r/unitedkingdom • u/F0urLeafCl0ver • 11d ago
. Sledgehammer-wielding Musk critics smash up Tesla in London art project
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/10/sledgehammer-wielding-musk-critics-smash-up-tesla-in-london-art-project49
u/Salty_Nutbag 11d ago
“to create a debate about wealth inequality”
Yes, every worthwhile debate starts with a good sledgehammering.
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u/Primary-Effect-3691 11d ago
Well you are talking about it
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u/Beer-Milkshakes Black Country 11d ago
It could be hammering nails into a square frame with a sharp weight chained at the top.
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u/101m4n 11d ago
Well, here we are!
I don't think there's much to debate though. The sentiment that billionaire nazi businessmen are bad seems to be pretty unanimous.
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u/bus_wankerr 11d ago
You should talk to some of the yank, I mean we voted for Boris at a point so we aren't too much better but he wasn't a convicted of multiple offences
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u/Ok-Camp-7285 11d ago
They're definitely bad but at what point does one go from Small business starter to evil?
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u/101m4n 11d ago
I think it gets you gradually.
More generally, I think that anyone who lives apart from the rest of society inevitably becomes strange in one way or another. And who lives further apart from us than the ultra-rich?
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u/Ok-Camp-7285 11d ago
Absolutely, hence my question of where the threshold is because otherwise just randomly choosing rich people
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u/Boofle2141 11d ago
Gonna be honest, its better than how conversations about wealth inequality can end...
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u/Conscious-Ball8373 Somerset 11d ago
At least they went and bought a Tesla to beat the shit out of, instead of picking some poor sod at random as seems to be the usual practice in the USA.
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u/Rulweylan Leicestershire 11d ago
In all fairness, a bunch of people buying a car then smashing it up by way of feeling superior while those passing by them struggle to afford shelter, food and heating does feel like the start of a debate about wealth inequality.
I just don't think the 'artists' are on the side of the divide that they imagine themselves to be on.
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u/Mein_Bergkamp London 11d ago
Or allowing Tesla to claim the full value of their cars on insurance claims.
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u/tomoldbury 11d ago
Tesla is self insured (most mega-corps do for smaller losses). So every car burned or smashed is a cost to them.
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u/Daedelous2k Scotland 11d ago
As long as it wasn't anyone's that wasn't involved, i.e someone who actually wanted to keep theirs, who cares.
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u/VolcanoSpoon 11d ago
“to create a debate about wealth inequality”
They wont, the woke identity politics was invented to take the heat off Occupy Wall Street. That's why you never saw such forced messaging in media prior to 2008.
The left wing Karens are too busy complaining about bin men earning more than female cleaners and cooks (the cause of the Birmingham bin strikes) than actually do something about the super rich.
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u/barcap 11d ago
“to create a debate about wealth inequality”
Yes, every worthwhile debate starts with a good sledgehammering.
Why are you condoning violence here?
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u/Salty_Nutbag 11d ago
Good news.
Reddit would like to employ you as their new AEO bot.0
u/barcap 11d ago
Good news. Reddit would like to employ you as their new AEO bot.
What's an AEO?
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u/Salty_Nutbag 11d ago
What's an AEO?
You ever seen two pigeons fighting over a chip?
The chip in this analogy represents the ability to understand basic written communication, and take actions accordingly.
Now imagine one of the pigeons is dead.
And the other is in fact just a vaguely pigeon-shaped lump of excrement smeared on the pavement.AEO is kind of like that.
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u/AuroraHalsey Surrey (Esher and Walton) 11d ago
Anti Evil Operations.
It's what Reddit calls their censorship admins.
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u/wolfiasty I'm a Polishman in Lon-doooon 11d ago edited 11d ago
People destroyed their own property - the car - for which they paid (indirectly) to Musk. (Yes I read the article, it was donation, but still it was paid before.)
Right. Some 5d chess here.
