I have seen a lot of tesla vandalism online the last few days and I’m kind of on the fence about it.
I’ve seen several examples locally here in BC, Canada.
I think totally warranted at newly purchased teslas going forward. Also it serves as a deterrent for potential future buyers.
But vandalizing a car that is a few years old I think is lame. Those driversare already being punished enough by driving something around that’s worth less than scrap.
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Only at dealerships
As in spray paint? My opinion, no.
Slapping a swastika decal on it that is technically removable without damage. Yes.
I’d say no, it’s not moral, but at the same time, I wouldn’t be upset to see it happening more often. Get photos.
That’s not vandalism, it’s just dust someone wiped off. Come on.
I mean technically, if we are talking a painted vehicle, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that could cause minor scratching.
It’s defacing which is under the definition of vandalism.
Let’s call it very localised cleaning.
If it can be defined as vandalism, it’s a harmless kind
If you define “vandalism” to include “writing in dust” then yes, some types of “vandalism” are ok on any type of vehicle what so ever.
Sometimes people write “wash me” in the dust on someone’s window. Who cares.
You shouldn’t write wash me on people’s cars, that’s such a dick move
Yeah. You see it all the time around here. It’s usually some smart ass kid doing it to their mum’s car or whatever.
However, that’s still “vandalism” by your definition.
Just gonna be honest… you seem a bit uptight about this.
Bullshit, it’s dust. Nothing has been defaced. That is absolutely ridiculous! Are you seriously arguing that the dust is part of the fucking car? Don’t be silly.
I’m not defending the action but just explaining to you that it literally falls under the definition of vandalism.
If someone wrote on your car with their finger you would probably feel upset and a little violated.
Also this doesn’t exactly apply to this vehicle as it’s made out of steel but if you press dirt into your car’s paint with your finger you will scratch the clearcoat. I feel like I shouldn’t need to explain this even but dirt is in fact, very small rocks.
If someone did it to my car, I’d wipe it off (maybe, unless I was in a hurry) because I’m not a snowflake looking for outrage.
If tried to file a report, the police would laugh at me because that’s fucking absurd.
I tried explain to you that, fpr all practical matters, you are incorrect, but fortunately for me, I’m not too invested in educating you on what vandalism is and isn’t.
Have a good day!
Writing in dirt is just not vandalism.
You insisting otherwise makes it seem like you might not be asking this question in good faith.
It is literally vandalism. I didn’t write the law. Lol
What law? Where? Has it ever been successfully enforced?
It is not. Writing “wash me” is not vandalism. This is not vandalism. Outside of the courtroom, reality is more important than a legal definition.
Moreover, legal definitions are irrelevant to whether an act is moral. Your fixation on this point in the face of so many people highlighting that no harm has been done again suggests you’re not arguing in good faith.
Y’all act like OP wrote the damn laws.
In many places, “writing” with the dust on a car is legally considered vandalism. It doesn’t matter how temporary it is, or if it washes off with a stiff breeze or a light rain. Here in Texas, it’d fall under criminal mischief for “intentionally or knowingly makes markings, including inscriptions, slogans, drawings, or paintings, on the tangible property of the owner”. Whether or not a court will spend the time hearing such a case is another story, but it’s technically illegal, as the laws are written.
What law is that exactly? Does it actually get enforced?
Here in Texas, it’d fall under criminal mischief
[…]
Whether or not a court will spend the time hearing such a case is another story
Only Cybertrucks, since vandalizing those can only improve the vehicle.
Cybertrucks yes, other models I think there’s a reasonable debate to be had. I’m sure there are plenty of pre-2021 model 3s bought by people who just wanted a (relatively) cheap EV sedan and barely knew who Musk was
Its valid. Especially if something easily removed like bumper sticker.
Not enough swastikas on it.
They like that though, probably won’t even wash it off.
Try a yellow star next time.
I dunno this is canada, ‘dork mobile’ is still effectively rude lol
Writing something in dirt is one thing but spray painting, scraping, or damaging something is a dick move.
Yes, they bought a stupid vehicle from a company run by a controversial person, but that doesn’t mean you can be a terrible person and damage their property as if they have anything to do with Elon.
You want to go after Elon by proxy? Vote, write your government officials, protest, and continue to not by his products.
