To ask if you own a Tesla…

[Orchidzombiewatch]

How do you feel about Elon Musks links with Trump and Putin and that you are supporting him with your car choice?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/oct/25/elon-musk-has-been-in-regular-contact-with-putin-for-two-years-say-reports

Great riposte @moonlightstars that told her.

Quite fancy a Tesla

You underestimate the contempt any alternatives also hold for us. The evidence is it's worse.

Student politics thread. Do you know the political beliefs of the owners or Board members of all the products you’ve bought OP?

@Orchidzombiewatch

I assume your vegan otherwise how do you live with the murder of innocent animals!

I forgot - free to charge as well 🥹

That’s literally what he is doing.

never ever under estimate an autistic with power and vengeance in mind. He got trump elected. He’ll do it …..

I would never buy an electric car. However, when it comes time Tesla will be the only electric car company I’ll give the time of day. I don’t give a toss about people’s politics generally. If they’re not a whack job liberal nut case it’s a bit of a bonus.

Bill gates is a philanthropist is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen on this platform. Seriously go and do some proper research on Mr Gates. Ten minutes and you’ll be horrified.

I love my Tesla, and I got it years ago when EM wasn’t as much of a dangerous character as he is now.

I wouldn’t buy one now on principle.

Out of interest, why wouldn’t you buy an electric car, and why would you only buy Tesla if the time came?

Highly recommend this site/magazine for those interested in being an ethical consumer. It's so useful for checking any product/company against a whole range of criteria.
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/

Bank accounts, mortgages, insurance and pensions are where your money can make the most difference (and where it does the most harm if not done ethically)

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.

Great link. Thank you.

Would love to know which brand you think has “caught up”

I think this every time I see a Tesla! It immediately gives me an impression of who the driver is.

EXACTLY!!

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.

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.

@Orchidzombiewatch What do you mean by easy charging? Which ones are hard to charge?

Also, you might be to ungrateful to acknowledge it but Elon Musk has done feminism an extraordinary favour by lifting the ban of discussion of women's rights in the public square. I can't think of anything he's done or said that even in the smallest way dents that huge net positive for women and girls.

"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 suspect you're one of those who doesn't do much reality checking on your positions... just get off social media altogether if you feel like that. Because no amount of fact checking can counteract the drip drip of all the propaganda that's there and you're clearly influenced by. Don't wait until you encounter "strong emotion or something that seems unbelievable" to go checking alternative sources, because your perspective is already warped and biased in favour of your own outlook. So plenty of things which are untrue or distorted you will be taking on board as confirmation, when it's not in full accordance with reality.

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.

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.

I will say that he has gone from not great to much, much worse since we bought our car, and since the choice of decent EVs has also grown considerably I am not at all sure I would make the same decision now. I do still love the car, though.

So you can pick and chose when to care. But you are happy to call out other on their choices?