Unpopular Opinion
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Do know you know anything about the companies you buy from every day? Do you know the CEOs of all the food companies, the phone companies, the car companies, the apps you use, the coffee you drink, the clothes you wear? Most of them are just as bad or worse. The media likes shitting on Elon Musk so you hear most of the bad shit about him. If you think Musk is even close to being the worst CEO, you are grossly misinformed.
If your bar for not buying from a company is that the owner is a dipshit and the products are flawed, I hope you're ready to start a commune in the woods and become a subsistence farmer.
Ah, the good old "You have one valid point and criticise one thing people do, but you yourself don't live the absolute perfect life without any flaws or bad things, so your point isn't valid and I won't listen".
I usually only see this when people criticise any behaviour which is bad for the climate.
You were so quick to put my comment into one of your predefined "wrong opinion on the internet" category that you've misread or misinterpreted it. Nowhere did I say the point wasn't valid. I think it's great to be mindful of one's purchases. I just pointed out that the logic should be applied consistently. Everyone hates Elon Musk so much that many of them are forgetting how bad the rest of the corporate world is, and consequently is letting them off the hook far too easily.
There is a difference between "other companies do this, so your criticism of Tesla isn't valid" and "other companies do this, so you should criticize them as well as Tesla". My position is the latter.
I agree with your premise. However I think that comparing Tesla and Musk to, say, the CEO of the company where you buy you coffee or clothes is a false equivalence.
The reasons I think OPs point is a bit more valid in the case of Tesla:
I think you're right about extra scrutiny being appropriate for more valuable purchases. However, you also have to consider the fact that most people buy a car every 8-10 years or so. When you compare the money spent on one car, versus money spent on 8 years of food, I think the gap is smaller than you might expect.
To the second point, yes, I think Musk is extremely petty. It's very grating and seems very obnoxious, but I don't think it necessarily follows that being spiteful is going to be worse overall for society than doing what's best for a company's "bottom line". If you look at a company like Nestle, everything they do is for their bottom line, and they're one of the most evil entities on the planet. Kind of the whole problem with large corporations today is precisely that their "bottom line" is in direct conflict with what's best for everyone else.
Twitter's valuation has dropped precipitously since Musk got involved. We have pretty solid evidence that his assholery is directly injurious to the company. I'm not saying that it's any better or worse for society, I'm saying that makes me not want to spend $75k+ for a product from a company that is being destabilized by their fuckboy CEO. When I'm spending that kind of money I want to spend it at a company that I can rely on.
As for the food comparison, how am I supposed to consider 8-10 years' worth of food the same as I consider a single purchase? That it is the same amount of money cumulatively doesn't really matter. 8-10 years of food is thousands of individual purchases and purchasing decisions, each offering an opportunity to adjust my habits or choices. If I buy a car and the company tanks, then I'm not getting updates, I'm maybe dealing with parts availability, etc. If the food I buy spoils or the company who makes it goes out of business because their CEO wanted to own some libs then I'm out the 5 bucks I spent right then on the one item.
Oh, in that case my comment doesn't really apply. I misread the OP and thought they were talking about the moral implications of supporting destructive or unethical companies. If you're just talking about trying to maximize the personal benefit of your purchases, I don't really have any strong opinions on that.
Makes sense!
Implying that people actually don't do this level of research is naive. Lots of people are conscientious about what companies they purchase from. Lots of people do exactly this level of research.
You don't even have to do research with some companies because you gotta live under a rock to not have heard about their scummy CEOs.
You don't even have to do research with some companies because you gotta live under a rock to not hear about their scummy CEOs.
Imagine living in a capitalist society and not paying attention to what you purchase. Might as well be cattle on a feed lot.