Norwegian Tesla Owners Plan Hunger Strike Over Broken Cars

Siri, show me a picture of Entitled and Tone-Deaf.Photo: TeslaHungerStrike.com

The idea of using self-starvation as a means of protest when all other means of protest are taken from you is a noble one. We laud its use to protest human rights violations as Mahatma Gandhi used it, and mourn the loss of British suffragettes like Mary Clarke or Irish Republican Army prisoners who were reclassified as common criminals rather than prisoners of war. Ten prisoners died, by the way, in the 1981 IRA hunger strike before it was called off.

The latest group of trodden-upon and maligned citizens to turn to this extreme form of protest: Tesla owners who are tired of their cars breaking. Specifically, a group of Norwegian Tesla owners is planning a hunger strike to get the attention of their employee-impregnating, meme-peddling godhead, Elon Musk, according to a report published on Monday by CleanTechnica.

Whether they got the idea from grunge supergroup Temple of the Dog’s 1991 hit, “Hunger Strike,” or that one Michael Fassbender movie about the IRA strike, isn’t clear. What is clear is that using this tactic for something as petty as broken luxury EVs makes them look like a pack of assholes.

Don’t get me wrong; I get how much of a disruption having a broken car can be for your life. I understand, too, that having paid a sizable chunk of cash for a new car, only to have it fall to pieces, has to be frustrating. I don’t think this is the way to handle the matter. Just bother Elon on Twitter like everyone else.

Actually, you know what? Here, I’ll do it for you.

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Now that we’ve done that, seriously, cut this out. You are actively devaluing the sacrifice of people who have died for their beliefs when all you have to do is sell your Tesla. By the way, the automotive press has been trying to tell you these cars are really poorly built for YEARS. Buy some other EV from a car company that’s actually good at making cars, and whose customer resolution process doesn’t involve Twitter.

We reached out to the hunger strikers for comment but didn’t hear back in time for publication.