The headlines should be
WORLD’S RICHEST MAN IS ‘THE REAL VICTIM’ HERE!”
My heart bleeds for him.
I've been trying to take Musk's moral teachings to heart. As a member of the non-billionaire short-end-of-the-stick class, it would be suicidal empathy to care about billionaires facing adversity.
Anyway...
There were broad expectations that the widening political divides in America following Donald Trump’s second presidential victory would explode.
But few could have predicted the flash point would be electric cars.
Teslas have been set ablaze with Molotov cocktails, riddled with bullets and defaced with swastikas. Doors and windows at once pristine luxury electric vehicle showrooms are now scrawled with profanity and Nazi symbols.
“We have a continuum of activity, some of which we rightfully tolerate, such as boisterous and passionate protests,” said Brian Levin, a professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino and an expert on extremism. “But now we’re getting to another level of this kind of directed arson and violence, which, to be sure, has an intimidation effect.”
“Over the last decade ideologically motivated militants from across a spectrum, as well as some unstable and idiosyncratic types, have targeted their broadening attacks not only against traditional, governmental, communication and academic enterprises, but also increasingly against powerful corporate or defense industry targets who they regard as political co-conspirators of their adversaries,” Levin said.
[But Trump's J6 hostage pardons...] "You can’t just pick and choose which particular ideology you prefer when it comes to having a legal response to acts of targeted violence.” [Oh, yeah? Just you watch him weaponize this Justice system!]
[Historical context] In 2003,
activists set fire to a Chevrolet dealership and destroyed or defaced dozens of Hummers and other sport utility vehicles, scrawling many with the word “polluter.” Earth Liberation Front, an association of militant environmentalists, claimed responsibility for the attacks at the time, saying it had been intended to take the profit motive away from the companies responsible for pollution.
