this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
586 points (97.4% liked)

politics

22046 readers
3842 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

Elon Musk condemned rising vandalism against Tesla, blaming the political left and suggesting a conspiracy against him.

He cited incidents of arson, gunfire, and property destruction at Tesla dealerships, linking them to protests against his work with DOGE.

Trump and the DOJ have labeled the attacks "domestic terrorism," vowing arrests.

Some Tesla owners are selling their vehicles or adding bumper stickers distancing themselves from Musk, who defended Tesla as a "peaceful company," saying "I've never done anything harmful."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 60 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

The worst part is, he probably fucking believes that.

That's how out of touch he is

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 24 points 16 hours ago

He knows that his actions have killed people. He knew that he was cutting USAIDand he knows now that people have died because of those loss of services. That's not a secret. And by now he knows that some people have been cut off from social security because they were declared dead when they're still alive, which again is harming people.

Of course he might say that those changes were necessary or reasonable or accidental. But whatever the explanation, he knows that his actions have harmed people.

And if you'd like to take a different look at it, just think about how he's described damage to the economy. He has openly said that he thinks the economy is going to get worse before it gets better, because of the changes that he and Trump have enacted. Here again, you can make an argument that he believes in the long run things will be better than they were in the past. I don't think that's true, but even if you do, it's still openly acknowledging that he made things worse for many in the short term.

[–] laranis@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Can't remember where I heard it but someone posited this to me and it stuck: Nobody ever does anything they believe is wrong.

If you take that at face value then how you explain evil is that a person has justified to themselves that death, suffering, pain, and unhappiness are all balanced against what they believe is the right way things should be. I can't imagine being in a ecosystem of people where the things I believe start justifying the way these people behave. But, I'm not a billionaire. Or religious.

[–] bassomitron@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

I feel like that quote is easily wrong. Hell, I've done things I know are wrong (on small, minor things, like leaving work 15 minutes early and not taking leave or calling in sick when I'm not, because fuck it).

Then again, I guess I don't think it's entirely wrong, either. Because yeah, there are lots of people who truly believe their unethical/immoral actions are in the right. But I also think those people are often victims of indoctrination and/or they are sociopaths.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 hours ago

No one is the bad guy in their own story.

Morality isn't black and white. Anything that happens has good and bad. Personally, I believe that many can't understand the balance of side effects with the greater good. It's something doctors literally have to balance every day. Every medication and treatment has side effects and risks. Even taking Tylenol. So they have to balance "this vaccine might cause x" with "but this will keep the kid alive and a kid with x is still better than a dead kid."

But I'm sure they could say the same about me. If Musk really believed their was fraud and waste in government. The pain and suffering of those he is firing and those who are being hurt by his policies are the side effects. In his mind, he thinks he's the good guy. He thinks what he is doing is the "right thing" from his perspective.

I would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't believe the government should efficient and without fraud and waste. But since it's literally filled with people who believe that, it's far more efficient than certain media portray it as.

In regards to you leaving work early or calling off, if your world view taking care of yourself is doing the right thing. And sometimes you need to "do something wrong" like leaving work early in order to do the right thing like taking care of yourself.

The government shouldn't be run as a business. That's a lie that's been told to us for far too long. How many people hate their jobs? Do people really want to hate being a citizen as well?

I firmly believe Government is a collective tool to take care of it's citizens. It's to protect them from individuals who want to hurt and take advantage of them. To protect them from foreign actors who want to influence and hurt them. To take care of their medical problems. To take care of their security, such as housing and food. To provide them with the collective infrastructure their daily lives need, like roads, water, electricity, trash services, and gas. To take care of their education. To create a fair playing field giving everyone an opportunity to achieve their dreams.

I don't believe that capitalism cannot be a part of that. But it cannot be unbridled and unregulated. Private businesses have literally no obligation or incentive to provide a service or good if they can get money without doing so. They have no incentive to provide it cheaply. Their only incentive to being efficient is so that the people at the top can make more.

If governments take that approach, the people at the top like the President are the ones who get more money. And we the citizens, the employees, are used and abused.

Paying taxes, in my opinion, should be a source of pride. You should be able to look around at the roads, ambulances, parks, playgrounds, hospitals, and schools and say "I did that." You should look at your neighbor smiling and say "hell yea, I helped them."

Will some people try and take advantage of a government like that? Yea, of course. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't help the 99% of those that need it to keep 1% of people defrauding us. We should identify ways people do, find ways to single them out and address them. And even if someone gets away with it, I believe that is worth it so the other 99% are taken care of.

[–] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 hours ago

Same. In fact I worry about how often I feel like I'm sometimes slacking at work, but generally my numbers look good. I warned my boss not to spoil me because I can fall into bad habits.