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Comment by neuralnetwork | Hacker News Reader

I am surprised that so many people are "disappointed" in Elon Musk. So he overemphasized some parts and underemphasized other parts of NYT's response (which admitted that there were some inaccuracies in the contested article). But so what? Elon Musk and Tesla have done an amazing job with the Model S, and its quality does not change because of the misrepresentation. If this is enough to get disappointed in Elon Musk, then you should awfully disappointed with a whole lot of people.

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No, because that's not how disappointment works. You must understand that Elon Musk is considered one of the most ultimately successful technological innovators on earth by many here: he began with a startup, then proceeded to build a commercial space company, work on solar energy and electric cars. It is unsurprising that this causes many of us technically inclined people to unconsciously worship Musk - if only a little bit.

Then, when it turns out that the person you've just neatly placed upon a pedestal does something you very much disagree with, too, is when people actually become disappointed.

To me, it sounds like saying that Elon Musk was God and we worshiped him, and now he made a mistake. So he is not perfect anymore, and people are upset. And won't be buying Teslas anymore.

Yes. You can make a caricature out of it, but that's how human beings work.

Not to mention the fact that this figure seem childishly incapable of admitting fault. Urgh. I hate it when people can't accept responsibility. It's fine to make a mistake, especially since this didn't do much real lasting harm. So admit, learn from it, don't do it again. Don't twist the facts and (delusionally and irrelevantly) declare victory.

I can only speak for myself, but I'm disappointed because it seems like a really cool car and I really like what he's doing, but the way Musk viciously attacks critics is a serious turn-off. I think the essence of Broder's complaints about the range of the car and cold weather and getting used to a car with different operating constraints are entirely legitimate even if they weren't written with the precision one might expect from the NYT (and, it's worth noting, it wasn't an altogether negative review). It's disappointing that he would attack not just the review, but the reviewer personally.

Your argument is: "Because Elon Musk and the Tesla team have done an amazing job with the Model S, it is impossible/improper/wrong for people to be upset/disappointed in his behaviour." Really?

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