Elon & Twitter

[Krugerrand]

Look, I don't know the first thing about Mary Barra. I don't even remember what all the fuss was about Lee Iacocca and to be honest I don't even know or care what companies those people were the CEOs of. I probably had their cars, I don't know, don't care. They're all as gross as the next fat cat in a suit.

I don't even know the names of any other automaker CEOs. I don't care, and I don't want to care - they're all scum.

But everyone has a moral line. I certainly wouldn't buy a car - or anything - from Donald Trump. Or Kanye West. Or Steven Miller. Or Rudy Giuliani. Or any other fascist, racist pig seeking to destroy my country. It's not that I want to "cancel" those celebrities from across the internet to teach them a lesson. It's that I wouldn't be human if I didn't at least have a shred of morality and dignity.

I'm biased toward Tesla (and thus Elon) so I'm not there yet, but a startling 100% of my friends, family, co-workers, and strangers have now put Elon solidly in the above category. They look at me slack-jawed as if I have a tiki torch in my hand and I try to explain that he was a little bit less revolting back when I bought the car, but honestly, I can't blame them for judging.

GTFO Elon and GFY.

You don’t know any of the (car) people you mentioned by name or didn’t name. You’ve probably owned cars from their companies, you don’t know and don’t care, but they’re all scum.

Your moral line is that you wouldn’t buy cars (or anything) from a group of people you can name and have taken the time to form a more comprehensive list of unattractive labels for than just scum. Note: I wouldn’t buy cars from this group of people either because, well, they don’t sell cars and none of their other products or services interest me.

There’s a ton more irony here and that annoying human condition of contradiction that’s only okay for some of us to have.

You might find it interesting that some of the scum you know nothing about have quite literally been knowingly prematurely killing 100,000s of people for decades. But I get it, that doesn’t cross your morality or dignity line. No worries, doesn’t cross millions of people’s morality or dignity line.

I find nothing startling about your RL associations’ thoughts on the Elon matter; their’s are as sophisticated as yours.

 

[ElectricIAC]

This kind of madness has to stop for Tesla. If he wants to mess up his Twitter, that's his right but don't drag Tesla into it.

Please leave Tesla alone!

The only people that are conflating Twitter with Tesla are the haters.

 

[Cherry Wine]

And you know everything about Elon and are not a ...

I have simple solution for Elon haters ... sell you shares if you cannot bear it anymore. ... lots of EV options now NIO, LUCID, RIVIAN, Lordstown etc etc
I don't condone everything he says, but try my level best to separate his personal opinions from the Tesla mission he created.
I have some family members that have become anti-Elon and vocal, but I ask them to keep an open mind and see where things lead to in a few years.
Elon has said extremes on both sides of the aisle will hate him ..

cheers!!

I’m getting closer to doing just that. And I am anything but “extreme.”

 

[unk45]

Hasn't this been settled already? I thought in Texas people just have to order online and get the car shipped from out of state. I'm in Texas right now and have seen plenty of Teslas in Austin and Houston, about as much as in any other non-West Coast urban areas I've visited recently.

Not really. It has been remarkably successful with workarounds but still buyers must do part the transaction themselves in local offices. Because Texas has rather arcane auto tax structures (more than 300 tax jurisdictions, details OT for this thread) having true direct sales allows stores to do the entire process within Texas, making the process simpler for a buyers.
As Cybertruck gets up there will be more and more buyers attracted to the product who are neither familiar with or motivated to cope with abnormal processes.

Would it not be easier with a few dozen Tesla stores that could do the entire process?
We do not know the % of Tesla sales closed in a store vs online, nor the % of online closings that happened in a store with help from a salesperson. We do know that Tesla sales are closely concentrated around areas where there are stores. Of course: chicken or egg?

 

[texas_star_TM3]

Hasn't this been settled already? I thought in Texas people just have to order online and get the car shipped from out of state. I'm in Texas right now and have seen plenty of Teslas in Austin and Houston, about as much as in any other non-West Coast urban areas I've visited recently.

you still have to register the car yourself and pay taxes at local county office + the inspection is only good for 1yr and not 2yrs like with all other new cars sold in Texas. With in state dealer purchases all you need to do is wait for the license plate to show up in the mail. They handle the rest

 

[JRP3]

Didn't you link a WaPo article giving "two Pinocchios" to the lab leak theory ? If not, apologies. Thread is moving fast, I know I saw the link and read the article, but thought it was from you.

Regardless, the rest of my post stands as counter to part that "the science is settled".

Wasn't me, and by "the science is settled" I meant basic science like the earth is round and covid is a virus that can be mitigated with vaccines, proper masking, and avoiding exposure. I'm not saying every detail regarding covid is settled just that there is no point debating the obvious.

 

[cdub]

What is different this time?

Ummm .. he owns Twitter and isn't just a random poster?

 

[2daMoon]

A little something from SMR to ponder,

 

[Daniel in SD]

You may be right in your description of this scientist, or not, but why do you fry Elon for it?

