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I am ashamed that I used to be a somewhat vocal advocate of Musk and Tesla.
I remember saying how great it was that Tesla released a bunch of patents to further humanity. I remember telling people I thought his nervous rambling presentation style showed he was a down to earth guy forced into the limelight who just wanted to bring his progressive vision to the world. I remember praising the aesthetics of the model s and really wanting one. I remember cheering on Tesla as the underdog taking on the established automotive giants through direct sales and installing their own charging networks etc. I remember retelling the story of a model-s breaking the safety test equipment with glee and wanting what I thought was the safest car on the road which just happened to be the cheapest to run, the most environmentally friendly and with "ludicrous" performance. I remember reading about full self driving and the car parking itself so you can drive to the door of whatever shop or restaurant you were going to and leave the car to figure out the rest.
Then the paedo guy thing happened. This is the moment I can point back to where I first reminded myself to think critically about something I was a fan of. I still excused it, "ok maybe Musk might be a bit of a dick, but at least he has a noble mission at heart " Then the floods gates opened. Autopilot deaths. Union busting. Full self driving that is perpetually less than a year away. The cyber truck that reminds me of that Simpsons episode when Homer designs a "car". Nazi salutes....
How could I get it so wrong?
I am thankful that Elon Musk has reminded me that I like anyone else believe what I want to believe and fall for marketing more easily than I thought I would.
BUT I am ashamed that I am so stupid. Even more I'm ashamed that through my falling for it, I may have helped others fall for it.
We all live in our own little comfort zone. It takes effort to challenge your opinions. Truly challenge them. I fail at it more than I succeed apparently, but at least knowing that might help me be a little less gullible next time.
TL;DR Musk is a wanker.
Edit: some typos
Your critical self-reflection is the rarest characteristic of wisdom in these dark times. You actually care about the truth.
Don't be ashamed that you got scammed; continue channeling that energy into being as vocal about how these people are giant frauds.
I was never an advocate for the guy at all, but for that reason I expect that anything I have to say about the subject will likely resonate less and be less effective with people who were pulled in by the guy. You are probably correct that you have persuaded others to like him and a good atonement for that is to be as active and vocal now in opposition. I also think it's important to include "I was once fooled by this moron" as well because it gives others the permission to be vulnerable alongside you.
EDIT: PS: For future reference, a heuristic for avoiding getting duped into cults of personality is to watch for when something that should be larger than a single person (e.g. an eco-friendly car company, a political movement, a religious movement, a "wellness" movement, a philosophy) becomes all about worshiping some guy or gal. At that point it's probably a cult, a scam, or a combination of both.
I don't know why, but it seems like many are primed to believe that some magical guy or gal is capable of solving complex problems single-handedly.
There’s no shame in making the best decision with all the information you could reasonably be expected to have at the time. That’s not ignorance, that’s paying attention.
There’s a legitimately sad and disappointing trajectory to Tesla. It wasn’t just a story. That place had a lot of good engineers that did great work. And I’m sure the company still has some, especially the indentured H1B types who don’t have the same options as others.
Holy based, my thoughts and experience to a T
I was the same way. I really wasn't exposed to Musk. Didn't follow him on Twitter. Then he got active with the DOGE coin community, which was kind is embarrassing. Then he has the whole kids trapped in the cave/Pedo guy thing, but the part that really started to sour him for me was the Tesla factory shutdown push back during the pandemic. I started paying more attention to him and really began to dislike him. He's been shitty for a while but I just didn't pay attention.
Pretty much the same with me. I used to think he was a visionary who would seriously help to make the world a better place. That was back in 2017 and I was much younger back then. Like you, the whole "pedo guy"/cave thing was what made me start to think that maybe he's not a good person, and things sort of spiralled from there. Did you see that deleted Tweet of his where he said Canada isn't a real country?