The American Way

[Superman]

I've never done a poll before and I'm thinking it might be a good way to bait you guys. In China, as they say, the respected approach to life is to gain understanding of the flow of the stream, get in the stream and go with the flow. In my country, the premium is on fighting your way upstream while making lots of bubbles.

I'm watching television occasionally these days and can report that I'm a little saddened by a couple of the SUV commercials. I think it's the Cadillac commercial in which the narrator says something to the effect that when you drive an Escalade, traffic will have no choice but to either keep up or "get out of the way." But there is another commercial, perhaps Dodge, where the Dodge driver throws a chain around somebody else's inconveniently-parked PU and DRAGS it out of the way.

Now, I don't mind folks with the "trailblazer" attitude, but my fear is that in America there is a premium on acting like a butthead. Everybody drives a COLOSSAL vehicle because the bigger the better. Nevermind that SUV's create more dangers in a variety of ways than they protect folks from. Nevermind that we're PROUDLY using up 80% of the world's energy and other resources while trashing the environment. And get a load of our favorite behavior......sucking as much personal income out of the community economic trough as we can accumulate unto ourselves. Competition's where it's at, baby. Kickin' asses and takin' names.

So, I'm wondering which of my Pelican friends will admit that this is their attitude as well.

[badcar]

Darwin was right. As within any species, the strongest survive. I am not actively seeking to "kick a$$" but I will if I need to. Better to do the kicking than to be kicked...

[kach22i]

An old lady once crunched the rear bumper of my then new VW Golf (1985) while I was stopped at a stop light. She had an older Ford Fairmont (1979ish) with a big front bumper on it, the kind cops have to push cars. Found out later that her son installed it on the car because she kept hitting the back of other cars. Anyway she informed me that her car was bigger and therefore better, and I should not be angry that a better car hit mine, and that she should be the one upset.

What can you expect from a person that can't tell the difference between the brake and gas pedals?

[rcecale]

Originally posted by badcar
Better to do the kicking than to be kicked...

Better to be pi$$ed OFF than pi$$ed ON, eh?

Randy

[IROC]

As much as I hate to admit it, Agent Smith in the original "Matrix" was right. Humans are a virus. We come in, use up all of the natural resources and then move on with very little regard to the consequences. I think Americans seem to feel like it is their *right* to do this and to hell with the rest of the world.

Mike

[Jeff Higgins]

Unfortunately, I had to go with "dang right it is". Not because I agree with it, but maybe because of where I live and the fact that I see it every day. Now Supe, I know how you detest getting sucked into political discussions, and I have mentioned this little observation before, but I will go ahead and bring it up again. My recent cross-country trip with my son, right through the heart of rural America, served to reinforce this point of view for me. The behavior you mention, the behavior exemplified in these commercials, exists almost exclusively in Big City America. Folks in the rural areas of America are still far more polite to each other, and far less likely to engage in this kind of behavior. Now look at your favorite red and blue county map. Pretty direct correlation, isn't there? Of course it is more complicated than that, I'm sure we both know that. While there is an undeniable relationship, it will take some one far brighter than I to explore all the ramifications of it.

[mikester]

So; when I was a kid I was a target for bullies because I was short (before I was 10). I learned early on that you better be tough or you're going to get pounded.

I was walking home from school when approached by a bunch of bullies that wanted nothing more than to beat me sensless. I was tired of the crap and simply said "guys; I'm really not in the mood to fight with you today."


The lead bully said "that's okay, beatin's good too."

So; no matter how hard you try to be a good guy America's full of a$$ h0les. So...while I personally still try to be ethical and polite in my daily life there are times when you simply must fight back simply to keep the aforementioned a$$h0les from taking over completely.

[gaijindabe]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
My recent cross-country trip with my son, right through the heart of rural America, served to reinforce this point of view for me. The behavior you mention, the behavior exemplified in these commercials, exists almost exclusively in Big City America. Folks in the rural areas of America are still far more polite to each other, and far less likely to engage in this kind of behavior.

Jeff - you are very right. More urbanites get on a plane for a weekend in Mexico or Europe than actually get in a car and see what is really going on out there in America. I live in New York City - the biggest, baddest, smelliest, angriest, most rushed place on this continent. But it is not America. It is like a Hong Kong, a treaty port. The Urban hipsters sit in 4 hour traffic jambs to drive out to the Hamptons, Madison Avenue nit-wits trying to sell stuff and the media big-wigs and all the rest do not understand this.. They are trying to take their reality and make it America's, but it is not.

Supe - Man, you need to take a road trip. You will be surprised what you find.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally posted by IROC
As much as I hate to admit it, Agent Smith in the original "Matrix" was right. Humans are a virus. We come in, use up all of the natural resources and then move on with very little regard to the consequences. I think Americans seem to feel like it is their *right* to do this and to hell with the rest of the world.

Mike

Possibly my most favorite movie monologue of all time.

"I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it. I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell...if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it."

[Drago]

Your basing life in America on truck commercials? Yeah, that's reality.

