Posted by Epoxy (66.26.80.19) on November 29, 2002 at 09:56:51:
In Reply to: Re: SUV Haters posted by Matches (66.219.150.26) on November 29, 2002 at 02:42:34:
> By this rationale it's virtually impossible to enjoy luxury.. Why do people by a big screen tv when smaller one is just fine? Because they's insecure and want their friends to come over to their house to watch the big game.. Why do people plant flowers in their garden? Because they're insecure and not happy enough with their life as it is that they need see pretty flowers and get validation from their growth in order to feel like they "are" something...
> It's all bullshit. Why does someone buy a fancy car? Because they CAN. It makes them feel good. But it's mob rule nowadays and if enough angry people bitch and moan about something then suddenly it's evil. It's the great satan.
> These haters and their tone seriously sound like they might as well be saying "Destroy the infidel. You shall know them, for they drive sport utility vehicles."
YES! Exactly! This is exactly my feeling regarding this SUV thing...there is a large subculture in America (and I guess everywhere) that just despise anyone who likes nice things (which is the other 95% of the population). If they drive a BMW then they are an elitist capitalist pig. If they own a PC then they are a slave to evil Microsoft. If they own a gun (god forbid!) then they are a bloodthirsty psychopath, or maybe merely a terrified fool seeking an illusion of power. And now the SUV thing. They attach sophisticated arguments to their arbitrary hatred of whatever's popular at the time (in this case: pollution) containing some degree of truth, but in fact it is as you say loathing of others desires for nice things. Or just loathing of what's common and popular.
I guess the proper solution these judgmental holier-than-thou types seek is that we should all don loincloths and live in dirt huts or something. And yet curiously I don't see any of them doing that either; they instead buy expensive and nice things that are far enough outside of the mainstream to escape the censure of their like-minded fellows (i.e., it's "bad" to spend $1000 on a big TV, but "good" to spend $1000 on a music collection, provided none of it's pop music!). It's "bad" to buy a gas-guzzling SUV, but "good" to buy an old Volvo or a hearse or something that pollutes more than any modern vehicle.