Even writing in the dirt on a new car can fuck up the clear coat.
You are correct, but a cyber truck is raw stainless and can’t meaningfully be damaged by wiping dirt on it.
Also cant be washed. Ha
But it can when they take it through the car wash after lol
controversial person
way to minimise a fucking Nazi. I’m sure hitler was called a “controversial person” in the 1930s too.
He is about as ‘controversial’ as his Nazi salutes.
Let’s clarify. It is perfectly acceptable to vandalize Elon Musk. We are here discussing the morality of defacing vehicles he did not invent, but somehow manages to get paid for anyway.
I’d argue that giving money to a Nazi is the actual dick move. people reminding you that you’re driving a swasticar is actually doing you a solid
There’s people with teslas long before Elon started spaceX. You can’t really judge them for the car they are using…
except I can, who’s gonna stop me? sure, I will judge them less because of attenuating circumstances but they could sell their car and buy another one. providing Tesla with data from your car and also paying subscriptions is unethical once he came out as a Nazi
but they could sell their car and buy another one
You can’t be serious… Yeah they should lose money with the exchange.
Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-w-pdqwiBw
I wouldn’t want to interact with anyone that wants to buy a Tesla now.
yes
I own a Tesla. I bought it in 2018. I fucking hate Elon Musk but I do not feel like I need to get rid of my car. Me selling would not hurt Elon. It just hurts me because I rely on that car for my wife to get to work.
It’s paid off and it works just fine. Why should I have to sell my car for a huge loss and get something new just because you want to make a political statement.
My wife is a life long democrat. I have never had a party affiliation. I do not understand how damaging my car is supposed to help your cause.
In my mind, I put “driving a Tesla” as different than “driving a cybertruck.” Two different demographics. I wouldn’t laugh at the car, but I would definitely laugh at the truck.
Agreed. Regular Teslas were the first readily commercially available electric car and are reasonable to own. I’ve also seen funny bumper stickers for sale for Tesla owners that say “This car was bought before Elon sucked”etc.
A cybertruck was always his impractical vanity project and sold for an obscene amount of money. They don’t function as promised and even if they were sold by Ford or Toyota I would still think they were stupid cars. I would never vandalize one to be undrivable but I’ll laugh my butt off if I ever see one with vandalized rear or side panels.
We saw a cybertruck with a swastika wiped in a few months ago. It was before he went full salute.
In 2018 he called that driver a pedo.
Neuralink was founded in 2016.
You need to have a pretty old Tesla in order to have bought it before Elon made it clear he’s a moron.
Well it was never as clear as now
Translation: I don’t care about having a good car or having a strong moral framework or ethical stance.
Me selling would not hurt Elon.
This is not true.
Think bigger: if everybody sells their Teslas their sales would drop dramatically.
Think bigger. Instead of bullying customers, vandalizing property of people like you, discourage future sales. Tank the stock. His ridiculous wealth is mostly stock, mostly Tesla. If you vandalize a car, you’re mostly hurting another person. If the market can no longer expect rapid growth, that overpriced bubble stock pops.
He lost like $30B in value destroying Twitter, but one of the reasons he didn’t care is Tesla stock more than made up for it. But imagine suddenly losing $100B or $200B. Even Msk will notice that. Even his hand picked board of directors would have to recognize his extremism is destroying Tesla and have to do something about it
Gonna hurt OP more though. I say do it if you can afford it but it’s not worth it to shoot yourself in a foot just to make a statement.
This… is fair.
It’s still money going to them every time you need parts though
Unless you junk it, the next person will still need that part.
Funny thing about that. We had so many problems early on that in exchange for not lemon lawung the car they gave us an extra 5 year warranty. All the parts and labor for warranty repairs COSTS them money. So hopefully something expensive breaks before the warranty ends.
I bought mine in 2018 as well. What’s more is I got a used one that still had lifetime free supercharging. I’m actively hurting Tesla every time I supercharge. If my car gets vandalized that would help Tesla.
Eh, people like me are going to judge you unless you have a bumper sticker. We call all Tesla’s “swasticars” in my family. The CEO did two Nazi salutes, and yes… Selling does harm the company.
I do not understand how damaging my car is supposed to help your cause.
