The Tesla protests are getting bigger – and rowdier

[bhouston]

I prefer non violent responses personally. I think boycotts are better than actually burning down places or vandalizing them. If you condone violence that often leads to a further reactionary breakdown in society, a downward spiral, where as boycotts don’t.

Boycotts and non violent protests also remove the ability to turn it back on the protests and say they are the one who are unreasonable. But introducing violence and vandalism can discredit the protests.

[eesmith]

That's only half of what MLK Jr's observed:

> I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non­-violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view. I'm absolutely convinced that a riot merely intensifies the fears of the white community while relieving the guilt. And I feel that we must always work with an effective, powerful weapon and method that brings about tangible results.

> But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met.

> And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.

[michaelt]

Yeah, these protests will lead to a reactionary downward spiral, leading to protesters storming the Capitol building trying to hang the Vice President, 4 years in the past :)

[nsingh2]

I would argue violence of a kind is already normalized, just towards the working class and the poor. Not the fist-to-face kind, but one that's institutionalized.

Also I would carefully consider coverages like this. Even if the vast majority of protests are peaceful, media coverage will be biased towards any altercations that happen.

[Zigurd]

Your opponents aren't thinking that way. They will do whatever they can get away with.

I'm not sure what this means, but they seem honestly shocked when other people think that way.

[tacker2000]

He has alienated his green/liberal former fanbase, and his new one doesn't really like EVs...

[esalman]

His current biggest fan just had one delivered. I see some ring wing celebrities buying too. It remains to be seen at what point his hillbilly fans start replacing f150s with cybertrucks.

[pavlov]

Yesterday Trump was begging MAGAs to buy Teslas on Truth Social.

He called it an “illegal boycott” that Tesla’s sales are collapsing. At this point nobody’s surprised that the president has no idea about how laws work.

Myself I got a “Happy Teslaversary!” message on their app that turned out to be a survey. I was happy to give them a bit fat zero on NPS. Fraud company selling expensive features that will never work.

[bhouston]

Yeah. Calling it an illegal boycott is going too far. It is not even organized for the most part just a natural partisan reaction to extreme partisan behavior by the very prominent/vocal face of the company. This was 100% predictable and has actually been growing since the Twitter takeover.

[Pigalowda]

The country’s citizens who aren’t part of the two personality cults are becoming violently opposed to the extra legally acting billionaire who is high on ketamine cutting up the 80 year old system that made him extraordinarily wealthy?

Greed brings Americans together. That’s what makes America great. Only a small market correction and no official Q1 data and swing suburbia is starting to notice. Any further erosion of wealth or actual recession and Republicans are fucked.

[ttyprintk]

Under Joe Biden, people who wanted to complain about the economy often mistook their own feelings for “recession”. If you asked them to point to two consecutive quarters of negative growth, they’d look at you like you’re changing the subject. I expect we’re going to see a lot more Sharpies used in econometrics if the same decisions and personalities are still involved in Q3.

[Zigurd]

Analogous to Brexit, possibly more destructive.

[walls]

Which is the second personality cult, out of curiosity? There's nobody in the world that democrats would treat like Trump, for so many reasons.

[josefritzishere]

Tesla was always a fraud machine. If there is a car company that deserves a exponential loss of share value it is Tesla. Their stock was wildly over-valued even when they were moving units.

[kjsingh]

Ya you should have figured that out, Sherlock

[croes]

> Boston man was arrested for slapping stickers of Musk making a Nazi-like salute on Tesla vehicles.

What’s exactly the crime?

[tetromino_]

Obviously vandalism. He was putting stickers on random people's vehicles, damaging their paint.

[bhouston]

That is a minor one and probably only warrants a warning or a misdemeanour. There is significantly more serious actions going on and they are becoming more frequent:

https://news.sky.com/story/tesla-charging-stations-set-on-fi...

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250303-dozen-teslas-...

[plsdont]

In most jurisdictions, damaging, destroying, defacing or otherwise affecting other people's property is usually considered an interference in their right to enjoy their property. This is usually described as vandalism or 'criminal mischief' in court and is a class A or B misdemeanor but for Teslas, since they're expensive to repair, this could amount to a felony.

Hope that helped, and I'm happy to answer follow ons.

[lambdaba]

vandalism