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Comment by lordfrito | Hacker News Reader

The thing that always bothered me about Tesla fans was that it was less a car purchase for them and more about cultural capital and signaling to their extended peer group. The South Park episode about hybrid cars creating a "smug" problem comes to mind. I don't care who or what team designed my car, just that it's well designed and works.

Now that Elon is suddenly "uncool" with the never-grew-up after highschool crowd, a significant number of people who bought Teslas suddenly feel cringe. It's fun to watch this kind of idiocy play out and come full circle. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

As if these fans really know who Elon is as a person anyways. ProTip: if you haven't actually met and interacted with a person, then you really know nothing about a person beyond hearsay. What's on the screen ain't real folks.

Blows my mind. This isn't a $200 pair of shoes. These are/were seriously expensive cars.

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> As if these fans really know who Elon is as a person anyways. ProTip: if you haven't actually met and interacted with a person, then you really know nothing about a person beyond hearsay. What's on the screen ain't real folks.

You don't think Elon tweeting: "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci" doesn't reveal something about his personality or his values?

It's just self promotion. Influencers are just that, influencers. They influence people.

Maintaining the public face of these people is a full time job.

None of the people in the media are really like what they show us on our screens. It's all entertainment. Much of it in the service of business interests, like Elon. Do his politics lean right? Sure why not. Does he also lean left? Probably. We're all not 1 dimensional. Getting us to "fill in the blank" and project our own ideas into their personality is how they hook you.

The public / promotional image caters the 1-D chess crowd.

The fact people let this stuff influence major purchase decisions like a car is endlessly entertaining to me.

The appeal of celebrity used to be mostly confined to teenage spheres, bored housewives, and old people. But now in the digital era having a public image has become a spectator sport, and we get emotionally caught up rooting for the team we've chosen. This is how they win people.

For the younger of you reading this, I'm letting you know it didn't use to be this way. Nobody cares much about what car you drive or why.

I think you're conflating two things - positive signaling (i.e., I want a Tesla because I want to be cool) and consumer choice (i.e., I would've bought a Tesla but I don't want to anymore because of how Elon Musk has behaved).

> It's just self promotion. Influencers are just that, influencers. They influence people.

In this case Musk is influencing people to not buy a Tesla. Fully embracing nihilism doesn't make you sophisticated.

Here's how Musk wants you to think of him:

- Musk likes to call people paedophiles: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/15/elon-musk...

- Musk says Americans are complacent and entitled, but China rocks: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-china-ro...

- Musk continuously lies about full self-driving: https://jalopnik.com/elon-musk-promises-full-self-driving-ne...

- Musk recommends Ukraine submit to Russia: https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits...

- Musk recommends Taiwan submit to China: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/08/elon-musk...

- Musk wants to "Prosecute/Fauci" and now says he's going to release some kind of "Fauci Files" from Twitter: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-anthony-fauci-responds-to-el...

- Musk called California's covid measures "fascist": https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/29/elon-musk-slams-coronavirus-...

- Musk had Tesla praise Shanghai's covid measures and say that it "always strived to fulfil its epidemic prevention responsibilities and that it believed Shanghai's COVID-19 measures helped lay the foundation for the city's future development": https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-...

It's all grubby.

> For the younger of you reading this, I'm letting you know it didn't use to be this way.

No, it's always been this way. People are the same as they ever were.

I'm not saying the messaging is coherent (heck wasn't that Trumps strategy as well). But there are many reasons that people pay attention to him and then go on to buy his products. There's no such thing as bad publicity. At the end of the day we're still here talking about him.

Tesla's current problems aren't due to Elon being on the political outs with the woke in-crowd, but the fact the rest of the auto industry has largely caught up, and that the irrational bubble of hype around his products has finally burst. Combine with high interest rates and the other financial problems most companies are facing in 2023. That's the only explanation needed.

> > At the end of the day we're still here talking about him.

By the same token the whole world was talking about Osama Bin Laden on 9/12/2001, that must have been positive for him?

In reality there is bad publicity , because although even haters know your name , it would take a 1:1 face to face meeting to turn them into supporters and you will never be able to meet everyone

I'm happy with the EVs my wife and I bought - unless you are familiar with them, our car don't look much different than ICE cars made by the same manufacturer.

However, I don't feel the stereotype is completely fair. Plenty of people buy Teslas because they are committed to zero emissions, and Teslas have better range and a great charging network. (and avoiding dealerships is a nice advantage as well)

I agree there's a lot to like about the car.

But the people who are really and truly committed to owning a Tesla because of the range and charging network don't have to go bragging to all their friends about how they bought a Tesla.

If they bought the car for it's range and charge network. It's all still there pretty much same as it was, the equation hasn't changed. Nothing for these people to feel cringe about.

On a side note: the people who paid $10k up front for FSD option probably feel a lot of well deserved cringe right now. My buddy bragged over 5 years ago about the package, I bet him it wouldn't be working in 5 years, I won the bet and he feels lousy about the purchase now. A sucker is born every minute.

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