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Tzip

4 months ago • •

Tzip
4 months ago • •

Handcrafted - Quality materials - Mvskoke made

cvkvlv.com

#Beadwork #Jewelry

A pair of pink, mauve, and blue mini beaded fringe earrings on a bead board. You can see tubes and piles of seed beads, a bead scoop, and a needle.

Cvkvlv.com Beadwork

^{Cvkvlv.com Beadwork}

Paul Cantrell

4 months ago • •

Paul Cantrell
4 months ago • •

The memo still hasn’t made it to everyone about the systemic function of the #TeslaTakedown protests. I still keep getting well-meaning quesitons like the one below from @tymwol.

The purpose is •not• just to register symbolic discontent. The purpose is •not• just to take individual action that directly harms Musk.

The purpose is to tank demand for Tesla’s product, and thus tank their stock price. This is Musk’s biggest vulnerability, Smaug’s exposed belly.

1/ hachyderm.io/@tymwol/114111199…

Timothy Wolodzko (@tymwol@hachyderm.io)

@inthehands yeah, but I don’t think that it hurts Elon if you buy a car from him and destroy it. You paid for it, so it’s yours. It’s like burning your books to protest against Amazon.

^Hachyderm.io

#teslatakedown @tymwol

in reply to Paul Cantrell

Paul Cantrell

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 4 months ago • •

I’ll work that reasoning out a bit:

- Musk’s power depends entirely on wealth. Not genius; he’s a nincompoop. Wealth.

- A large portion of Musk’s wealth is tied up in Tesla stock. A •very• large portion.

- His wealth is further dependent on investors believing that he alone is uniquely capable of leading companies into being “unicorns,” i.e. companies with massive future growth potential. His cult of personality is why Tesla’s stock is so wildly overvalued.

- And yes, Tesla stock is overvalued wrt fundamentals, to an absurd degree. Even after losing ~40% of its value since its peak, it’s •still• overvalued. It has a lot of room to fall.

So, what do we do about that?

in reply to Paul Cantrell

Paul Cantrell

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 4 months ago • •

The proximate primary goal of #TeslaTakedown is to reduce demand for Tesla’s product. Lower demand → lower price → lower margins → lower profit. Anything that increases their financial liabilities is a bonus (e.g. overload of used vehicles from broken leases that they can’t sell), but reducing demand is the name of the game.

If Tesla becomes an unprofitable company, and a company that simply cannot become profitable as long as it has the Musk millstone around its neck, then (1) the stock tanks and (2) having Musk in charge becomes a liability.

#teslatakedown

in reply to Paul Cantrell

Paul Cantrell

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 4 months ago • •

How do we reduce demand?

- Make the Tesla brand SOCIALLY TOXIC: shameful, embarrassing, cringy, un-sexy, nauseating. Buying one should •feel bad•. Make people a little sick to their stomach when they come in for that test drive.

in reply to Paul Cantrell

Paul Cantrell

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 4 months ago • •

- Make the Tesla brand a PRACTICAL LIABILITY: maybe you don’t feel bad about buying one, but…people vandalize them, and so many people are getting rid of them that the resale value is going to be crap for a long time. Owning one is a headache, and you’re going to lose a lot of money on it.

(I get a lot of replies to the effect of “How does it hurt Musk to get rid of a car you already bought??” Get your systems thinking hat on! A supply glut in the used market both creates downward price pressure on new cars •and• changes people’s financial expectations when buying a new one.)

in reply to Paul Cantrell

Paul Cantrell

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 4 months ago • •

- Make the Tesla brand FRIGHTENING: They surveil you. They trap you inside. They burn people alive on a regular basis. They’re extremely vulnerable to hacking, even more than other modern cars with OTA software updates. One of these days, some hacker is going to make every Tesla in the country drive through its garage door…or worse. Driving a Tesla puts you in danger.

(This isn’t just logical; it’s visceral. Bombard people with images of Teslas vandalized, smashed, on fire. Make it a Pavlovian reaction: Tesla = danger, chaos, destruction.)

This entry was edited (4 months ago)

in reply to Paul Cantrell

Paul Cantrell

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 4 months ago • •

Quick checklist for #TeslaTakedown action:

- Does it make Teslas socially toxic?
- Does it make Tesla a practical liability?
- Does it make Teslas feel dangerous?

Any or all = good.

Do not underestimate the power of brand death over consumers and investors. The brand is already associated with fascism. Amplify that. Judo it. Take them town.

Search for a local event here: teslatakedown.com

/end

Tesla Takedown | Take action at Tesla showrooms everywhere.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. No one is coming to save us—not politicians, not the media.

^{Tesla Takedown}

#teslatakedown

This entry was edited (4 months ago)

in reply to Paul Cantrell

Rob

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 3 months ago • •

Im profoundly disturbed that a Macalester professor who teaches young people would encourage this behavior.

abcnews.go.com/US/tesla-vehicl…

Tesla vehicles vandalized across US since Elon Musk began White House role

The company's stock has tumbled nearly 48% this year.

^{Megan Forrester (ABC News)}

in reply to Rob

Paul Cantrell

in reply to Rob • 3 months ago • •

@rob
You're still at it?! I had you on timed mute, but I can tell you're going to be permanently obnoxious — endless heckling replies that didn't really understand what you read, responding to something you have in your head from someone else — so I’ll be blocking you permanently shortly.

But before I do, just for the record, this thread contains my actual position on vandalizing Tesla — not the one you've imagined, but my actual position:
hachyderm.io/@inthehands/11409…

Bye, Rob.

Paul Cantrell (@inthehands@hachyderm.io)

I always get a little trickle of replies to these posts along the lines of “anyone who purchased a Tesla is stupid / has infinite money / deserves to be harmed / screw them all,” and I feel your anger, but…just…look… 1/5

^Hachyderm.io

@Rob

in reply to Paul Cantrell

crispycat

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 4 months ago • •

the vast majority of our digital equipment and infrastructure has similar issues. sure your smartphone won't run anyone over, but malware, account hacks or google turning your location data over to the cops can be devastating. Zuckerberg, Sundar, Bezos and the AIbros among others are very cozy with the new regime

in reply to Paul Cantrell

LisPi

in reply to Paul Cantrell • 3 months ago • •

> They burn people alive on a regular basis.

They also poison people around with hydrogen fluoride when they burn. This is why using fire to vandalize them is a horrifying idea.

Yes this also implies that if they catch fire in one's garage for no reason whatsoever, one can *still* end-up with crippling long-term problems from the fumes.

Those things should never have been allowed in residential or public areas.

in reply to LisPi

Paul Cantrell

in reply to LisPi • 3 months ago • •

@lispi314
I’m not thrilled about vehicle fires either — they’re dangerous, wasteful, and (as you say) toxic — but I’m also mindful of the context here. We’re fighting a group of fascists attempting to end democracy. The potential social and environmental damage of •that•, the sheer quantity of suffering, is so many orders of magnitude larger than a few dozen vehicle fires…well, not saying it makes vehicle fires OK or harmless, but I want to make sure that I’m responding to these two things in a way that is proportional to the harm and keeps the larger context in mind.

Like…imagine somebody set a Nazi truck on fire in Germany in 1934. How would we feel about that in hindsight? Is the (very real) air pollution what would stand out to us?

Maybe you’re on the same page about all that already. I just feel like it needs saying.

@LisPi