingMule]

I'll be pretty annoyed if he apologizes. F these people who talk smack and expect nothing in return.

This company is out of danger and nonlonger needs to pander to the media or Wall Street, say what you like. Perhaps try not to tweet while drunk.

 

[Ocelot]

A calls B: cynical publicity seeker
B calls A: dangerous, violent criminal

Not equal at all.

This has me seriously questioning an intended future purchase from Tesla. I'm not kidding.

You don't make accusations about criminal behavior without be able to point to evidence for it. That kind of thing ruins people's lives.

This is the the sort of news event that gets cut through to normal people, causing untold damage to Elon’s reputation. And because he has quite deliberately blurred the line between Tesla and himself, this damages the company, everyone that works there and all it’s financial investors.

The media coverage of the Thai rescue received blanket coverage globally. In the Uk there has even been talk about awarding the divers the George Cross, the highest civilian award for bravery. Publicly calling one of these people a peadophile and then doubling down on that? Superficially it’s too easy to portray as him getting angry because someone else got to be the hero.

Been an investor a long time, this is the first time I find myself hesitating about whether Tesla really is the right home for such a significant percentage of my retirement savings. Without its brand and it’s customers’ and employees’ zeal for the mission, in the long term it’s just another car company.

This whole situation is such a shame. Clearly the negative press that attaches to everything Musk does was out in full force throughout the Thailand rescue escapade. Add to that the fact that the SpaceX solution wasn't used, and as a cherry on top toss in that this British dude takes it to 11 by insulting Elon personally.

I can see how that would tee off Musk to the point where he responds on Twitter. It'd certainly piss me off, and I'm not a billionaire who's put my all, both financially and personally, into the Tesla mission over the course of more than a decade, all the while dealing with endless negativity from all corners, much of it presented in bad faith. That he eventually snapped is understandable. Perhaps it was inevitable.

The problem is that Musk then responded with the indefensible: calling the guy a pedophile. That's a serious allegation and one that even if he has evidence for, should be made to the proper authorities and not to the public via Twitter. If he doesn't have evidence, it's clear libel and given the relative net worth and popularity involved will certainly involve significant sums of cash being transferred from Musk to the diver.

I'm glad Elon deleted the tweets, as it shows that at least he realized he made a mistake. Hopefully he realized this on his own, and he knows he actually screwed up rather than having just reacted to the negative press.

To my mind, the lasting impact, and shame, of this situation is that it reveals that Musk is an asshole, and not in the way we already knew he was an asshole. Typically that's come out in the way he has treated employees less committed to the mission than he, and while on some level that's regrettable, it's also understandable and something that comes with the territory of working with/for Musk on the important/difficult/surviving on the razor's edge missions that his companies engage in.

This is something else entirely. It reminds me of a situation with a video game streamer awhile back. While in a streaming session, he called an opponent the n-word. It was uncalled for and inexcusable, but his apology involved suggesting that while under the stress of focusing on the game and being in a situation where all eyes were on him, he used words he typically wouldn't, or something to similar effect. The problem is that when the chips are down and stress removes a person's normally-engaged filter, what comes out tends to be what they really are thinking.

The stress is high, the chips are down, and Musk called a guy a pedophile, then doubled down on the allegation. The backlash has been large and he's deleted the tweets, but has not apologized or provided further evidence or context for the allegation.

This is a terrible situation, and it says bad things about Musk. I think less of him today than I did yesterday, and that's a shame.

It's a shame not just because it suggests that Musk is less deserving of the respect most of us here give him, but also because we are at a point where the focus should be shifting to the incredible success that the many thousands of Tesla employees are demonstrating as the Model 3 starts to hit actual, profitable mass production. It's a shame because just at the point where Tesla the company begins to serve up actual, delicious prime-cut steak, we're ten pages into a thread discussing just how bad it is that the CEO called a rescue diver a pedophile.

It's a shame. I hope that Musk not only follows up with a sincere apology but that he takes the lesson to heart and comes out of this a wiser person than he was a day ago.

Agree!

Production ramp issues? whatever. Complex doors? whatever. Broken promises? Whatever.

Lowering yourself, and in the process your long time supporters and advocates? That not only raises serious questions about the type of leader and more importantly person Mr. Musk is, but also is frankly embarrassing.

 

[electracity]

Elon is probably in Thailand now proving that his submarine works. His next tweet will be a video of the sub in the cave

Next tweet:
"I would like to die in Thailand, but not in a cave"
Followers very confused

 

[JRP3]

Lowering yourself, and in the process your long time supporters and advocates? That not only raises serious questions about the type of leader and more importantly person Mr. Musk is, but also is frankly embarrassing.

