5 ms·

I am amazed that these stories from Tesla keep coming out This does not happen to other corporations, with such frequency and seriousness. Is there some sort

by worik 5y ago

I am amazed that these stories from Tesla keep coming out This does not happen to other corporations, with such frequency and seriousness. Is there some sort of reporting bias here? Or is Tesla really a reprobate?

crate_barre 5y ago
Elon is an organic target for cancel culture. I say organic because I haven’t been able to theorize how these things are coordinated (the attacks on Joe Rogan all of a sudden). It feels so coordinated but there is simply no central PR agency doing it. So, my best theory is that it’s kinda like the paparazzi. You find the celebrities going through a train wreck life situation (divorce, drugs, etc) and cover them. This organically brings the tabloids to specific targets. Elon is a very natural target. In this case he has taken a strong stance on workers being able to work during Covid, so in a way he put his battle flag up on that hill. That’s the hill the parasites will flock to. Rogan took a stance on free speech. So that’s the hill they fought him on (found all the shit he has to apologize for). The market for this is quite natural at this point, and I have no other words to describe it as repetitious as it is.
- Gollapalli 5y ago
  US Government actually puts out lists of people who should be banned/marginalized on social media. Almost certainly has similar lists going out to NGO's, many of whose workers also happen to operate prodigiously on social media. It's not explicitly coordinated, so much as nudged and incentivized.
  - DoctorOW 5y ago
    If you're trolling this is pretty funny, if you're serious this is even funnier.
    - ShockTohp 5y ago
      I mean the practice mentioned in the parent post has been common since the McCarthy Era. Gotta keep those commies out of our country somehow /sarc
    - treeman79 5y ago
      Joe Rogan called out lies by the White House press secretary. Now there is a huge effort to cancel him. This is the normal pattern of anyone that crosses the left.
      - crate_barre 5y ago
        But unlike shorting a stock and putting hit jobs on a company you want to tank (for profit), or politically utilizing a scapegoats/attack pieces (for winning power), it’s really hard to trace back who gains by subduing Joe Rogan or an Elon Musk. The only thing I can think of is the new corporate diversity/woke organizations that want to cultivate an environment where companies need to pay them to keep things from becoming a PR nightmare (that is a new type of manufactured threat). Organizations haven’t even been effective at coercing companies about global labor practices (Nike’s slave wage factories in China), but somehow this new attack vector of social propriety has been extremely effective. It’s been iteratively effective. Pointing out Nike has 1, then 2, then 3 slave wage factories never escalated the situation. Pointing out Rogan antivax stuff, then the N-word compilation, and perhaps soon that he used steroids, has been hyper effective to reach a knock out blow. By the time we get from ‘Elon’s factories segregates black people’ to the n-th ‘and his ex said he was verbally abusive’, he could be done. Something to keep track of, or certainly pay some people to ward something like that off. That would make the most sense.
        torstenvl 5y ago
        > it’s really hard to trace back who gains by subduing ... Elon Musk https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/ford-motor-co/summary?id=D000000182 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/ford-motor-co/summary?id=D0... https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/general-motors/summary?id=D000000155 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/general-motors/summary?id=D... https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toyota-motor-corp/summary?id=D000030495 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toyota-motor-corp/summary?i... Not particularly hard, as it turns out.
        quartesixte 5y ago
        > it’s really hard to trace back who gains by subduing Joe Rogan or an Elon Musk You would hope people in high places wouldn’t be petty or personally vindictive, but there is plenty to gain from the personal rush you get ruining someone’s life (or at least a couple of months of it). Happens sadly more frequently than you’d hope.
