Mastodawn

Nathan Coffield (they/them)Mar 3, 2025

OK, from the replies, some useful tidbits:

- To end a Tesla lease early, you don’t have to pay the full amount remaining — only the balance •minus• the car’s current resale value.

- Cars depreciate, so you’ll lose some money. But…

- …if the used market is dropping fast, Tesla’s official resale value will probably lag behind reality. Thus breaking a lease actually •can• take money straight out of Tesla’s pockets.

- To maximize this strategy, people should break their leases •soon• and •simultaneously•. Coordinate a campaign!

Would still really, really, really like somebody with professional expertise to work all this out.

#TeslaTakedown https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/114089737787084906

Paul Cantrell (@[email protected])

I’m really serious about that previous post: we need an expert guide to breaking a Tesla lease. What are the options? What are the costs? What are the tradeoffs? How should one go about it? I am not even close to having anything like the expertise to answer these questions. But if someone out there •is• an expert, I would love to help you write up, format, and distribute a guide. This could matter. Lots of people out there just feel sick about driving a Tesla, desperately want out of their lease. The right information could unleash something formidable. #TeslaTakedown

Hachyderm.io

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

Thanks especially to @dekk for the point about Tesla’s estimated resale value lagging behind reality. I was slow to pick up on it at first, but he walked me through it until the light bulb went on. And it seems like a potentially devastating point for the company.

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

I always get a little trickle of replies to these posts along the lines of “anyone who purchased a Tesla is stupid / has infinite money / deserves to be harmed / screw them all,” and I feel your anger, but…just…look…

1/5

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

That reaction is FACTUALLY WRONG:

Lots of smart, principled, not-ultra-wealthy people stretched their finances trying to fight climate change using the best information they had, are not as terminally online as you, didn’t know about Musk as soon as you did, got screwed, and are now in a financial pickle trying to get out.

(•You•’ve never made a decision you regretted? Really?? If so, that’s a sure sign that there’s something wrong with you.)

Plenty of intelligent, decent people got scammed by Musk. Berating them doesn’t help fight fascism. It’s just self-indulgent wankery.

2/5

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

That reaction is MORALLY WRONG:

Are we not trying to build a world where people treat each other with kindness and respect as the baseline default of human community?

Yes, please, punch Nazis. Punch actual Nazis.

But make sure you’re punching actual Nazis — not people you wrongly assume are Nazis based on your personal stereotypes. Harming other human beings is a last resort. Do not give in to the pleasure of it.

3/5

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

That reaction is BAD PRAXIS:

The thing that defeats fascism is coalition-building. That is a strictly necessary condition.

Hitler rose to power because the center and the various leftist factions spent more time punching each other than they did punching Nazis. Coalitions are all about working with people you don’t necessarily like.

So people who can afford Teslas are too rich for you to be besties, even the anti-fascist ones? Fine. Whatever. If you can’t work with them to fight fascism when they want to fight fascism, we’re all screwed.

4/5

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

When we call them “Swasticars,” when we talk about anti-Musk stickers, when I boost photos of Teslas on fire, punishing the •people• who own the cars is not the point. It’s the opposite of the point.

The point is making the brand so toxic and the cars so miserable to own that the stock tanks. The point is defeating fascism. I would like to •minimize• the harm to broad swaths of individual people while doing that. I understand that fighting fascism is an ugly business, but harming people in the process is not something to relish. This isn’t about •punishment• — unless you’re aspiring to be a cop.

Sadism is not anti-fascist.

5/5

Wulfy—Speaker to the machines Mar 2, 2025

I unfollowed you...

...just so I could get that delicious dopamine boost for re-following you again.

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

@n_dimension
Ha, whatever turns your crank, I guess!

Fishercat Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands Yes, yes, absolutely yes. Thank you for this thread.

Jacqueline Mar 2, 2025

A united front is a good idea. However, it is predicated on some kind of unity against fascism.

The centrist parties in Weimar Germany voted for the Enabling Act themselves. They had no principles against fascism, and were perfectly willing to enable fascism in order to advance parliamentary compromise.

In order for me to endorse a united front, I need to see indications that the center right faction actually opposes MAGA talking points on transgender people and immigration fervently and passionately. I haven't seen it this far.

Bernie and AOC understand fascism decently for US politicians. Hakeem Jefferies? Not so much.

Jacqueline Mar 2, 2025

Maybe I'm personally being unreasonable, but I would argue that a grand coalition of antifascism is going to leave out most politicians, because most US politicians are willing to allow fascism to emerge in order to protect the dominance of multinational corporations.