[RickM]

Originally posted by IROC
As much as I hate to admit it, Agent Smith in the original "Matrix" was right. Humans are a virus. We come in, use up all of the natural resources and then move on with very little regard to the consequences.

Mike

....a cancer you might say..... Very true.

[yellowline]

Originally posted by Superman
Nevermind that we're PROUDLY using up 80% of the world's energy and other resources while trashing the environment.

Source?

From http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/archives/theamericas/theamericas.html

As a share of world energy consumption, North America has declined from a high of 37% in 1970 to 29% in 1998...

29% (including Canada and Mexico) quoted by the government in 1998, vs. 80% cited offhandedly. Hmmm...

Back on topic...I think we waste too much energy. If we responsibly use energy, like shutting off lights and electrical devices when unused, inflating tires correctly, not using the a/c while keeping windows open, things like that...we as a country would save a lot, and it would be ok. It's proudly or apathetically wasting energy that I don't like to see.

My tires are inflated correctly, I try to keep my energy usage to a minimum, I recycle when possible.

[carnutzzz]

"Nevermind that SUV's create more dangers in a variety of ways than they protect folks from."

Oh. I didn't know they we're supposed to be overshields. I thought they were for hauling boats and gear.

"Nevermind that we're PROUDLY using up 80% of the world's energy and other resources while trashing the environment."

Um, no. America is pretty freaking clean actually. Been to any emerging countries lately? Mexico City perhaps?

"And get a load of our favorite behavior......sucking as much personal income out of the community economic trough as we can accumulate unto ourselves."

Spoken like a true commie.

If you hate America so much- why stay?

[pwd72s]

Has anybody seen the Paris Hilton hamburger commercial? I'd prefer to discuss the political/socioeconomic ramifications of that one. Of course, the subject may be to esoteric for Super...

[dd74]

Eh! I live in the epitome of what thinks it's real - Hollywood. But I also read and watch the news, and travel, and see that Hollywood is like a Disneyland with firearms and venereal disease, while the rest of the country -- until New York, becomes pompous and self-absorbed once again.

The thing is this: you alone have to base your own reality. I think of people as genuinely kind-hearted and social. Some people , I think, can even conduct themselves with a modicum of responsibility at times.

I mean what choice is there? We have to stay ahead of chimpanzees. I heard only today of a chimp in New Orleans who knows how to make both cafe au laits and gumbo etoufee.

[skipdup]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
... The behavior you mention, the behavior exemplified in these commercials, exists almost exclusively in Big City America. Folks in the rural areas of America are still far more polite to each other, and far less likely to engage in this kind of behavior. ...

That is so true... Too many times, the rudest people I come in contact with, I find out later are liberals. Such anger... In fact, as I ponder this, it seems like the vilest/angriest postings on this board consistently come from... the liberals.

- Skip

[928ram]

So bound-up some of them are. Perhaps a few extra minutes on the can in the AM would relieve some of it.

[rcecale]

Originally posted by 928ram
So bound-up some of them are. Perhaps a few extra minutes on the can in the AM would relieve some of it.

But then they would have nothing to spew out of their mouths!!!

Randy

[creaturecat]

method seems to work well for you rcecale!

[Superman]

Well, thanks for your candor. For the record, I don't have the same impression as some of you. Yes, I notice that rural folks are as warm as a pile of kittens. I do get out, Gaijindabe. In fact, I don't identify with city folk that much. Cities are my least favorite place, really. Mountain tops are my fave. And yeah, the heart of this country is in its heart, not in the cities.

And the "heart" has substantial numbers of both liberals and conservatives, as does the city.

I sometimes sit at the corner of Maltby Road and SR-9, waiting for the light (long light) and sometimes I wait a while and see a lot of vehicles, before I see one that is NOT an PU or SUV. And no, most of those folks are not using them for hauling. CArnutzzz, you listening? If folks drove those things for those purposes, I'd have no gripe. Probably six out of ten vehicles here are SUV's less than four years old, and I RARELY see anything in them aside from a single individual, the driver. These things are selling because 1) It's the latest tred/fad, 2) Visibility from that height is terrific and 3) Folks think they are safer (for the driver, which is not the whole truth) And Carnutzzz, if I start to hate America, folks like you will be the biggest reason. I'm not going anywhere. Enjoy hurling insults and calling me names, if that's what you need, emotionally.

And finally, according to my observation, the rude drivers are not the poor liberal folk wearing hemp pajamas and driving Subarus with "Save the Whales" and "John Kerry" bumper stickers. Those folks are in the merging lane, patiently gling with the flow. The rude drivers, in my observation, are the Ford F-350 guys with "Freedom" and "Bush/Cheney" bumper stickers. Or Mercedes. Or Lincoln Continental. Or Cadillac.....anything HUGE and expensive.

No, Marc, I'm not basing American life on truck commercials. but I'd be surprized of the big auto companies are completely off target in terms of what emotions and goals and needs they should be exploiting. The volume of these kinds of commercials is high enough that the obvious conclusion here is that Americans hope to be rude and overbearing. That's the personality of this country, frankly. Certainly, that's its reputation. And its marketing tack.