OPINION: Tesla Rage Isn’t Protest — It’s Performance

(Image: Coastal Front)

One month ago, I was waiting in line at the Rio Theatre on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive when a Tesla drove by. Three rat-faced women on the sidewalk took it upon themselves to loudly curse at the driver and flip them off. Revolutionary stuff.

Two weeks later, I watched someone film themselves tossing a coffee cup at a parked Tesla. They didn’t care who was watching—just muttered something about billionaires and walked off like they’d done their part for the cause.

Last week, a colleague sent me a photo he took of a swastika spray-painted on a Cybertruck in Vancouver’s West Point Grey neighbourhood.

Now, a Tesla dealership in Vancouver has been hit. Someone spray-painted obscenities across the front windows in the middle of the night. Police say they arrested a 27-year-old man nearby. He’s due in court in May. It’s the eighth “politically motivated” act of mischief in the city this year, according to police—all allegedly tied to opposition against Elon Musk.

Let’s be clear: Musk isn’t above criticism. Far from it. I’d lump him in with the usual Silicon Valley tech oligarchs—Zuckerberg, Gates, Hoffman, Bezos, Thiel. And while Musk’s DOGE efforts have helped expose a large portion of government waste for our southern neighbours, they’re also, in my view, a red herring—a limited hangout, whether intentional or not. My boss will probably disagree. (Sorry, Andrew—roast me later.)

But this rant—a rare deviation from my usual style of reporting—isn’t about defending Musk, or attacking him, or debating whether he’s a genius, a grifter, or a mix of both. The purpose of this rant is to say that if your grand political statement involves defacing a car dealership, then you are a f–cking moron.

There’s a specific kind of smugness to this wave of pseudo-activism. The belief that tagging a window or throwing garbage at someone’s vehicle is some form of resistance. That sticking it to Tesla is a way to “fight the system.” Meanwhile, these people are using smartphones built from rare earth minerals mined under brutal conditions, manufactured in factories with suicide nets, and shipped across the world on fossil fuel-burning cargo ships. All so they can film themselves yelling at a car.

We all live in this system. You don’t get to opt out by breaking a window.

This kind of stunt undermines legitimate criticism. It makes opposition to Musk look unhinged and unserious. It is a performative tantrum.

You want to challenge power? Great. Organize. Boycott. Build alternatives. But stop pretending that vandalizing your neighbour’s vehicle is an effective form of protest. It’s pathetic—and no one will feel bad when a Tesla owner eventually catches one of these larping revolutionaries with a baseball bat.

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect those of Coastal Front or its editorial team.