Two-Tiered Resistance Hits Tesla – CleanTechnica

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Current information out of a Tesla retail and repair location in Oregon is sort of stunning. Not solely are protests occurring, however bullets are actually flying. Professional-Elon people would inform us that Tesla is dealing with a violent intimidation marketing campaign by evil leftists, whereas most individuals protesting towards Elon Musk will appropriately inform you that they don’t have anything to do with the violence.

On this article, I need to clarify what’s actually happening behind the scenes and what each Tesla and protest teams ought to do about it.

The Actual Historical past of Peaceable Protests In America

There’s a beautiful fairytale we like to inform ourselves about social progress, particular person rights, and the way forward for humanity. On one concern after one other, good folks face the evil oppressors down and win. Jim Crow and segregation fell to peaceable protest, adopted by legal guidelines banning interracial marriage by way of peaceable court docket proceedings. Then, homosexual rights activists fought for homosexual marriage, finally profitable within the courts of public opinion and of regulation. Now, the struggle for extra folks’s rights will inevitably be received by making the proper of social media posts and the appropriate sorts of indicators to carry up at protest occasions.

When it’s throughout, everybody however a couple of baddies (who had been as soon as by some means the bulk?) will inform their grandkids about how they had been on the appropriate facet of historical past, and supported civil rights on concern after concern earlier than it was cool.

There’s only one downside with this story: it’s a half-truth at greatest. We’ve sanitized historical past as a result of we need to really feel higher about ourselves. Soiled, icky, nasty issues like warfare, smashing folks’s faces with bricks, and assassinations aren’t one thing anybody needs to be related to. However, in the event you have a look at the historical past of advancing rights towards bigotry, you’ll at all times discover a darkish underside of violence and demise. Slavery ended solely after a brutal battle that ended with a large marketing campaign towards civilians. Jim Crow and segregation required non-violence to beat, however these dedicated to non-violence had violent associates rightfully utilizing violence to defend the leaders of the motion from assassination and intimidation by terror teams just like the KKK. Stonewall wasn’t a peaceable affair, nor had been different episodes within the struggle for LGBT rights.

However, these preventing for the opposite facet(s) do the identical factor. There are peaceable prayer occasions towards abortion, however there are additionally individuals who kill abortion docs and burn down abortion clinics. There are individuals who don’t need to make the cake, and there are individuals who exit and commit acts of violence towards the LGBT group. Is there some overlap? Most likely. Ought to we paint complete actions with a broad brush and join all of them to the violence? Completely not. There are good individuals who disagree on issues who don’t deserve that.

I carry all this up to not encourage violence or embrace the “other side,” however to indicate readers how these things actually works. There’s ALWAYS a peaceable facet and a violent facet to those sorts of social actions. There could also be hyperlinks between the teams behind the scenes, and we all know from historical past of issues just like the Irish Republican Military’s struggle towards the British that such coordination and overlap typically contain leaders on the violent and non-violent sides. However the common peaceable protester and political activist is commonly not conscious of this, and doesn’t need to be concerned in such issues.

The explanation we wish to overlook concerning the violent facet is that we MUST overlook about it to maneuver on and make peace. No person needs to offer in to terrorism and let terrorists win, however you don’t have to satisfy with the terrorists and negotiate with them to make them go away. As an alternative, you meet with the peaceable protesters and activists, embrace them in energy constructions, after which the terrorists and vandals cease being terrorists and vandals. Once we look again, we don’t need to reopen previous wounds by admitting that the violent folks performed any form of function. To try this would make it unattainable for individuals who initially opposed it to save lots of face afterward.

How This Occurred At An Oregon Tesla Location

As with many locations round the US, activists are staging protests at Tesla areas in Oregon. Whereas Tesla the corporate has nothing to do with what’s happening in Washington, DC, the aim is to get Elon Musk to see his fortunes dwindling (one thing that’s occurring) and shift his focus again to being profitable. This is able to (hopefully) cease Elon Musk and his group of pc programmers from pretending to be accountants and effectivity consultants. It’d even cease Elon from dismantling the entire government department.

However one factor the protesters didn’t know was that another person was engaged on a unique strategy to Tesla: capturing on the dealership at evening.

Simply received to the Tesla Tigard retailer for right now’s deliberate protest of the Oregon EV Affiliation assembly, and the highway is blocked by police because of a capturing on the retailer earlier right now. No person was harm, however the occasion was known as off, so the protest is simply too. #TeslaTakedown

— Ok Computermeyer (@Niedermeyer.online) 2025-03-14T01:05:42.997Z

Taking a look at native reporting, that is the second time somebody has taken pot photographs at this Tesla supplier. In each instances, the supplier was focused after hours, so no people suffered any bodily damage. However automobiles had been broken in each instances, together with a minimum of one which was in there for service. Due to the second capturing, the realm was closed and a protest couldn’t be held.

Dealing With This Drawback

The straightforward and fast knee-jerk response is to attempt to rating political factors, play the sufferer, and attempt to blame everybody on “the left” for vandalism. Even some folks I do know who ought to know higher try to strategy it this manner. Different wrong-headed approaches embrace conspiracy theories (the protesters are all working for the build-a-burgers or no matter), crackdowns (on who?), and attempting to in any other case capitalize on this. However, the issue with all of that’s that it doesn’t cease the vandalism, lawful protests, and different issues that harm the inventory.

As an alternative, Elon Musk and the Republicans must rethink what they’re doing. As an alternative of attempting to play the blame recreation, it’s time to start out asking why there’s a lot negativity towards Tesla, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and so forth. As an alternative of specializing in the violent and the vandals, specializing in making peace with the peaceable protesters would make all of this go away.

Featured picture by Led By Donkeys.