Actually that's all it really is, embarrassing. People insulting each other on the internet is not exactly a new or rare event. As a long time supporter and advocate I don't feel the least bit "lowered" by Elon's actions. Disappointed of course, because we always want people to be better, including ourselves.

 

[schonelucht]

(About the other compagnies that helped)

I heard nothing at all about them, so, not so great.

Your metric is seriously the publicity they got out of it?

 

[schonelucht]

and the 2018 TMC straw man of the year goes to

Did you reread what I replied too? IT was just as ludicrous.

 

[dondy]

The longer there is no statement or apology the more I think things are happening behind the scenes - potential reshaping the role of CEO or adding COO. I guess they could be thinking it would be good to have some actions attached to any apology.

I feel for the British guy having his reputation questioned without natural justice.

"British guy" is actually a Thailand resident and has nothing to do with British Diving Group. His main effort was to keep journalists away from real workers by feeding them with all kind of stories. the cave map copied around the world and which happened to be quite wrong is his product. He was a voluntary at the site, one of many.
It is quite interesting that all these journalists don't bother to ask Robert Harper, instead they keep engaging in all kind of speculations. Very familiar picture to their general behavior toward Tesla&SpaceX since 2012.
Just a small reminder:
After usual 3 days, when it became clear that the kids are inside, Thailand called for international help.
BDG started to arrive 27 of june, the americans arrived day after etc. Somebody thinking that Thailand authorities (the minister of internal affairs was responsible for the rescue and was mission's official commander) needed to be reminded by some foreign block to do their basic duties is delusional.

This all does not excuse Musk, twitter is "free" game only for nobodies. He needs to learn collaterals of his actions.
absence of social presence and total silence common for most of the big companies are there for a reason.
And these events serve very good example why.

 

[cheshire cat]

"British guy" is actually a Thailand resident and has nothing to do with British Diving Group. His main effort was to keep journalists away from real workers by feeding them with all kind of stories. the cave map copied around the world and which happened to be quite wrong is his product. He was a voluntary at the site, one of many.
It is quite interesting that all these journalists don't bother to ask Robert Harper, instead they keep engaging in all kind of speculations. Very familiar picture to their general behavior toward Tesla&SpaceX since 2012.
Just a small reminder:
After usual 3 days, when it became clear that the kids are inside, Thailand called for international help.
BDG started to arrive 27 of june, the americans arrived day after etc. Somebody thinking that Thailand authorities (the minister of internal affairs was responsible for the rescue and was mission's official commander) needed to be reminded by some foreign block to do their basic duties is delusional.

This all does not excuse Musk, twitter is "free" game only for nobodies. He needs to learn collaterals of his actions.
absence of social presence and total silence common for most of the big companies are there for a reason.
And these events serve very good example why.

Thought there was something ODD about this from the start-------thanks

 

[bro1999]

Elon Musk’s ‘pedo’ attack rattles Tesla investors: ‘This thing is unraveling’
But Musk had recently vowed to act more like the well-behaved leader of a $50 billion company investors want him to be. In an interview last week, Musk said he was reforming from his belief that Twitter was a no-holds-barred battleground where “if you attack me, it is therefore OK for me to attack back.” “I will attempt to be better at this,” Musk said. “That is my mistake. I will correct it.”

Whoops.
It' sorta like a guy that beats his wife, says he'll never do it again, then beats his wife a few days later. Except in this case, Elon is beating his credibility into the ground.

 

[JRP3]

Elon Musk’s ‘pedo’ attack rattles Tesla investors: ‘This thing is unraveling’

Except it's not. Trading volume was average yesterday and price was flat after the initial drop.

 

[JRP3]

(About the other compagnies that helped)



Your metric is seriously the publicity they got out of it?

I thought that was the metric you were using. Since I have no idea who any of the other companies are how else can I measure the impact on them?

 

[schonelucht]

I thought that was the metric you were using. Since I have no idea who any of the other companies are how else can I measure the impact on them?

That's the whole point isn't it? They did what they were asked to do without any impact beyond that it helped the mission.

 

[dc_h]

The discussion seems to have devolved to metadata about meta information. I’m guessing that means I’m the whole thing will blow over and we can get on with reparations to Russia and mending fences with our kind serial killer to the east.

Just saying twitter might be moving on.

 

[Sancho]

So, what has Elon learned from this debacle, and how will he adjust his Twitter use going forward? So far so good; he’s just retweeting positive articles about Tesla. I don’t expect full restraint to last long, but just maybe we will witness going forward less of a propensity to be baited.

 

[bro1999]

Pretty good take on the whole situation and the faults of Silicon Valley big wigs in general.
Stop worshipping guys like Elon Musk (opinion) - CNN