Wednesday, January 04, 2023

virtue signalling liberal (electric cars are good for the environment notion) asks for others to weigh in, about whether it's still virtue signaling to drive a Tesla, now that Elon Musk is seen as making Twitter uncensored, and no longer a safe space for liberals

John Blumenthal shared his concerns through the Los Angeles Times over owning a Tesla as a liberal, after Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter.

Wednesday’s piece titled "I bought a Tesla to help the environment. Now, I’m embarrassed to drive it,"

 Blumenthal, who had previously purchased a Tesla to lower his carbon emissions, wrote that he now felt remorse over inadvertently supporting the Tesla owner.

"Because of the recent revelation of Elon Musk’s political views — all of which I abhor — I’m starting to worry (now, because it used to be seen as pro liberal) about what sort of political statement the car is making. (so, ownership is ok only when it gives the liberally sanctioned political view)  Will people see me as a symbol of right-wing environmentalism, a living oxymoron?" Blumenthal asked.

"The car was impractical, but it had sentimental value. My environmental activist friends were not impressed by my assiduous urban composting, LED bulb installations and energy-saving appliances. I needed to do more to diminish my carbon footprint. The icebergs were melting, my friends said, and at least one polar bear was wandering around homeless and hungry because of me," he wrote. 

 "It’s a beautifully designed car with no carbon emission, and initially, I was proud of owning it and being seen driving a vehicle that displayed my concern for the environment. But I’m a liberal, and if Musk’s politics don’t change radically for the better, driving a Tesla will become, at least for me, as hypocritical and untenable as driving a gas guzzler was," Blumenthal concluded.

3 comments:

  1. The writer sounds like a tool who worries too much about what others think of him. If it bothers him that much, he should just sell the car and buy a different electric car to signal his virtue, but then he would be using new resources to build that car and its battery, which is bad for the environment.

    I hope he is strictly using solar or wind energy to power the car, so he isn't using any fossil fuel that is creating CO2. And I hope he investigates all of the politics of the company that makes his next vehicle, so he doesn't unintentionally offend anyone else! As the article says, he'd better not buy a VW or Ford, because they have done bad things in the past.

    I don't agree with him saying that right-wing environmentalism is an oxymoron, either. Contrary to popular opinion, conservatives don't want dirty air, undrinkable water or trash everywhere. They just aren't as in-your-face about it and don't see it as a religion, as some liberals do.

    Not to mention that Elon Musk isn't some raging conservative either. I think he's somewhere in the middle on most issues. I'm not on Twitter, but it's interesting to me that liberals are so upset about the changes he has made, but they don't seem to care about the Twitter Files and what was going on with Twitter before he took it over.

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  2. For any kind of business there is always a risk by openly taking sides in political matters. Of course they can decide to support whatever politicians or causes that they believe further their interests, and usually do. But at the end of the day, you want to keep your customer base as broad as possible.

    As for buying a Tesla, it might well have been seen as an environmental statement, at least in the beginning. Now it's just another car in a more level playing field. Seeing that Elon Musk all along has been the public face of his various projects (SpaceX, The Boring Company etc.), his eccentric behavior always carried a risk, that probably has had the shareholders of his companies reach for their heart medicine more than once.

    In the case of Twitter, I hardly saw that having moderators and limiting hate speech made it a 'liberal safe space'. Any social media platform can be destroyed by conspiracy theorists and trolls, and inviting them back while simultaneously banning anyone critical of himself, Musk's idea of freedom of speech may well backfire, and hurt his businesses.

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  3. liberals care more about their virtue signalling than actual things.
    for them virtue signalling is what life is about

    like this guy that thinks his electric car doesnt cause any pollution.
    the places where the minerals and rare toxic metals are excavated and refined are major pollution sites.
    and some type of fossil fuel was burned to generate the electricity to charge those batteries made from toxic materials.

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