Jacqueline Mar 2, 2025

Also, maybe centrist politicians should criticize Netanyahu, who is himself a far right and pro Trump politician who has overseen egregious crimes against humanity. Not get all buddy buddy with him or give him weapons.

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

@burnoutqueen
Politicians are tools. We should grab them and •use• them — just like the Tea Party movement did. Not leaders. Not saviors. Tools.

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

@burnoutqueen
“The centrist parties in Weimar Germany voted for the Enabling Act themselves. They had no principles against fascism”

Exactly my point! They had no clue. The Catholics in particular thought that communism was the threat, not the Nazis. And the Catholics very very quickly regretted that.

There was no lack of berating directed at the Catholic coalition from the leftists. And berating failed miserably. Total strategic failure, giving in to the self-indulgence of the high horse instead of building a coalition against the threat that only •some• people fulling perceived in 1933.

Leftists damn well better learn from that mistake. Many have, but others are struggling.

BlueDot🇺🇦Mar 2, 2025

And there are so many better targets: Tesla dealerships and Tesla charging stations, to name just two. Antifascist rage directed toward those hits Musk directly, and doesn't risk driving people out of our coalition.

⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands sage advice here:

> But make sure you’re punching actual Nazis — not people you wrongly assume are Nazis based on your personal stereotypes. Harming other human beings is a last resort. Do not give in to the pleasure of it.

Marsh Gardiner 🌱🐝Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands Well said! The best response to othering is togethering.

United we stand; divided we fall.

okanogen VerminEnemyFromWithin Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands
💯
I can't fault someone for buying an electric car before they had any reason to believe it would be supporting a eugenist nazi. Prior to 2 or 3 years ago, how was anyone to have a clue? How would someone know buying a Model T would support a nazi in the 1920's?

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

@Okanogen
That’s right. And individual responsibility aside, convincing myself that other people are wrong does nothing to get the fash out of office.

@inthehands Let it go Paul, it's mastodon and the HOA members need you to understand they have never made a mistake, and also their hobby-horse explains that thing perfectly.

(1/n)

@inthehands In this thread, I'll explain how breach disclosure rules that encourage more transparency would solve this problem...

(2/n 🤣 )

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

@adamshostack
Indeed.

As always with this kind of thing, I’m not preaching to the HOA folks; they’re not going to change. This is for the quiet bystanders.

revphil Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands the BDS Movement has experience with those who seek to profit from apartheid.

Robert Weißgraeber🇪🇺Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands actually it seems impossible to do at the moment. hey removed the button in the app weeks ago for me, and emails are getting handled extremely slowly. i’m trying since 3 weeks (germany, b2b leasing)

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

@rw007
Keep trying! And share notes! I’m sure you are not alone, and I’m also sure they are trying to slow-walk it.

Get legal support if you can.

Kevin Lyda Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands I'm going to use my Tesla to document anti-competitive practices and send them on the my MEPs. I already did this last year, but I'm going to package it up better and make it easy for others to send this information in to MEPs across the EU.

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

@lyda
A noble cause. Keep at it! Broken record, don’t give them any peace (the MEPs or Tesla)!

okanogen VerminEnemyFromWithin Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands
Falling knives are hard to catch.

Zoidberg For President Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands The Etron was a pos way before this year, you bought a tesla? Tough luck !

You want to "do something", this will have to be much MUCH better than trying those idiotic shenanigans...

Brad Ackerman Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands This is the “iBuyer” vulnerability that Zillow took a bath with. I approve.

Jamey Sharp Mar 2, 2025

@inthehands I would love to have a flyer, that's been carefully fact-checked, that I could print a bunch of copies of and just leave on the windshields of Teslas. (As far as I know there's no law against putting flyers on cars?) To your point later in the thread, it needs to not blame Tesla drivers, but instead invite them to take an opportunity to change their circumstances if they regret their choice of vehicle. They might even regret it due to issues of quality rather than politics, and that's okay too

Paul Cantrell Mar 2, 2025

@jamey
Yes, yes, this exactly. The flyer plus a web site: well-sourced, fact checked, gamed out with an expert.

I really want this.

Disisdeguey🔻PalestineAction🇵🇸Mar 3, 2025

@inthehands Hi I have an offtopic question Why do you have the Kuwait flag in your username?

zombywoof Mar 3, 2025

@inthehands
The resale value can't be much