- s1artibartfast 5y ago
  I think there are pretty simple criteria based on what drives viral controversy and "engagement" 1) public figure with household brand 2) controversial statements 3) broad following willing to defend them Going after personalities clearly over the line is of no value. To optimize clicks and engagement, you want the issue at hand to be as contested as possible : topics the public is deeply split on, subjective, complex, and flimsy or poorly articulated. The more misinformation the better, because it drive more engagement as people read and post it both to support their priors or show how outrageous it is. There is a tiny market for comprehensive reporting analyzing issues from multiple perspectives.
- mhh__ 5y ago
  People in the know have known Rogan has flaws for years. I first heard the planet of the apes thing years ago, it's only recently that he's exploded in popularity in the mainstream and started playing knowledge rather than sponge. It's the same way information spreads about anything.
- mhh__ 5y ago
  Also the reason why you can't work out how these things are coordinated is because you don't understand how social media (maybe just the first word) works and are trying to explain away often very justifiable critique raised by people who you disagree with.
s1artibartfast 5y ago
Elon Musk has certainly brought his companies into the public interest through his marketing and flamboyant takes on political and social issues. That said, I do think this story is newsworthy based on the severity of the DFEH lawsuit and prior history with the Diaz case. The bigger question is not if there is bias in news reporting, but DFEH action. That is to say, is Tesla actually an outlier in workplace environments or selected based on other criteria.
DoctorOW 5y ago
I think it's a little of column A, a little of column B. Column A, because I'll bet it's much harder to find stuff like this on similarly sized companies. Column B because when you do those companies don't market themselves as a billionaire's generous gift to save the world.
prvc 5y ago
Musk and Tesla are thorns in the sides of various hegemonic cultural narratives and political agendas.
- vanusa 5y ago
  Per the lawsuit: As early as 2012, Black and/or African American Tesla workers have complained that Tesla production leads, supervisors, and managers constantly use the n-word and other racial slurs to refer to Black workers. They have complained that swastikas, “KKK,” the n-word, and other racist writing are etched onto walls of restrooms, restroom stalls, lunch tables, and even factory machinery. They have complained that Black and/or African American workers are assigned to more physically demanding posts and the lowest-level contract roles, paid less, and more often terminated from employment than other workers. They have also complained that Black and/or African American workers are often denied advancement opportunities, and more often and more severely disciplined than non-Black workers. So you think the workers who stuck their necks out to file these complaints -- going back as early as 2012, mind you -- have done so to spite Musk for being a thorn in the side of ... "various hegemonic cultural narratives and political agendas"? Or that if a lawsuit of this gravity and nature does get filed against lawsuit -- that the press should keep mum about it?
  - prvc 5y ago
    >So you think the workers who stuck their necks out to file these complaints -- going back as early as 2012, mind you -- have done so to spite Musk for being a thorn in the side of ... "various hegemonic cultural narratives and political agendas"? That absolutely does not follow from my other comment.
    - vanusa 5y ago
      I don't see how else your comment relates to the original article, then. Other than to insinuate that the main reason "these stories from Tesla keep coming out" ... is because Musk is a "thorn in side" of various narratives.
- ashwagary 5y ago
hnburnsy 5y ago
It happens all the time, just hidden behind arbitration, Diaz escaped arbitration as he was sub contracted and Tesla forgot to make subs sign up to arbitration. An expensive lesson.
LazarWolf_ 5y ago
The rate of stories increased since Tesla moved its headquarters out of California.

