H
Howard
Guest
A long post, but some good stuff amongst it methinks...
From http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.mencimer.html
'Have you ever wondered why sport utility vehicle drivers seem like such assholes? Surely it's no
coincidence that Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Dem-ocratic National Committee, tours Washington
in one of the biggest SUVs on the market, the Cadillac Escalade, or that Jesse Ventura loves the
Lincoln Navigator. Well, according to New York Times reporter Keith Bradsher's new book, High and
Mighty, the connection between the two isn't a coincidence. Unlike any other vehicle before it, the
SUV is the car of choice for the nation's most self-centered people; and the bigger the SUV, the
more of a jerk its driver is likely to be.'
Baxter, the no necked, pin headed, Range Rover driving, cyclist hating, hit and runnning, Mr Blobby
lookalike pyscho, certainly seems to fit the pattern...
And from the New York Times (Thanks to Mick of Rockfax USA for the link)
http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/08/automobiles/08SUV.html
In California, S.U.V. Owners Have Guilt, but Will Travel By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
GREENBRAE, Calif., Feb. 6 — Encased in a massive black Toyota Land Cruiser, Shirley Collenette
admits feeling a little guilty about her gas-guzzling, smog-inducing, planet-warming, road-hogging
"armor," as she calls her sport utility vehicle.
But need is stronger than guilt.
"The world is becoming a harder and more violent place to live, so we wrap ourselves with these big
vehicles," said Ms. Collenette, a 46-year-old mother of two. "It's like riding a horse. You have
more power."
Like many other S.U.V. owners in Marin County, this corner of Northern California where wealth and
liberal politics converge, Ms. Collenette has found herself stuck up the on ramp of a politically
and culturally risky freeway. A fledgling anti-S.U.V. crusade has joined the list of trendy "anti"
causes — antismoking, antifur, antimeat — and this has some members of the upper-middle class
bristling in their bucket seats.
Hostility seems to be everywhere, with attacks from all directions.
Here comes the columnist Arianna Huffington and her nonprofit Detroit Project, with its
soul-wrenching TV commercials linking S.U.V.'s to support of terrorism. The Evangelical
Environmental Network, a coalition of Christian groups, declares Jesus "lord over transportation
choices" and runs TV advertisements asking, "What would Jesus drive?" (Answer: not an S.U.V.)
Earth on Empty, a group of Boston artists, plasters fake parking tickets on S.U.V. windshields that
instruct drivers to "try to get honest with yourself." The Earth Liberation Front claims to have set
fire to S.U.V.'s recently at a dealership in Pennsylvania. The posters at a recent antiwar rally in
San Francisco said "Draft S.U.V. drivers first."
To the backlashers against the backlash, the Marin soccer moms with children, groceries and ski
equipment for weekends in Tahoe, it can feel like a personal affront.
"How else am I going to get four children from A to B?" said Zoe Daffern, 41, of Kentfield. "I don't
think we're going to solve the world's problems by getting rid of S.U.V.'s."
She certainly is not getting rid of her black Chevy Suburban. "It gives you a barrier, makes you
feel less threatened," she said.
For all their bulk, S.U.V.'s are not as safe as many owners imagine them to be, and the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said it might propose new standards that would force
substantial design changes. These include adding side curtain air bags, to reduce the risk in
rollovers, and possibly lowering the profile of the biggest models, to cut the risk to cars hit
by S.U.V.'s.
And in response to tax laws that let businesses deduct $30,000 or more for supersized vehicles like
the Hummer, Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, recently introduced a bill called the
S.U.V. Business Tax Loophole Closure Act.
Other gas-guzzling vehicles are out there, like pickup trucks, but none as popular and as
profitable. One of every four new vehicles sold last year was an S.U.V., said Jeff Schuster,
director of North American forecasting for J. D. Power and Associates. 3,977,864 in all. Even with
the economy slumping, he said, that number is expected to rise to about 4.15 million this year.
Government standards call for S.U.V.'s sold in the country to average
20.7 miles a gallon, while passenger cars must average 27.5 miles. The H2, the new Hummer model,
weighs more than three tons and gets 11 miles to the gallon.
