4 ms·

I can't be sure, but it seems like a lot of the negative press about Elon recently is... engineered. I mean, he smoked pot with Joe Rogan while recording a shit

I can't be sure, but it seems like a lot of the negative press about Elon recently is... engineered. I mean, he smoked pot with Joe Rogan while recording a shitty podcast - so what? This is not 1950 anymore. There's a lot of people who want to see Elon fail, and they surely can afford to manufacture some articles broadcasting their own point of view.

danso 8y ago
You believe that short-sellers engineered Musk's appearance on Rogan's show last night, as well as the announcements of the two senior executive departures this morning?
- Florin_Andrei 8y ago
  ROTFL Are you serious? What Elon does is his business alone. What the PR machine can do afterwards is spin the facts whichever way seems beneficial to them.
  - danso 8y ago
    He's CEO of one of the most highly-valued and prominent tech companies today. For better or worse, what he does ends up being the interest of many people outside his personal network. But ignoring the pot-smoking, what would non-"engineered" press look like when it comes to the departure of the two senior executives this morning?
    - Florin_Andrei 8y ago
      I was not referring to any single event in my initial comment. I'm just looking at all the press I've seen in recent months (maybe years) and I can't resist the impression that there's this negative undertow that seems manufactured. Maybe it's subjective.
      - rainonmoon 8y ago
        Except that the overwhelming majority of press surrounding Musk over the past couple years has been sewn with hyperbolic praise.
      - danso 8y ago
        If we consider a timeframe of more than just this year, then you have even less of a case that media coverage has been engineered toward negativity by ulterior forces. Tesla itself brags in its annual reports that it doesn't need to have an ad budget because of the positive media coverage it gets: https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-admits-media-coverage-has-helped-sales-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-admits-media-coverage-... > "Historically, we have been able to generate significant media coverage of our company and our vehicles, and we believe we will continue to do so," the company wrote. "To date, for vehicle sales, media coverage and word of mouth have been the primary drivers of our sales leads and have helped us achieve sales without traditional advertising and at relatively low marketing costs." > Tesla has included those sentences or a variation on them in each of its annual SEC filings dating back to its 2010 initial public offering.
sdinsn 8y ago
> I mean, he smoked pot with Joe Rogan while recording a shitty podcast - so what? SpaceX holds large federal contracts. Federal contracts above a certain amount requires companies to follow federal drug laws. It doesn't matter that MJ is legal in CA, SpaceX could lose all of its contracts. If Tesla has any large government contracts (no sure it does) then it would apply similar.
coatmatter 8y ago
> This is not 1950 anymore. There seems to be a lot of confusion over his podcast appearance and people are focusing too much on the cannabis debate. It's not about that. Consider for a moment this hypothetical scenario instead: How professional would it look for Musk if Rogan had instead offered some kind of binge-drinking shots challenge (maybe with some legal sleeping pills too), and Musk immediately accepted despite Rogan asking if shareholders might get upset? Even aside of that, how professional did that entire interview look across the whole two and a half hours? Was it focused, and representative of someone who works very hard average up to 70-120 hours per week? Would it be something that would have been appropriate for a non-exec worker representing a Tesla's interests (for example), or is it okay simply because Musk has the hero worship? Now, I assume this is all okay for a large number of people so consider this last question: where to next for Tesla - is Musk the genius everyone claims him to be (which he doesn't seem to refute in any way, not even by deferring to other geniuses around him), and will he be the saviour once more? How long will those around him (exec level and otherwise) continue to put up with these antics?

danso 8y ago

You believe that short-sellers engineered Musk's appearance on Rogan's show last night, as well as the announcements of the two senior executive departures this morning?

Florin_Andrei 8y ago
ROTFL Are you serious? What Elon does is his business alone. What the PR machine can do afterwards is spin the facts whichever way seems beneficial to them.
- danso 8y ago
  He's CEO of one of the most highly-valued and prominent tech companies today. For better or worse, what he does ends up being the interest of many people outside his personal network. But ignoring the pot-smoking, what would non-"engineered" press look like when it comes to the departure of the two senior executives this morning?
  - Florin_Andrei 8y ago
    I was not referring to any single event in my initial comment. I'm just looking at all the press I've seen in recent months (maybe years) and I can't resist the impression that there's this negative undertow that seems manufactured. Maybe it's subjective.
    - rainonmoon 8y ago
      Except that the overwhelming majority of press surrounding Musk over the past couple years has been sewn with hyperbolic praise.
    - danso 8y ago
      If we consider a timeframe of more than just this year, then you have even less of a case that media coverage has been engineered toward negativity by ulterior forces. Tesla itself brags in its annual reports that it doesn't need to have an ad budget because of the positive media coverage it gets: https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-admits-media-coverage-has-helped-sales-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-admits-media-coverage-... > "Historically, we have been able to generate significant media coverage of our company and our vehicles, and we believe we will continue to do so," the company wrote. "To date, for vehicle sales, media coverage and word of mouth have been the primary drivers of our sales leads and have helped us achieve sales without traditional advertising and at relatively low marketing costs." > Tesla has included those sentences or a variation on them in each of its annual SEC filings dating back to its 2010 initial public offering.

sdinsn 8y ago

> I mean, he smoked pot with Joe Rogan while recording a shitty podcast - so what? SpaceX holds large federal contracts. Federal contracts above a certain amount requires companies to follow federal drug laws. It doesn't matter that MJ is legal in CA, SpaceX could lose all of its contracts. If Tesla has any large government contracts (no sure it does) then it would apply similar.

coatmatter 8y ago

> This is not 1950 anymore. There seems to be a lot of confusion over his podcast appearance and people are focusing too much on the cannabis debate. It's not about that. Consider for a moment this hypothetical scenario instead: How professional would it look for Musk if Rogan had instead offered some kind of binge-drinking shots challenge (maybe with some legal sleeping pills too), and Musk immediately accepted despite Rogan asking if shareholders might get upset? Even aside of that, how professional did that entire interview look across the whole two and a half hours? Was it focused, and representative of someone who works very hard average up to 70-120 hours per week? Would it be something that would have been appropriate for a non-exec worker representing a Tesla's interests (for example), or is it okay simply because Musk has the hero worship? Now, I assume this is all okay for a large number of people so consider this last question: where to next for Tesla - is Musk the genius everyone claims him to be (which he doesn't seem to refute in any way, not even by deferring to other geniuses around him), and will he be the saviour once more? How long will those around him (exec level and otherwise) continue to put up with these antics?