by worik 5y ago

crate_barre 5y ago

Elon is an organic target for cancel culture. I say organic because I haven’t been able to theorize how these things are coordinated (the attacks on Joe Rogan all of a sudden). It feels so coordinated but there is simply no central PR agency doing it. So, my best theory is that it’s kinda like the paparazzi. You find the celebrities going through a train wreck life situation (divorce, drugs, etc) and cover them. This organically brings the tabloids to specific targets. Elon is a very natural target. In this case he has taken a strong stance on workers being able to work during Covid, so in a way he put his battle flag up on that hill. That’s the hill the parasites will flock to. Rogan took a stance on free speech. So that’s the hill they fought him on (found all the shit he has to apologize for). The market for this is quite natural at this point, and I have no other words to describe it as repetitious as it is.

Gollapalli 5y ago
US Government actually puts out lists of people who should be banned/marginalized on social media. Almost certainly has similar lists going out to NGO's, many of whose workers also happen to operate prodigiously on social media. It's not explicitly coordinated, so much as nudged and incentivized.
- DoctorOW 5y ago
  If you're trolling this is pretty funny, if you're serious this is even funnier.
  - ShockTohp 5y ago
    I mean the practice mentioned in the parent post has been common since the McCarthy Era. Gotta keep those commies out of our country somehow /sarc
  - treeman79 5y ago
    Joe Rogan called out lies by the White House press secretary. Now there is a huge effort to cancel him. This is the normal pattern of anyone that crosses the left.
    - crate_barre 5y ago
      But unlike shorting a stock and putting hit jobs on a company you want to tank (for profit), or politically utilizing a scapegoats/attack pieces (for winning power), it’s really hard to trace back who gains by subduing Joe Rogan or an Elon Musk. The only thing I can think of is the new corporate diversity/woke organizations that want to cultivate an environment where companies need to pay them to keep things from becoming a PR nightmare (that is a new type of manufactured threat). Organizations haven’t even been effective at coercing companies about global labor practices (Nike’s slave wage factories in China), but somehow this new attack vector of social propriety has been extremely effective. It’s been iteratively effective. Pointing out Nike has 1, then 2, then 3 slave wage factories never escalated the situation. Pointing out Rogan antivax stuff, then the N-word compilation, and perhaps soon that he used steroids, has been hyper effective to reach a knock out blow. By the time we get from ‘Elon’s factories segregates black people’ to the n-th ‘and his ex said he was verbally abusive’, he could be done. Something to keep track of, or certainly pay some people to ward something like that off. That would make the most sense.
      - torstenvl 5y ago
        > it’s really hard to trace back who gains by subduing ... Elon Musk https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/ford-motor-co/summary?id=D000000182 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/ford-motor-co/summary?id=D0... https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/general-motors/summary?id=D000000155 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/general-motors/summary?id=D... https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toyota-motor-corp/summary?id=D000030495 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toyota-motor-corp/summary?i... Not particularly hard, as it turns out.
      - quartesixte 5y ago
        > it’s really hard to trace back who gains by subduing Joe Rogan or an Elon Musk You would hope people in high places wouldn’t be petty or personally vindictive, but there is plenty to gain from the personal rush you get ruining someone’s life (or at least a couple of months of it). Happens sadly more frequently than you’d hope.
s1artibartfast 5y ago
I think there are pretty simple criteria based on what drives viral controversy and "engagement" 1) public figure with household brand 2) controversial statements 3) broad following willing to defend them Going after personalities clearly over the line is of no value. To optimize clicks and engagement, you want the issue at hand to be as contested as possible : topics the public is deeply split on, subjective, complex, and flimsy or poorly articulated. The more misinformation the better, because it drive more engagement as people read and post it both to support their priors or show how outrageous it is. There is a tiny market for comprehensive reporting analyzing issues from multiple perspectives.
mhh__ 5y ago
People in the know have known Rogan has flaws for years. I first heard the planet of the apes thing years ago, it's only recently that he's exploded in popularity in the mainstream and started playing knowledge rather than sponge. It's the same way information spreads about anything.
mhh__ 5y ago
Also the reason why you can't work out how these things are coordinated is because you don't understand how social media (maybe just the first word) works and are trying to explain away often very justifiable critique raised by people who you disagree with.

s1artibartfast 5y ago

Elon Musk has certainly brought his companies into the public interest through his marketing and flamboyant takes on political and social issues. That said, I do think this story is newsworthy based on the severity of the DFEH lawsuit and prior history with the Diaz case. The bigger question is not if there is bias in news reporting, but DFEH action. That is to say, is Tesla actually an outlier in workplace environments or selected based on other criteria.

DoctorOW 5y ago

I think it's a little of column A, a little of column B. Column A, because I'll bet it's much harder to find stuff like this on similarly sized companies. Column B because when you do those companies don't market themselves as a billionaire's generous gift to save the world.

prvc 5y ago

Musk and Tesla are thorns in the sides of various hegemonic cultural narratives and political agendas.

vanusa 5y ago
Per the lawsuit: As early as 2012, Black and/or African American Tesla workers have complained that Tesla production leads, supervisors, and managers constantly use the n-word and other racial slurs to refer to Black workers. They have complained that swastikas, “KKK,” the n-word, and other racist writing are etched onto walls of restrooms, restroom stalls, lunch tables, and even factory machinery. They have complained that Black and/or African American workers are assigned to more physically demanding posts and the lowest-level contract roles, paid less, and more often terminated from employment than other workers. They have also complained that Black and/or African American workers are often denied advancement opportunities, and more often and more severely disciplined than non-Black workers. So you think the workers who stuck their necks out to file these complaints -- going back as early as 2012, mind you -- have done so to spite Musk for being a thorn in the side of ... "various hegemonic cultural narratives and political agendas"? Or that if a lawsuit of this gravity and nature does get filed against lawsuit -- that the press should keep mum about it?
- prvc 5y ago
  >So you think the workers who stuck their necks out to file these complaints -- going back as early as 2012, mind you -- have done so to spite Musk for being a thorn in the side of ... "various hegemonic cultural narratives and political agendas"? That absolutely does not follow from my other comment.
  - vanusa 5y ago
    I don't see how else your comment relates to the original article, then. Other than to insinuate that the main reason "these stories from Tesla keep coming out" ... is because Musk is a "thorn in side" of various narratives.
ashwagary 5y ago

hnburnsy 5y ago

It happens all the time, just hidden behind arbitration, Diaz escaped arbitration as he was sub contracted and Tesla forgot to make subs sign up to arbitration. An expensive lesson.

LazarWolf_ 5y ago

The rate of stories increased since Tesla moved its headquarters out of California.