CHRIS HARRIS
Where is the room for measured debate in today’s superheated online conversations?
Like anyone who has lived through the transition from paper to online media, there isn’t much that shocks me these days. Fanboys, trolls, faceless keyboard warriors – they’re all the same. The only way the internet can occasionally prove to be genuinely surprising is if it self-regulates and isn’t mental. With the exception of the Tesla army. The Tesla army is a total enigma to me.
Last month, on the back of driving the new Model 3 and being both impressed and curious, I tweeted that I was going to buy one.
Previously, I was an object of mild ridicule to the T-army, but instantly my status changed from fossil-addicted Flat Earther to new Messiah. “They change their minds rather quickly,” I thought. I attempted to follow and understand the online conversation that followed. It was brain-frazzlingly partisan – you are either a member of the T-army, or you are no more welcome on this planet than a dose of the squits. Furthermore, anyone attempting to question His Lordship the Musk is attacked in a way that makes the Spanish Inquisition look sympathetic. There are no half-measures allowed.
But, sadly for my Twitter safety, I’m completely split on the subject of Tesla. I think the Model 3 is one of the most interesting cars I’ve driven. It is also one of the most poorly assembled. But it is Musk’s relentless, baseless claims of autonomy and other technical achievements that just leave me sighing in disbelief. But the T-army not only completely buys into this nonsense, there’s a growing community that does little to scrutinise any Musk utterance, and then attacks anyone who dares to call bullshit or, like me, who sees flashes of genius in a wider strategy that doesn’t seem to stack up.
And this mirrors with scary accuracy the global discussion around the next generation of personal mobility. You are no longer allowed to suggest that electricity might not be the only future we need. To do so is to be a climate-change denier, a planet murderer. But the science isn’t convincing. Ask a member of the T-army where all the lithium is going to come from, or how you charge your leccy car when you live in a tower block... and they’ll just attack you. It’s so tedious I can’t be bothered to engage. Sadly, the way the electric network is being allowed to develop in Europe is completely elitist, and the message is stark – if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, you’d better be very rich. I don’t much like that situation, and it doesn’t reflect well on the bureaucrats and companies that are now telling us that electricity is the only future.
Meantime, the T-army ramps up its attacks on anyone who isn’t a believer. They have no idea how damaging their polemic is to people who are open to being converted to a non-fossilpowered vehicle. The argument so quickly descends into rank offence and belligerence that the fundamentally laudable beliefs they hold become toxic. But I suppose that’s the way with online conversation these days – there is no room for moderation or patience. You either belong or you are the enemy. I sit in the middle and take it from all sides. Probably an unwise move – but I will still buy that Model 3.
“I THINK THE MODEL 3 IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING CARS I’VE DRIVEN”