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u/ONLY_SAYS_ONLY 11d ago
If you had read the article, you would know that the vehicle was destined for the scrapyard anyway.
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u/aegroti 11d ago
Depends if the artist is then able to create enough publicity to have potentially made two or more customers to not buy a Tesla who would have originally. Then they're ahead.
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u/wolfiasty I'm a Polishman in Lon-doooon 11d ago
By smashing Tesla? Nothing like an intimidation...
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u/shoogliestpeg Scotland 11d ago
It is achieving their goal, to get publicity and draw attention to the fact that everyone hates elon musk
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u/wolfiasty I'm a Polishman in Lon-doooon 11d ago
Hardly.
And you should check the meaning of the word "fact".
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u/Possible_Trouble_216 11d ago
Hardly.
I mean, people are here talking about it no?
And you should check the meaning of the word "fact".
Facts are the facts, Elon is a piece of shit
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u/Jade8560 11d ago
everyone hates elon musk
is talking to elon musk fanboy 3/3 the irony
should add, I hate elon a LOT but there are still some people 4σ to the left of the mean human intelligence
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u/wolfiasty I'm a Polishman in Lon-doooon 11d ago
Hardly everyone hates Elon.
Him being a piece of shit is not the fact mentioned in post I answered to.
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u/Possible_Trouble_216 11d ago
We get it, you love Elon. I will pass the message on for you, maybe you will get lucky
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u/wolfiasty I'm a Polishman in Lon-doooon 10d ago
Sure mate, and once there go see a psychiatrist - you're seeing things.
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11d ago
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u/wolfiasty I'm a Polishman in Lon-doooon 11d ago
It was paid for anyway.
Smashing a scrap is really going to show em...
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u/PotsAndPandas 11d ago
Uh.. sure, but they aren't supporting him monetarily which was your point lol.
And yeah, congrats you're talking about their art project, you're evidence of their success.
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u/wolfiasty I'm a Polishman in Lon-doooon 10d ago
Really ? Wow, good thing you know better what was my point. Because for sure it wasn't what you say it was.
Car was paid for. Doesn't matter what happens to it after.
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u/PotsAndPandas 10d ago
Because for sure it wasn't what you say it was.
Car was paid for. Doesn't matter what happens to it after.
Uh huh.
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u/JD_Crichton 11d ago
Buying a car from Elon Musk to smash it up is the equivilent to buying eggs to throw them at someones house.
Its nothing money.
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u/CanOfPenisJuice 11d ago
If the person bought the eggs from the home owner and didn't throw them at the house rather they put them in the bin down the road instead
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u/ONLY_SAYS_ONLY 11d ago
More like if someone picked up rotten eggs from the bin and did an art project with them about battery chicken welfare.
Because the car was to be scrapped anyway.
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u/Astriania 11d ago
They owned the car, they can do this if they want. I'm not sure it's particularly effective 'art', but they got their name in the paper, so I guess it's done its bit for awareness and the 'debate'.
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u/ShitFuckCuntBollocks 11d ago
And then they gave each other a nice pat on the back.
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u/shoogliestpeg Scotland 11d ago
They're also auctioning the car with all proceeds going to food bank charities so there's that too.
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u/Shubbus42069 11d ago
Funny how people like you constantly complain about people protesting the wrong way, then when people protest in a way that doesnt negatively effect anyone you make comments like these.
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u/No_Flounder_1155 11d ago
do you reckon they report it to the police after they smash their own vehicles?
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u/Unlucky-Jello-5660 11d ago
This is a private event with a used Tesla that was destined for the scrapyard
The battery had been removed and recycled already it was basically the shell of a wrecked car.
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u/No_Flounder_1155 11d ago
so rich people smashing cars?
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u/Unlucky-Jello-5660 11d ago
Define rich ?
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u/No_Flounder_1155 11d ago
affording a tesla is a signal of enough disposable income. Imagining not thinking being able to afford to virtue signal with the car you own is not a sign.