Sarah Jain, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Stanford University, said that the
S.U.V. — a vehicle marketed for the independence it is supposed to provide even while posing serious
social costs, like smog and rollovers — embodies many incongruities in the culture.
"It represents the inability of Americans to make a connection between consumption decisions and
their social impact," she said. "The war — and the Huffington ads — are giving voice to that
frustration."
To Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, the biggest surprise
about the S.U.V. backlash is that "it took so long."
Ms. Huffington "pressed a button that was ready to be detonated," he said, on a topic made acute by
the threat of war. "It is the transmutation of a big issue into a neighborhood issue. The S.U.V.
is the place where foreign policy meets the road."
The Huffington commercials were financed by a $200,000 war chest. Critics have noted that the
sponsors themselves have conspicuously consumed: Ms. Huffington, for instance, lives in a costly
home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles and owned a Lincoln Navigator S.U.V. before buying a
Toyota Prius, a hybrid gas-and-electric subcompact.
Csaba Csere, the editor of Car and Driver magazine, said the vilification of S.U.V.'s seemed
somewhat arbitrary. The gas mileage of the pickup truck is just as horrendous as any
S.U.V.'s, he said.
"I don't see how commuting to work in a 5,000-pound pickup is any less sinful than a 5,000-pound
S.U.V.," he added. "I hope Arianna Huffington never gets into a limousine. It's a very
fuel-inefficient vehicle."
The image of the S.U.V. taps into deep-seated yearnings in the American psyche, said Dr. Clotaire
Rapaille, a medical and cultural anthropologist in Boca Raton, Fla.
With their image of strength, power and size, the S.U.V. connects to "reptilian" instincts that are
important for reproduction and survival, Dr. Rapaille said, "disregarding the `intellectual cortex'
information that says rollovers are dangerous."
"My theory," he added, "is the reptilian always wins."
The issue has made for dissimilar political bedfellows, Hollywood liberals and evangelical
Christians. "They might not be part of a religious organization, but many are concerned about
transportation choices for spiritual reasons," said the Rev. Jim Ball, executive director of the
Evangelical Environmental Network.
"We've all seen the same evidence. First it was human health, global warming and oil dependence,"
Mr. Ball said. "With the Middle East troubles, another cause has sprung up. It's a moral issue."
People who love or hate S.U.V.'s will probably not be affected by the advertisements, said Dan
Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming and energy program.
But "the people in the middle, who may have bought an S.U.V. and are now saying `Gee' are beginning
to think," he said. "Some of them will come to the right conclusion."
It is doubtful their ranks will include Kelly Kriston, 39, who was lusting over an orange Hummer H2
the other day in Marin County. It weighed 6,400 pounds and cost around $50,000.
As Mr. Kriston considered buying it, did he feel guilt? "Not one iota," he said. "I like having all
that metal around me. It's got that massive feel-good factor."
Time to to get radical perhaps... Join
http://www.carbusters.org/
(Look at the 'automorph' at
http://www.carbusters.org/magazine/current.php
Then compare this with Baxter...
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zrage.htm
Automorphism, more then just a theory methinks...)
And for some indication as to how much car users (and especially those who drive thirsty, polluting,
dangerous SUVs) are subsidised via general taxation, even taking into account fuel and vehicle
taxes,' see
http://www.ibike.org/economics/who-pays.htm
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/health_and_environment/page.cfm?pageID=817
http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/batt_on_transportation.html
Of course, what with every other advert on TV seemingly been for 4x4 and other cars, and with the
big manufacturers spending over £80 million pounds each on advertising each year in the UK alone, I
don't really think think there is any likelihood that people with start buying fewer 4x4's in the
U.K. never mind cars in general.
(By the way I recall reading a report revealing that the cost of advertsing some models of car
amounts to well over £1000 per vehicle sold. Enjoy those fantasy car ads, after all you are paying
big money to be able to watch them...).
And to put things in perspective, a link to a cartoon stip pointing out there really is no such
thing and an 'environmentally friendly' car...
http://www.roadkillbill.com/r52.html
And lets not forget the link between car use and the threat to Iraq of invasion by the USA.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,877203,00.html
Regards,
Howard.
