Why I will Never Buy a Tesla
I’m directly in middle of the demographic most likely to purchase a Tesla:
I’m in the right income range.
I’m (still) in the right age bracket and I’m a Technogeek who works in IT.
I’m interested in buying an Electric Vehicle (EV) and have been for some time and in fact I already own a hybrid.
I’m concerned about Global Warming and believe that greater adoption of EVs is an important step in helping to curb the negative impacts of climate change.
I’ve been interested in Tesla for years and looked at the brand very favorably.
Despite all of this, I have now resolved to never purchase a Tesla. Why?
The answer is simple, the man who built the company has declared war on the demographic which had looked most favorably on EVs in general and Tesla in particular, my demographic. This man has chosen to use his vast power, wealth and influence to sow chaos both here in the United States and across the globe and to directly attack the core premises upon which every socially conscious business is founded.
Elon Musk has gone from super-hero to super-villain in less than a year. I personally do not find it amusing, nor do I think can his behavior be rewarded any longer. The list of the chaos he’s personally responsible for is extensive and continues to grow daily; including such highlights as:
1. He has proposed achieving peace in the Ukraine by letting Russia keep all of its captured territory https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63126550 .
2. He has proposed letting China take control of Taiwan https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/media/elon-musk-china-taiwan-intl-hnk/index.html
3. He cut off Starlink services to Ukraine during the battle of Kherson and then tried to blackmail the US government in to paying for that service (even though Starlink was funded almost entirely out of SpaceX US government contracts) https://www.yahoo.com/video/ft-reports-disruptions-starlink-internet-105100180.html ] and [ https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-says-starlink-network-ukraine-has-not-received-us-funding-2022-10-19/ .
4. After taking over the Twitter platform and promising to be fair and open – he promoted his own tweet a day before the election telling everyone to vote only for one party. [https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/07/elon-musk-independents-vote-republican-midterms-twitter-00065412 .
5. He posted Nazi memes, QAnon memes, covid disinformation and conspiracy theories about the attempted murder of Paul Pelosi. He removed thousands of left-leaning accounts on Twitter and then allowed back all of the worst Alt-Right Twitter offenders (people who broke Twitter content guidelines) as he began to transform the platform into a variation of Parler. In other words, he is now directly utilizing Twitter to promote the messaging of forces that are actively attacking Democracy both here and abroad [ https://www.timesofisrael.com/musk-tweets-meme-with-soldier-of-nazi-germany-mocks-fleeing-users/ ].
6. He released the “Twitter Files” and claimed a massive conspiracy where none existed, which led to the former US President calling for the US Constitution to be ‘terminated’ and for him to be reinstalled in a coup (possibly setting the stage perhaps for a second attempted insurrection). https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html
7. He fired between 50-75% of Twitter’s staff (breaking labor laws at the state and federal level) and dismantled all moderation and safety protocols for the platform – leaving open the possibility of enormous harm and a Cyber-crime orgy which will likely play out on a global scale. [https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/11/elon-musk-slashed-twitters-safety-team-then-a-chinese-spam-campaign-ran-rampant and https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/professional-liability/what-twitters-blue-check-chaos-means-for-reputational-risk-430445.aspx .
On top of all that, apparently Mr. Musk has been running his factories in China like labor camps with 12 hour shifts: https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/05/elon-musk-praises-chinese-tesla-factory-workers-forced-to-work-12-hour-shifts-during-lockdown/ . This alone probably should be enough to tarnish the socially responsible Telsa brand, but of course – it’s only the tip of a very dark iceberg.
What makes this all difficult for folks like myself to stomach, is the utter arrogance and contempt being displayed by the world’s richest man towards you and me. Musk has deliberately chosen to impose his will and twisted views over nearly everyone who watches, reads or browses news by hijacking the daily newsfeed of the most used news aggregation platform on the planet – Twitter. As he told us after being booed off the stage in San Francisco the other night [ https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-booed-stadium-crowd-dave-chappelle-sf-boo-1849881192 ] – “I’m rich, bitches.” The implication being perhaps that Musk feels he can do whatever he wishes and us ‘peons’ just have to deal with it.
I may not be rich and powerful like Elon Musk, but that doesn’t mean that I have to just sit back and take whatever he’s dishing out anymore. So, I am sending Mr. Musk a message starting now and ‘voting with my wallet’ and vowing that not one penny from me ever rewards a Musk venture. Because of this vow, I will never buy a Telsa; when I do make my EV purchase it will be from a responsible company, like Ford. I may be an insignificant peon in the eyes of this ‘tower of industry’ – but I believe that every dollar, like every vote - counts.
“Prosperity has this property; it puffs up narrow souls, makes them imagine themselves high and mighty, and leads them to look down upon the world with contempt; but a truly noble spirit appears greatest in distress.”
Plutarch
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