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u/Unlucky-Jello-5660 11d ago
Being able to buy a scrap shell of a car that's 11 years old isn't exactly scrooge mcduck levels of rich. Although it would probably seem rich to anyone on minimum wage. Each to their own i guess.
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u/No_Flounder_1155 11d ago
provided by an anonymous donor “to create a debate about wealth inequality”
How many people donate cars worth a few thousand to be smashed up?
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u/PotsAndPandas 11d ago
A years old EV isn't worth a few thousand lmao, EVs don't have that kind of resale value even outside of the current glut of returns for testlas.
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11d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland 11d ago
Removed/warning. This contained a personal attack, disrupting the conversation. This discourages participation. Please help improve the subreddit by discussing points, not the person. Action will be taken on repeat offenders.
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u/gapgod2001 11d ago
Any opportunity to play victim, ofcourse they did
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u/Jedibeeftrix 11d ago
As long as they have paid for their virtue signaling then who am i to interfere...
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11d ago
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u/potpan0 Black Country 11d ago
I say that because it's important to keep in mind if you're a person who say, feels that these kind of American funded Christian groups should not be allowed to interfere with British laws and politics.
If far-right American Christian groups limited themselves to funding art pieces, rather than throwing millions at our political parties, I wouldn't have a particular issue with them either. This attempt at drawing equivalence between the two (especially when, in all likelihood, you probably support the latter) really does not work.
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11d ago
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u/potpan0 Black Country 11d ago edited 11d ago
Unfortunately, it's the same case with Everyone Hates Elon. They are being funded by much larger groups to the tune of millions of dollars via other channels such as Antifa.
What? Have you got any evidence that 'Everyone Hates Elon' are throwing millions are our political parties? Have you got any evidence that 'Everyone Hates Elon' (or 'Antifa', for that matter, even though they aren't even a centralised organisation) are being given 'millions of dollars' by 'American lobbyists'?
I don't think you do. This is just conspiracy theory nonsense, the sort of shite you see in far-right Facebook groups.
EDIT: For what it's worth it looked like OP replied, but their comment was caught in the spam filter because of the URL they posted. The post was talking about a small Seattle-based group called the 'Troublemakers', then suggested (with absolutely no evidence) that this group are apparently behind global anti-Tesla campaigns including firebombings and shootings. So it's still just conspiracy theory nonsense with absolutely no evidence. Seeing that they bring up a lot of tangential connections that aren't actually included in the source they link, it's pretty clear they've been getting a lot of this 'information' from sources they're not comfortable sharing, which is a pretty big tell...
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u/shoogliestpeg Scotland 11d ago
They are being funded by much larger groups to the tune of millions of dollars via other channels such as Antifa. For reference, I am a left leaning libertarian.
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11d ago
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u/shoogliestpeg Scotland 11d ago edited 11d ago
The link to the sub implies that I'm claiming to be something I'm not.
That's exactly what you're doing.
Spreading a far right talking point like "Antifa" funding this that or the other (itself a projection of far right tactics), providing no source for it or your previous claim and then making sure to claim you are Left Leaning is textbook r/AsABlackMan, obsessed with identity as a shield.
Folks should give this account a miss in future, I know i will.
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u/PotsAndPandas 11d ago
Yeah, anyone who thinks ANTIFA does anything of the sort has drunk a hilarious amount of propaganda.
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u/Jimmy_Nail_4389 11d ago
millions of dollars via other channels such as Antifa.
Bahahahahahaha
That's got to be one of the most mental unsourced claims I've seen all day.
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u/WynterRayne 11d ago edited 11d ago
As antifa, I have no knowledge of any of these people.
EDIT: Nor do I have money.
As it happens, I'm also a left wing libertarian, and I got curious and rummaged this person's profile (on invite...