From http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.mencimer.html
'Have you ever wondered why sport utility vehicle drivers seem like such assholes? Surely it's no
coincidence that Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Dem-ocratic National Committee, tours Washington
in one of the biggest SUVs on the market, the Cadillac Escalade, or that Jesse Ventura loves the
Lincoln Navigator. Well, according to New York Times reporter Keith Bradsher's new book, High and
Mighty, the connection between the two isn't a coincidence. Unlike any other vehicle before it, the
SUV is the car of choice for the nation's most self-centered people; and the bigger the SUV, the
more of a jerk its driver is likely to be.'
Baxter, the no necked, pin headed, Range Rover driving, cyclist hating, hit and runnning, Mr Blobby
lookalike pyscho, certainly seems to fit the pattern...
And from the New York Times (Thanks to Mick of Rockfax USA for the link)
http://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/08/automobiles/08SUV.html
In California, S.U.V. Owners Have Guilt, but Will Travel By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
GREENBRAE, Calif., Feb. 6 — Encased in a massive black Toyota Land Cruiser, Shirley Collenette
admits feeling a little guilty about her gas-guzzling, smog-inducing, planet-warming, road-hogging
"armor," as she calls her sport utility vehicle.
But need is stronger than guilt.
"The world is becoming a harder and more violent place to live, so we wrap ourselves with these big
vehicles," said Ms. Collenette, a 46-year-old mother of two. "It's like riding a horse. You have
more power."
Like many other S.U.V. owners in Marin County, this corner of Northern California where wealth and
liberal politics converge, Ms. Collenette has found herself stuck up the on ramp of a politically
and culturally risky freeway. A fledgling anti-S.U.V. crusade has joined the list of trendy "anti"
causes — antismoking, antifur, antimeat — and this has some members of the upper-middle class
bristling in their bucket seats.
Hostility seems to be everywhere, with attacks from all directions.
Here comes the columnist Arianna Huffington and her nonprofit Detroit Project, with its
soul-wrenching TV commercials linking S.U.V.'s to support of terrorism. The Evangelical
Environmental Network, a coalition of Christian groups, declares Jesus "lord over transportation
choices" and runs TV advertisements asking, "What would Jesus drive?" (Answer: not an S.U.V.)
Earth on Empty, a group of Boston artists, plasters fake parking tickets on S.U.V. windshields that
instruct drivers to "try to get honest with yourself." The Earth Liberation Front claims to have set
fire to S.U.V.'s recently at a dealership in Pennsylvania. The posters at a recent antiwar rally in
San Francisco said "Draft S.U.V. drivers first."
To the backlashers against the backlash, the Marin soccer moms with children, groceries and ski
equipment for weekends in Tahoe, it can feel like a personal affront.
"How else am I going to get four children from A to B?" said Zoe Daffern, 41, of Kentfield. "I don't
think we're going to solve the world's problems by getting rid of S.U.V.'s."
She certainly is not getting rid of her black Chevy Suburban. "It gives you a barrier, makes you
feel less threatened," she said.
For all their bulk, S.U.V.'s are not as safe as many owners imagine them to be, and the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said it might propose new standards that would force
substantial design changes. These include adding side curtain air bags, to reduce the risk in
rollovers, and possibly lowering the profile of the biggest models, to cut the risk to cars hit
by S.U.V.'s.
And in response to tax laws that let businesses deduct $30,000 or more for supersized vehicles like
the Hummer, Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, recently introduced a bill called the
S.U.V. Business Tax Loophole Closure Act.
Other gas-guzzling vehicles are out there, like pickup trucks, but none as popular and as
profitable. One of every four new vehicles sold last year was an S.U.V., said Jeff Schuster,
director of North American forecasting for J. D. Power and Associates. 3,977,864 in all. Even with
the economy slumping, he said, that number is expected to rise to about 4.15 million this year.
Government standards call for S.U.V.'s sold in the country to average
20.7 miles a gallon, while passenger cars must average 27.5 miles. The H2, the new Hummer model,
weighs more than three tons and gets 11 miles to the gallon.