The fear you have for your car purchase is the point.
It’s not about changing ideologies or convincing people to change their politics or protecting owners who feel they are on the right side and should be spared.
It’s about having future buyers have to weigh whether the risk of vandalism, negative affiliations assumed of them, and insurance increases is worth buying the brand.
Unfortunate, but actions that result in indiscriminate collateral damage is what tends to actually have the intended impact. Which in this case seems to be to taint the Tesla brand as a risky one.
There are people who have literal swastica t shirts. The proud boys and oath keepers and 3%ers are not hard to find. Go punch a Nazi and leave my car alone. Find a pickup with a Trump number sticker and gift them a brick through their side window and some ventilation in two tires. Let’s leave the single mom who got a great deal on a used car alone.
I understand your point I just hate that people seem to think vandalism is going to make the world better in any way.
I don’t plan to vandalize private property. Pointing out what is the intended effect.
And regardless of political ideology what is happening to Tesla or any other brand receiving the same vitrol deters me from plans to buy them. Basically it’s radioactive to “we don’t like to talk about politics” crowd. Which is the average buyer.
I’m reading these comments and realizing just how many assholes after on lemmy.
People on here actually justifying vandalizing someone’s property.
Oh they’re wealthy so it’s ok.
Oh commenter doesn’t like person a so it’s ok to hurt person b property.
Fucking hell people are assholes.
Right now, Lemmy is unfortunately full of a few dozen small, super-passionate echo chambers. People get very emotionally charged takes that can sound nonsense to anyone outside their bubble—but to them, it’s considered the absolute reality of the situation
I haven’t actually seen a thread that proves this more than this one. These people are ok with fucking up other normie people’s shit.
Guys this war isn’t amongst ourselves. You figured out how to post on lemmy. You should be way smarter than this.
Yeah. Lemmy was ok for a few months after the api exodus but seems to have shrunk down to some really, um, I guess immature people? Maybe fringy angry self righteous people? I’ve been coming back less and less often and it seems to be getting worse, but there is the occasional gem and I’m never going back to the bad place.
Writing in the dust is not vandalism. FFS!
The question asked was what I thought of vandalism.
And yes I agree writing in dust is not vandalism
That’s not the question
Ya I’m glad I posted this because these responses are actually wild.
My hot take? No, it’s not
You’ll never change a mind with cruelty. You are merely selfishly expressing your anger
Best case scenario, this person now feels bad about buying a Tesla, but is now stuck with the car. They will likely have to waste resources fixing it and it may happen again. Sure, you could assume they’re rich and can afford to fix it but that wastes literal resources extracted from our planet to fix or replace the car. And if someone buys the used version they’ll have the same problem and may not be quite as rich the next time someone vandalizes the car.
More likely scenario, you piss the owner off and they dig in deeper. That’s just how humans work
I am really glad this is the top response. I came in here expecting a very different top comment. Something of encouragement and some bs rationalization about why it’s ok.
If it’s not your stuff and you don’t have permission to touch it there are very few reasons why you should ever touch anything that isn’t yours.
wastes literal resources extracted from our planet to fix or replace the car
This is the big part for me. The car exists. It’s made. That can’t be undone. Making it unsafe (from vandalism) to drive, the only remaining option is for it to go to waste, for the most part. Sure, it can be recycled, but that’s still wasteful compared to continuing to use it.
Alternatively, you can view vandalization as, essentially, a sin tax. If the person is willing to pay the cost to keep their current setup whatever… but vandalization will provide an economic motive for the victim and others around them to revise their behavior.
Hey, let’s just… let the market decide.
I do agree that you’re unlikely to make the vandal change their beliefs, but given enough vandalization you’ll end up stealing Musk’s money.
A bit of a scary thought, not predominantly due to finger biting over those cars specifically. I’m just imagining the kind of violence we might inflict on each other in the coming years.
For instance, pretend tomorrow’s headline is… oh , say:
One third of 1% of all Teslas have been vandalized each day every day for the past week, and activists promised to maintain the strict schedule.
How long would it take before we saw some significant White House action? And what might a social response look like in the streets? Would any Priuseses be safe?!
overall?
In the grand scheme, yet another darn distraction?
