I gotta ask... (Off-Topic)

by cheapLEY , Tuesday, February 06, 2018, 23:04 (2482 days ago) @ Claude Errera

But I don't see how putting a Tesla in it is anything but shilling for his other company, and that company sucks. I won't laugh and smile and celebrate that like everyone else wants to. I can applaud the launch itself and recognize its significance while also lamenting the shitty corporate capitalistic opportunism of using a Tesla as a payload.

Did you read ZackDark's post?

I actually understand your dislike for Tesla; I don't fully agree with it, but I understand it.

But you keep calling the car a 'shill for his other corporate interest', and I don't think it's really that at all. I think it's a personal memento, one that's pretty damn important to him. I don't begrudge him the gesture, because, after all, SpaceX IS the first private entity to accomplish what it accomplished today, and it's a thing that will benefit all of us, in the long run. I'm sorry you can't separate his success here from what he does in another business, but if you actually READ that post and ignored the substance, that seems a little unfair to Musk. (If you just didn't read it, that's a different story - but I'd be curious to know if it changes anything about your opinion once you do.)

I can and do understand the personal memento aspect. I'm honestly not sure if or how it changes things--it still reads as a corporate plug for Tesla. Sure, obviously Tesla is near and dear to Musk. I'm not sure that makes it better. And I really mean that--I'm not sure. My post was a gut reaction to a Tesla roadster being sent into space.

He could have put anything in it. Why not a celebration of the team that made it happen? Why not a celebration of humanity going into space once again? Why did it have to be a personal memento? Maybe I'm the one being naive now.