To ask if you own a Tesla…

The treatment of Uighur Muslims in China is abhorrent. I agree. We haven’t got solar panels but I’ll take this into account if we do. Thanks.

Pretty much all consumer choices are fraught with moral and ethical considerations if you look into it. It’s impossible, I think, to be perfect in this way.

I do my best but I can do better and that’s a constantly occurring theme. There are times when I make quick decisions because I’m tired, stressed, busy or it’s just simply more convenient and there are times I work harder at it. It’s a direction of travel I’m on but it’s a winding and bumpy road and I’m not always great at steering.

Nope. That’s one I do boycott. Except I did buy a particular nestle chocolate bar once to deliberately go against my values to show love and care to someone. I should be shot right! We are ALL hypocrites in one way or another and I’m not telling anyone what to do/not do. I was just curious about whether anyone feels cognitive dissonance and some do as it happens. Interesting to hear the different views.

I agree. I usually google search ‘fact check’ and then whatever it is. Then check out the first couple of sites to see who they are. But that’s all time consuming so mostly I stay away from SM and remain sceptical about everything I hear that sounds shocking. I’ll dig deeper if it’s important to me. It’s not perfect but it’s better than blind faith I guess. It is going to be impossible to get agreed standards globally so we are going to have to do our own research more and more. There are no truly independent news sources. Some have much higher standards of journalism than others and there are some fact checking organisations that are independent.

Have I?

Agree. Research tells us that we all process information in biased ways. No one holds ‘the truth’. I agree with you and I’m in no doubt that my views aren’t perfectly ‘right’ or ‘the truth’ and of course I’m influenced by what I read and see. I’m human, with all the information processing biases that all humans have. I do think it’s important to fact check things though. There is a lot of misinformation out there.

Our old one was on a DC charger and could only charge up to 22KW per hour so there were fewer charging options, it took longer and we had to do it more often. Perfect as a little runaround (and only cost a couple of grand to buy second hand now) but we now have one with a longer range, can draw down more KW per hour, charge in the time it takes to grab a coffee and nip to the loo and way more chargers fit. I love it.

I know EM has done some good. He moved the EV market on incredibly for example. We are all elements of dark and light. No one is all good or all bad. No one is perfect and everyone is hypocritical in some ways. But personally, I think he’s unhinged. And lots of what he says and does I find distasteful and/or abhorrent these days. It is interesting to me to hear the difference views of him and owning a Tesla.

I imagine it’s because if you are down the SM algorithm that encompasses climate change denial, toxic masculinity, far right racist views, then there is a lot of misinformation around about EVs. It’s all very easy to debunk with a quick fact check search.

Lots of people just trust what they read on SM and don’t think to do a fact checking search. I think it’s a skill that we need to be teaching children. If I read or see anything on SM that evokes a strong emotion or seems unbelievable then I do a quick fact check search or just ignore it. There is so much out there that is just simply misinformation.

I love our EV. Long range. Easy charging. Some great automatic features. I’m not up for an EV brand debate though. That’s a whole other (very boring thread). I’m actually not that interested in cars. They are just a necessity. I was more interested in whether there was a feeling of cognitive dissonance for, particularly female, owners.

Great link. Thank you.

Not really. I think we might have similar priorities. We have an EV that does the job very well. 300plus range. Easy charging.

Tesla did a great job in the early days but it’s all caught up now more or less. I agree though that climate change is the biggie. But Trump is going to be a disaster in that way.

Like I said before. There is no easy answer. It’s a minefield. I’m not saying anyone should or shouldn’t do XYZ but was curious about the possible cognitive dissonance of owning a Tesla - particularly for women as I see EM as representing toxic masculinity and supporting patriarchy.

But I’m very aware that every consumer choice made has potentially negative impacts in some way or other. I do my best but there is always room for improvement. I see the direction of travel as the most important bit. Where am I heading? Sounds like we are both trying to head in the same direction more or less but taking slightly different routes - which is fine.