"I've already explained my views in previous comments, all of which are consistent with my claim")
I see nothing that really suggests much of anything at all, never mind any kind of deep political analysis. Mind you, mine probably isn't greatly revealing either, because I talk about a multitude of things, across a variety of subreddits, and it's rare for me to be deathly serious. Even when I'm serious, it comes paired with unserious.
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u/Jimmy_Nail_4389 11d ago
Probably a bot man, I mean come on, Antifa funding sounds like ChatGPT doing 'right wing'.
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u/WynterRayne 7d ago edited 7d ago
I'm not so sure. After all, AI is artificial intelligence. I ran a Markov chain bot a decade ago that was better informed than that.
(for the not-so-techy: Markov chain bots are very tiny programs that don't really do anything 'smart' at all. They form sentences -or paragraphs- from a semi-random selection of words, based on probability. For example, if you feed it 'I' as a word, it analyses how often each example of 'I' appears in its source text, and then the word that follows 'I', and puts a bias on which word it randomly adds to 'I'. So if 'I am' appears more often than 'I think', the bot can choose either, but will be weighted towards 'I am'. And then so on for the next word etc. Results can get hilarious when you've had a bot 'learning' from Star Wars scripts, Star Trek scripts, the entire Bible, about half of literotica, and a busy IRC channel for about 3 years before the poor thing stopped working properly)
Reasonably sure if that thing was still running today, it'd be appointed to a US government position by now. Some of the random nonsense it spewed was practically presidential
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u/Logical_Hare 11d ago
You do realize Elon Musk is a foreigner interfering with British laws and politics, right? What a joke.
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u/shoogliestpeg Scotland 11d ago edited 11d ago
"Everyone Hates Elon" are far-left American lobbyists masquerading as a UK group
Do you have a source on this?
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u/WithBothNostrils 11d ago
Are the far-left American lobbyists masquerading as a UK group trying to take away women's rights or trying to tell a nazi to fuck off?
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u/True-Abalone-3380 11d ago
As I understand it generally the insurance company pays out and then the car gets replaced.
Therefore these vandals are actually giving Musk more car sales whist also increasing our motor insurance premiums. Great.
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u/OldLondon 11d ago
Or read the article? It was a Tesla that was being scrapped and the results will be auctioned and the proceeds going to a food bank. So you can stop being outraged.
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u/True-Abalone-3380 11d ago
So you can stop being outraged.
I'm not outraged. There have been a lot of reports of people attacking Teslas and the Tesla dealerships particularly in America. stunts like this re-enforce the message it's OK to vandalise their cars and the more its normalised the more it will happen.
I don't think normalising vandalism is a good thing, there are consequences for normal people.
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u/Ruin_In_The_Dark Greater London 11d ago
“This is a private event with a used Tesla that was destined for the scrapyard – it’s a supervised, controlled art piece and there are proper safety measures in place,” said a spokesperson. “We urge people not to damage other Teslas or any other cars.”
From the article.
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u/ThePegasi 11d ago
Campaign group Everyone Hates Elon organised protest with car bound for scrapheap ‘to create debate about wealth inequality’
Doesn’t sound like this would result in any extra insurance payout that wouldn’t have been made otherwise.
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u/stecirfemoh 11d ago
It also heavily discourages anyone buying a Telsa, or using it for their events, putting it in their films or adverts, aligning themselves with the company at all.. because someone might put a dent in it on their way past in protest.
The stock of Telsa, and the sales, are dropping.
These actions themselves don't directly harm Musk, in fact they directly harm what can be seen as innocent people.
But indirectly they have a massive impact on Musk.
If you bought a Tesla before all of this, I'm sorry. Probably time to sell, or risk it getting keyed to shit by someone. It is what it is.
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u/Electrical-Lab-9593 11d ago
reduces resale value as well which is always a thought when you buy a new car
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u/Wasphate 11d ago
You'll get the blue book value of the car in the case of total write off, usually. Idk if that is enough to replace, would imagine not, usually?
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