SUVs

[Gordon Fitch]

Wojtek Sokolowski:
> I think you are reading too much into this SUC (sport unitility car) thing.
>  People buy them not to make up for some personal inadequacy or to manifest
> their deep id, but simply because they have been told so by advertisers and
> cued so by others.  Contrary to popular belief, the guiding principle of
> human behaviour is following the flock - rather than solipsistic rational
> choices.

There is probably some flocking, but the SUV is so incongruous
in its usual context that some further explanation seems called
for.  One thing I think is significant is that the marketing-
psychology material (some just quoted) primarily notices anxiety
and hostility as major elements in vehicle choice.  The minivan
is a womb-like shell; the SUV, a sort of military weapon.  Both 
imply that the world the driver lives and travels in has become 
a place too hostile for the older automotive decors of sensuality, 
flow and speed.  Considering that this fear appears to be an 
outcome of the very political and social practices of the class 
most subject to it, we might be observing a vicious circle, a 
behavioral sink.  If the feedback loop continues undamped, a 
significant crisis of some sort is to be expected.