499 other companies in the S&P 500 to worry about as well, and… other stuff :)
If the person is willing to pay the cost to keep their current setup whatever… but vandalization will provide an economic motive for the victim and others around them to revise their behavior.
Unless you’re completely destroying the car beyond repair (thats serious felony material), your vandalism is actually acting to enrich Elon Musk. Where do you think replacement parts for a vandalized Tesla will come from? The victim will be forced to buy those parts from Musk even if they hate him.
Caveat: other than the original Roadster, I’ve never considered Teslas good cars. The Cybertruck might be the dumbest vehicle made in the last 40 years. SO, on to MY hot take.
I’ve spent years and years restoring a 1973 Porsche 914 from a bucket to a beautiful driving machine. Blood, sweat, tears, and money. Hard earned money and my own blood, my own sweat, and my own tears.
It’s unbelievably pretty now. It looks expensive. It drives like a bat out of hell on rails. It’s everything I strived for.
If someone vandalized it, it would be pike gouging at my heart. Writing words in any dust in it would scratch the paint.
With that out of the way, I’d still laugh if I saw a vandalized Swasticar.
When you mentioned buying used it really got me thinking.
I bet this could kill resale value so bad that used tesla might actually be technically the most frugal thing to drive soon. Would you buy a $10k used model 3 if you were in the market for an EV??
When something breaks, it’s going to cost you more than you paid for the whole car. Cost of ownership is an important factor in the long run.
My hot take: yes it’s perfectly acceptable.
You are only partly correct when you say “cruelty doesn’t change minds”. I’ll up that and say that you cannot change the mind of a jackass who buys cyber trucks, no matter what you do.
What you do is show them that there are consequences to their choices, that they’re not somehow immune like they think they are on Facebook or on their preferred social media echo chamber.
And if that doesn’t change their minds or makes them consider their choices much more carefully, then they fucking deserve it.
EDIT: also, that’s written in the dirt, isn’t it? Is that what we call vandalism nowadays? What do you call it when the french burn a few cars down when protesting, a world war? Just go wash the shame off, you slob…
I couldn’t have said it better. I feel terrible for my parents right now. They bought a Tesla a few years ago. A good portion of my teen and early adulthood was spent going to the junkyard to get parts or spending hours trying to revive a part we couldn’t replace because we had no other choice. I was so happy when they were finally able to get a new car for the first time in 30 years. It wasn’t what I would buy, but my dad has always been a tech nerd and this was his dream car. Now they’re scared to visit me in the city because someone might scratch a swastika into their car that they’re now embarrassed to drive.
With the price of these things they could have afforded a new car way before they bought that Tesla.
This is a common misconception. Not that I’m trying to get anyone to purchase one, but they are the most affordable electric vehicle on the market. I just bought a Prius last year and it was more expensive than their Tesla. They maybe could have bought a GMC or something, but part of this is that they wanted to be done with constantly fiddling with a shitty car. By saving a bit longer, they have achieved this and I don’t blame them.
Eh…
45k and up for a model 3
A Bolt is under 30k
Yes, that’s how it works when one thing is more expensive than another thing. But people do save up money through one part of their life to spend during another part of their life. And they aren’t the only people who used to think that Tesla’s were cool tech cars.
It was a reply to OP saying they were so happy their parents were able to buy a new car for the first time in 30 years. They were able to buy one way before that, they just wanted a luxury car, I would have said the said thing if it had been a Mercedes or a Cadillac.
You’ll never change a mind with cruelty.
You’ll never change the mind of the one you are being cruel to. But you might change the minds of some observers.
That’s basically the entire Republican platform right there.
look around you zorque, it’s working
I don’t care about changing hearts and minds. That time is long past. I want them afraid to express fascism in public. Is that too much to ask? Yes, for losers and pansies it is.
Normally yes but not now.
Is it bad to give nazis money? There is your answer.
Lot of bmws on the road too.
And Volkswagens! Oh, and Fords!
Are you actually defending BMW drivers?
What’s wrong with bmw drivers? I mean they haven’t made anything good in a while but bmw has made some of the best cars ever, bar none.
I’m not defending anyone though really, if I knew anything about you I could easily tell you how you are also giving nazis money. Because they are kind of behind every single corporation it seems like.
What do you drive? If you’re up for a roast
