Something is happening where even self-described “EV technology” enthusiasts are selling their frequently maligned Tesla and divesting from the stock.
These people aren’t experts in engineering, or they’d have realized a long time ago the brand is dangerous garbage. They aren’t manufacturing experts, they aren’t safety experts… the list goes on and on because Tesla fails in so many domains. The world often has to mourn doctors tragically killed by a Tesla, as just one profession example, because these people falsely believed their success in an unrelated field translates into broad ability to detect highly targeted fraud.
Moreover, a vulnerability to fraud is heightened among anyone susceptible to feelings of particular fantasy, such as groups that emphasize excitement from a rapid social status elevation (again, see doctors, but also “incels” and rapists).
Thus there are clearly groups of people who should have steered clear of Tesla, yet instead they fell victim. Driving low quality unsafe cars became an expression of what Emperor Elon “no pants” Musk somehow convinced them was a “sexy” and “exciting” ticket for social entry. Dangers in false marketing and highly targeted propaganda isn’t just a warning for children’s stories, it’s a horrible reality.
This of course is speculation about Tesla victim motives, just like our study of why so many highly intelligent and successful people fell victim to the African Advanced Fee Fraud. As security experts we have since 2005 studied, written and presented around the world a theory of what makes people fall victim to attacks by “rich African prince” messaging and the like. Notably, Elon Musk often portrays himself indistinguishably from a rich African prince, a Coming to America biting comedy turned into real life. His elitist Apartheid family rushed him out of South Africa in 1988 to Canada with suitcases stuffed with cash and jewels, laundering their white supremacist crimes and ill-gotten gains.
It’s in this broader context that Tesla since 2013 became a chapter in a large volume of security tragedies related to websites, social media and email. On this blog and on conference main stages we were calling it out clearly by 2016 (e.g. literally calling Tesla the Titanic of Big Data). Yet victims unfortunately continued to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the sewer of lies that fraudsters like Elon Musk peddled through weak or unregulated technology channels.
In short, the moment victims realize they have been tricked never comes soon enough. We can assume the latest “celebrity threatened” news is what scares social status climbers more than anything. If even a celebrity they respect or associate with is put danger, who then is safe? The remaining vestige of Tesla adherents with any sense now admit, given a celebrity they care about has been targeted, that nobody has properly defended themselves and their families against years of abuse by Elon Musk.
It is public attacks on Taylor Swift that somehow illuminated a bright line of accountability, the moment in history (despite all the other horrendous racist and sexist incidents linked to the CEO, including promotion of Nazism) that many Tesla adherents finally woke up and started to think about their continued role (diminishing choices ahead) in his big fraud.
The brand now is officially a rape joke, so it remains to be seen who keeps owning one and wants to publicly convey that is their fantasy.
Nazi General Rommel, who failed miserably after his fatal flaws were easily exploited in North Africa, said he would rather kill himself than face living in a world without Hitler. The looming question is now how many Tesla adherents will refuse to give up their loyalty to a sick and twisted harm campaign?