For those who don’t know:
Texts from iPhone to iPhone appear as blue bubbles, while texts from Android users appear as green.
For many in the US who still use SMS to communicate, the blue/green bubble divide is a huge source of social conflict.
What’s your version of “If everyone knew this was a thing in my country, they’d think it was silly”?
I am from Germany and what brand of car your are driving is often seen as a statement, often associated with a certain social group.
Although I have observed that this has been constantly diminishing over the years.
German, too. I don’t own a car, but is this whole EV vs. combustion still as big a thing as it was 7 years ago? I feel it was a much bigger discussion here due to our car tradition/ obsession than in the US. Elon is a dipshit, and until that was apperent to everyone, EVs were cool due to Tesla
Has it ever been?
I mean, outside of some mostly right-wing bubbles that are trying to exaggerate it as some kind of oppression symbol in a cultural war that happens mainly in their heads?
Most people I know treat the topic from a rather rational perspective regarding the pros and cons of EVs in their specific situations.
Really? I felt it was a major topic back then. Maybe due to the whole Fridays for Future Movement which I followed closely at the time and faced a lot of backslash from conservatives. Online bubbles :)
A very loud (i.e. present in social and normal media) but in my everyday life almost none-existent group of people.
They seem to have migrated from Diesel-against-Greta-“Empörung” (is there an English word for that?) to Corona-deniers and now to fighters in self-proclaimed cultural wars against green topics and a tolerant society. All sprinkled with some deep right-wing views.
Might be different in other parts of Germany though, my sample is mainly taken from Bavaria and south-western Germany.
I personally know of only two families leaning into Schwurbler-views - out of hundreds of chilled ones. One of these actually drives a Pickup. But also owns a house with a solar roof… so… well.
You live abroad now?
Yeah, I don’t remember anyone from my rl social circle who was opposed to them. Maybe sceptical at first, I think is fair with bleeding edge tech. by now, some of them use an EV as their daily driver and are super happy.
I don’t know anyone who I’d call “Schwurbler”, so it didn’t witness this shift of topis myself, but yeah, that tracks. Good for your neighbour though. I guess we are all quite complex creatures or it was simply a good investment xD
But no, I am still in Germany. I was just under the impression that Tesla was seen as cool in the US due to Musk’s image as a funny, relatable internet guy back then, going as far as to Tesla’s stocks only performing as well due to his very loyal online fanbase, while we in Germany were still to scared to even touch the damn technology, leading to a much higher adoption rate in the US then here. (What a monsterous sentence, I hope it makes sense) But I could be wrong.