Elon Musk just made a very passionate statement on Twitter. “Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.”
Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2020
California has already given companies the green light to start reopening, including manufacturing companies. Many other states are slowly reopening as well. In Louisiana, our governor extended the lockdown while lifting some strict restrictions — we can go and eat at a takeout restaurant now as long as we wear masks and practice social distancing.
This is how you do things the right way. Tesla has some very strict safety protocols in place for its workers, unlike some restaurants in Colorado where no one is wearing masks or practicing social distancing.
I think we should be more concerned abt businesses that open to the public with no safety protocols instead of worrying over a company with very strict safety measures in placehttps://t.co/IvaiYGYqfC https://t.co/rq8hpS3YUq
— Jewelry by Johnna (@JewelsByJohnna) May 11, 2020
I replied to The Verge’s tweet about Tesla’s reopening and pointed out that we should be more concerned about businesses that are not practicing social distancing as they reopen instead of being worried about one company that has really good safety protocols in place.
No one seems to want to realize that Tesla is the first American company to reopen after the pandemic shut a company down — this happened in China. Tesla already has the needed experience and protocols in place and was even praised for its safety measures back in February and hailed as an example.
Yet, here in America, we have become so politicized over words and ideas that if you take a stand against something, you are against everyone who may have a difference of opinion.
Elon Musk said “FREE AMERICA NOW,” and I disagreed with him because I think we shouldn’t reopen everything all at once. Yet many states have begun to do this, so I understand the frustration if you are ready and able to open and are being restrained while almost everyone else in the business is opening up.
Nonetheless, given the political situation today, many members of the Tesla community were hurt — hurt because they disagreed with someone they admire and hurt because they felt guilty for disagreeing with Elon Musk. I don’t. I am of the full belief that you can disagree with someone and still support them. However, you have to step out of your emotions and look at things from that person’s perspective. You have to try to understand why that person feels that way and what happened to make them have that set of beliefs. This is how you support them while disagreeing with them.
America has become so divided (left wing, right wing, Trump supporter, Snowflake) and now obsessively uses trigger words — words that trigger hate and anger — to identify others who disagree with them. Many in the mainstream media have learned to capitalize on this — there’s big money in spreading hate and division.
Elon Musk suddenly seemed like a right-winger to many with his statements, but in reality, he’s not trying to kill his employees as some in the media and politics have proposed.
With on politician saying “%^&* Elon Musk,” we have plenty of cause to be alarmed at the direction our nation is going. It’s not simply a blue/Democratic or red/Republican matter, but an American one. We allowed our country to go down this path by allowing the seeds of hatred and division to be sown.
We don’t need callous billionaires with little regard for workers telling us what to do right now. Don’t let them put their own profit over people’s lives during a pandemic. https://t.co/F1MhMs3mji
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) May 11, 2020
I think the truth is that Elon is taking a stand for all of our Constitutional rights. When the state governor says you can reopen but a county says “everyone but Tesla” and overrides that authority, this was bound to get heated.
I also want to point out another hypocrisy. Alameda County doesn’t think it is safe enough for Tesla to reopen. If Elon was to get arrested, he would go to jail. Jails and prisons have a high rate of coronavirus spread — so he would be placed in a higher risk location where the safety protocols that Tesla is taking will not take place. In Ohio, for example, 73% of inmates in one of their prisons tested positive for coronavirus.
Punishing Elon Musk for standing up for his employees and what he notes are our basic Constitutional rights is the equivalent of America cutting off its wings to make a point about flying.
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