Sarah Jain, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Stanford University, said that the
S.U.V. — a vehicle marketed for the independence it is supposed to provide even while posing serious
social costs, like smog and rollovers — embodies many incongruities in the culture.
"It represents the inability of Americans to make a connection between consumption decisions and
their social impact," she said. "The war — and the Huffington ads — are giving voice to that
frustration."
To Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, the biggest surprise
about the S.U.V. backlash is that "it took so long."
Ms. Huffington "pressed a button that was ready to be detonated," he said, on a topic made acute by
the threat of war. "It is the transmutation of a big issue into a neighborhood issue. The S.U.V.
is the place where foreign policy meets the road."
The Huffington commercials were financed by a $200,000 war chest. Critics have noted that the
sponsors themselves have conspicuously consumed: Ms. Huffington, for instance, lives in a costly
home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles and owned a Lincoln Navigator S.U.V. before buying a
Toyota Prius, a hybrid gas-and-electric subcompact.
Csaba Csere, the editor of Car and Driver magazine, said the vilification of S.U.V.'s seemed
somewhat arbitrary. The gas mileage of the pickup truck is just as horrendous as any
S.U.V.'s, he said.
"I don't see how commuting to work in a 5,000-pound pickup is any less sinful than a 5,000-pound
S.U.V.," he added. "I hope Arianna Huffington never gets into a limousine. It's a very
fuel-inefficient vehicle."
The image of the S.U.V. taps into deep-seated yearnings in the American psyche, said Dr. Clotaire
Rapaille, a medical and cultural anthropologist in Boca Raton, Fla.
With their image of strength, power and size, the S.U.V. connects to "reptilian" instincts that are
important for reproduction and survival, Dr. Rapaille said, "disregarding the `intellectual cortex'
information that says rollovers are dangerous."
"My theory," he added, "is the reptilian always wins."
The issue has made for dissimilar political bedfellows, Hollywood liberals and evangelical
Christians. "They might not be part of a religious organization, but many are concerned about
transportation choices for spiritual reasons," said the Rev. Jim Ball, executive director of the
Evangelical Environmental Network.
"We've all seen the same evidence. First it was human health, global warming and oil dependence,"
Mr. Ball said. "With the Middle East troubles, another cause has sprung up. It's a moral issue."
People who love or hate S.U.V.'s will probably not be affected by the advertisements, said Dan
Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming and energy program.
But "the people in the middle, who may have bought an S.U.V. and are now saying `Gee' are beginning
to think," he said. "Some of them will come to the right conclusion."
It is doubtful their ranks will include Kelly Kriston, 39, who was lusting over an orange Hummer H2
the other day in Marin County. It weighed 6,400 pounds and cost around $50,000.
As Mr. Kriston considered buying it, did he feel guilt? "Not one iota," he said. "I like having all
that metal around me. It's got that massive feel-good factor."
Time to to get radical perhaps... Join
http://www.carbusters.org/
(Look at the 'automorph' at
http://www.carbusters.org/magazine/current.php
Then compare this with Baxter...
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/zrage.htm
Automorphism, more then just a theory methinks...)
And for some indication as to how much car users (and especially those who drive thirsty, polluting,
dangerous SUVs) are subsidised via general taxation, even taking into account fuel and vehicle
taxes,' see
http://www.ibike.org/economics/who-pays.htm
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/health_and_environment/page.cfm?pageID=817
http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/batt_on_transportation.html
Of course, what with every other advert on TV seemingly been for 4x4 and other cars, and with the
big manufacturers spending over £80 million pounds each on advertising each year in the UK alone, I
don't really think think there is any likelihood that people with start buying fewer 4x4's in the
U.K. never mind cars in general.
(By the way I recall reading a report revealing that the cost of advertsing some models of car
amounts to well over £1000 per vehicle sold. Enjoy those fantasy car ads, after all you are paying
big money to be able to watch them...).
And to put things in perspective, a link to a cartoon stip pointing out there really is no such
thing and an 'environmentally friendly' car...
http://www.roadkillbill.com/r52.html
And lets not forget the link between car use and the threat to Iraq of invasion by the USA.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,877203,00.html
Regards,
Howard.
