Doug> I'm talking about
Doug> the (mostly white) upper middle class that wants to seal
Doug> itself off from people not like them, fearful of the
Doug> dark-skinned, the noisy, and random social encounters that
Doug> might force them to confront people not like themselves. The
Doug> SUV is the vehicular counterpart of the geographical
Doug> insulation that suburbia offers.
funny you should say this. Here in Fairfield County i have been seeing a plethora of these new Range Rovers. I see women, mainly, driving them, with perhaps an odd child or two in the back seat, often times i see them coming out of supermarkets.
But what always catches my attention is how these new SUV 'look like' tanks. 'I wouldnt wanna fuck with a guy in a range rover' is the message it seems to broadcast.
But what burns me is this: i spent $1500 extra dollars back in '92 to buy the most fuel efficient form of the small Honda Civic (VX) that was available (55 mpg), and though i had only a couple thousand bucks to my name, i was proud that i had put my money where my mouth is (was).
Now these folks in Fairfield County are richer by a long shot than myself (by a long shot). But they continue to support these piss-poor fuel-efficiency engines, even though they are more than willing to shell out big bucks for a thing which looks like an armored personnel carrier -- and i cant really believe the kids and shopping get handled that much more efficiently with them.
And i just __know__ in the evenings they watch the PBS series on the environment and green-house gas and el nino et al...
someone explain it to me.
-- ____ Les Schaffer godzilla at netmeg.net ___| ------->> Engineering R&D <<-------- Theoretical & Applied Mechanics | Designspring, Inc. Westport, CT USA Center for Radiophysics & Space Research | http://www.designspring.com Cornell Univ. schaffer at tam.cornell.edu | les at designspring.com