Do you think this man should be silenced, like Twitter did? Who gets to make that decision? Who gets to decide where science ends and fraud or quackery begins? Twitter for sure can't make that decision, it lacks the required knowledge. Other scientists seem to have that knowledge, but who checks whether they themselves are right or wrong? And which right do they have to silence a peer?

You may think the man is a 'clown', but he may think the opposite. Science has not made progress by silencing people with dissenting opinions. Science can only make progress through the exchange of arguments and counterarguments. There should be a place where all sides can express themselves. Elon wants Twitter to be that place.

From the screenshot I think he was just prevented from being a trending topic. It's not at all surprising that antivax figures would be prevented from trending when you've got a lot of pharmaceutical advertisers. I remember his first research paper of the pandemic. It had huge statistical mistakes and we later found out his recruitment of subjects was designed to produce his desired outcome, very shady.
He gets tons of press, writes editorials, and appears on TV so he's not being silenced despite being a clown.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

Didn't you link a WaPo article giving "two Pinocchios" to the lab leak theory ? If not, apologies. Thread is moving fast, I know I saw the link and read the article, but thought it was from you.

Regardless, the rest of my post stands as counter to part that "the science is settled".

if the lab leak theory is true... Elon should heavily advocate for "prosecution of the CCP" rather than blaming Fauci while being fully silent on the country/party where the lab stood and apparently a bad lab leak and deep cover up happened... seems a bit more meaningful than the lab receiving as minor part of their funding some NIH grant

 

[StateoftheArt]

Many of us think he's being far more political and extreme now than he ever has been in the past and there are almost daily examples of this, that's the difference.

Funny. It is only "political" or "extreme" when it counters the "establishment" narrative. The pattern is clear...you all stuck in a loop.


You forgot the guy you invested in doesn't follow the established narrative for anything. More importantly, he has the courage to find the truth and do what it takes to make sure it shines.

The silent majority have had enough of this insanity and it is time for transparency and truth.

Please do humanity a favor...wake up or send that negative energy somewhere else.

 

[ElectricIAC]

You haven't been paying attention if you think Dave is big with the "woke" crowd.

There is such a thing as “hate watching”

I don’t know how people find the time, honestly. If I dislike something, I turn it off and put a thumbs down (even though junktube doesn’t show number anymore) and if in person, I leave.

 

[juanmedina]

I feel like a simple, $10-$20 million dollar brand campaign would reverse all the negativity around Tesla from the last few months. I know, breaking with tradition, but change is inevitable. Even if demand is going to go through the roof due to the IRA (and crazy cheap Leases is Tesla chooses to do that).

Retail investors are really getting tired of this madness. How long before institutional investors follow suit?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1602321244979879938

I dislike Kevin but I have to agree with him.

 

[unk45]

Yea, I don't think so.

They are not unfevered, but my three nephews are speaking with the rest of the family now.
With stress the incoming government is managing to get it's budget approved.
The press and the broadcast media are distinctly less 'excited than they were.
That is true even in my immediate surroundings, and Bolsonaro won my precinct with 78%.
Prior to the runoff it was not so calm.
I have no idea where you are but at least in Zone Sul or Rio de Janeiro the political pressure has lessened. Of course the World Cup was a big factor, so we now fight over how to end our losing streak in FIFA.

 

[ohmman]

If I dislike something, I turn it off

You must love TMC, then.

 

[Gigapress]

Your kidding right?

No but it's possible I haven't been paying enough attention to know. Clearly it’s ramped up in the last few weeks, but we’ll see how long that lasts.

I would've thought daring Alameda County to arrest him for reopening the factory or dramatically moving HQ to Texas or pontificating about fascism on an earnings call would've done it if nothing else.

 

[ElectricIAC]

You must love TMC, then.

There’s enough signal to drown out most of the noise (haters drinking that haterade) most of the time.

 

[brkaus]

The silent majority have had enough of this insanity and it is time for transparency and truth.

Of course, no one really know what the “silent majority” thinks.

 

[JRP3]

Funny. It is only "political" or "extreme" when it counters the "establishment" narrative. The pattern is clear...you all stuck in a loop.

Hardly, Elon was barely political in all the time I've followed Tesla, which is longer than most. The only one "stuck in a loop" is people such as yourselves who can't see the change. My negativity will stay right here thank you, put me on ignore if you only want happy thoughts.

 

[cdub]

I don't condone everything he says, but try my level best to separate his personal opinions from the Tesla mission he created.

I obviously don't condone everything he says either. It was easier to separate his statements from the car before. Now that he OWNS Twitter and has embraced the alt right fully (he was nibbling before) this is harder to do.

Tesla still is the best EV around just for charging network alone not to mention other features. It's still the only EV I'm considering if I buy a new car.

It's such a cop out to say that people who disagree with Elon should just sell our shares.

I'm invested in Tesla. Not Elon.