Norwegian Tesla Owners' Hunger Strike Barely Lasted a Day
Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP (Getty Images)
A group of Tesla owners in Norway tired of their treatment by the electric car company decided to do something a little out of the box: They decided to stage a hunger strike until their cars were repaired and their demands were met. Turns out that a hunger strike was a little more difficult than they thought.
The Drive reports that it received an email describing the results of the strike: It barely lasted 24 hours because 16 of the 20 owners couldn’t make it a full day without needing a snack. Yes, that means a mere four people managed to last the duration of the 24 hours.
I don’t think I need to explain why this is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard, but I’m going to do it anyway. The very concept of a 24-hour hunger strike is absurd; generally, the point of a hunger strike is to put your own body in danger via fasting in order to provoke feelings of guilt in the parties you’re protesting so that you’ll achieve an outcome you want. There’s a long history of fasting being used to protest injustice, which really emerged in pre-Christian Ireland. Fasters would sit on the doorstep of the person that had wronged them, and since it was considered a massive moral injustice to let a person die on your doorstep, you pretty much had to resolve your problems.
As you can imagine, 24 hours is not enough time to create any feelings of urgency. People do that just for health reasons. I know for a fact that I did it earlier this week because I worked through lunch and fell asleep before dinner. You’re really not in any medical danger until the third day of the fast.
You’re also not going to create much urgency by fasting well out of the view of the person whose wrongs you’re trying to make right.
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Of course, these Tesla owners do have legitimate criticisms. Their cars are prone to problems, and no one is acknowledging them. When they finally get in contact with someone from Tesla, which takes ages, they generally don’t hear back. That’s enough to make anyone get a little desperate — but maybe consider a different method of protest next time around, eh?
