4 ms·

I have bought three Tesla since they first came out. I love the cars, dispute imperfections they are still the best I have driven. But - I’m embarrassed to ha

I have bought three Tesla since they first came out. I love the cars, dispute imperfections they are still the best I have driven. But - I’m embarrassed to have any association, however remote. with Musk. There were plenty of warning signs, but it’s wasn’t until Covid (“Silly, it’s just like a flu”) that I couldn’t look away any more. Since then his megalomania has only grown. Where does it end?

TradingPlaces 4y ago
Same here, except just one Tesla. Breaking point for me was “pedo guy”. Elon is one of America’s premiere douchebags, against stiff competition. I imagine there were many Jewish and Black Model-T Ford owners who felt the same way about Henry Ford.
dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
Now he's up to "You think that is bad, wait until you see what [Bill Gates] has put in the vaccines."
- tpmx 4y ago
  I couldn't find that tweet. Can you? The only reference to this that I could find was a few Indian news sites talking about it, like: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-millions-into-attacking-elon-musk-tesla-ceo-tweets-wait-until-you-find-out-what-he-put-in-your-vaccine-397989 https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-mi... A statement like that is like catnip to most US media, so it would have blown up, and it hasn't, so...
  - captn3m0 4y ago
    Tweet was from a follower pretending to be Musk: https://twitter.com/andItoldyaso/status/1529228707793031168 https://twitter.com/andItoldyaso/status/1529228707793031168
    - dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
      Maybe I got fooled. It was in an article from some newspaper or website and they quoted it, maybe they were fooled by the follower's name too. The article described Musk responding to a Breitbart article which speciously claims that Gates is funding millions of dollars of attacks on Musk though various "public benefit" companies with "What a dick move" [1]. So it seemed believable in that context. [1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1529224801579302912 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1529224801579302912
      - dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
        Here is the article I was reading. This is what you get when you use the Google News app. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-millions-into-attacking-elon-musk-tesla-ceo-tweets-wait-until-you-find-out-what-he-put-in-your-vaccine-397989 https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-mi...
        tpmx 4y ago
        That is indeed the link I posted a few posts up. I guess that site isn't reliable, then.
iqkznnft 4y ago
I find it interesting that just the flu was the one that opened your eyes. To me that's not the most black and white instance, because after all it could be that he actually believed it. The one that first gave me pause to think was calling that diving guy a pedo. That's because, even if you believe it, you don't say it if you have millions of rabid followers, as that amounts to destroying someone's life without evidence. The fact he did that shows his questionable character, his beliefs aside. After this instance I started paying attention and noticed something also mentioned in the article - he never bothers addressing negative claims, he just attacks the person making the claims. That's when my opinion of him went from bad character to bullshiter and bad character.
- dm319 4y ago
  The thing that gets me is the way he propagates the idea that one person is responsible for his successes. There are many brilliant people and teams that work for his companies, but he doesn't promote them like they clearly deserve, instead wearing this persona of "of course I'm a bit weird, but I'm so amazing because I'm so successful at these things". To me this strikes me as narcissism/egocentrism, and I'm not surprised that he flew into a rage when the diver told him where to stick it because that seriously impacted on his ego.
  - tommiegannert 4y ago
    While I agree with you, he's had plenty of help by media. I noticed a few years ago that headlines went the pattern of "Intel says", "Twitter says" and "Google says." With Tesla, though, it was always "Elon Musk says..." Media made a character out of him as much as his own Twitter feed did. Perhaps that was him playing the media fiddle perfectly. Perhaps they also wanted to craft a personal cult around someone, and he was just there at the right time.
    - seunosewa 4y ago
      That's because he's usually the one talking on Tesla's behalf. He tweets.
- 4y ago

TradingPlaces 4y ago

Same here, except just one Tesla. Breaking point for me was “pedo guy”. Elon is one of America’s premiere douchebags, against stiff competition. I imagine there were many Jewish and Black Model-T Ford owners who felt the same way about Henry Ford.

dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago

Now he's up to "You think that is bad, wait until you see what [Bill Gates] has put in the vaccines."

tpmx 4y ago
I couldn't find that tweet. Can you? The only reference to this that I could find was a few Indian news sites talking about it, like: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-millions-into-attacking-elon-musk-tesla-ceo-tweets-wait-until-you-find-out-what-he-put-in-your-vaccine-397989 https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-mi... A statement like that is like catnip to most US media, so it would have blown up, and it hasn't, so...
- captn3m0 4y ago
  Tweet was from a follower pretending to be Musk: https://twitter.com/andItoldyaso/status/1529228707793031168 https://twitter.com/andItoldyaso/status/1529228707793031168
  - dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
    Maybe I got fooled. It was in an article from some newspaper or website and they quoted it, maybe they were fooled by the follower's name too. The article described Musk responding to a Breitbart article which speciously claims that Gates is funding millions of dollars of attacks on Musk though various "public benefit" companies with "What a dick move" [1]. So it seemed believable in that context. [1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1529224801579302912 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1529224801579302912
    - dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
      Here is the article I was reading. This is what you get when you use the Google News app. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-millions-into-attacking-elon-musk-tesla-ceo-tweets-wait-until-you-find-out-what-he-put-in-your-vaccine-397989 https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/bill-gates-poured-mi...
      - tpmx 4y ago
        That is indeed the link I posted a few posts up. I guess that site isn't reliable, then.

iqkznnft 4y ago

I find it interesting that just the flu was the one that opened your eyes. To me that's not the most black and white instance, because after all it could be that he actually believed it. The one that first gave me pause to think was calling that diving guy a pedo. That's because, even if you believe it, you don't say it if you have millions of rabid followers, as that amounts to destroying someone's life without evidence. The fact he did that shows his questionable character, his beliefs aside. After this instance I started paying attention and noticed something also mentioned in the article - he never bothers addressing negative claims, he just attacks the person making the claims. That's when my opinion of him went from bad character to bullshiter and bad character.

dm319 4y ago
The thing that gets me is the way he propagates the idea that one person is responsible for his successes. There are many brilliant people and teams that work for his companies, but he doesn't promote them like they clearly deserve, instead wearing this persona of "of course I'm a bit weird, but I'm so amazing because I'm so successful at these things". To me this strikes me as narcissism/egocentrism, and I'm not surprised that he flew into a rage when the diver told him where to stick it because that seriously impacted on his ego.
- tommiegannert 4y ago
  While I agree with you, he's had plenty of help by media. I noticed a few years ago that headlines went the pattern of "Intel says", "Twitter says" and "Google says." With Tesla, though, it was always "Elon Musk says..." Media made a character out of him as much as his own Twitter feed did. Perhaps that was him playing the media fiddle perfectly. Perhaps they also wanted to craft a personal cult around someone, and he was just there at the right time.
  - seunosewa 4y ago
    That's because he's usually the one talking on Tesla's behalf. He tweets.
4y ago