| Author | Message | ||
     themp Citizen Username: Themp Post Number: 366 Registered: 12-2001 |
Also bear in mind that the policy decision made after the second world war to spend huge amounts of public money on an elaborate highway system means that you can't look at any of this through an exclusively freemarket lens. We committed ourselves to a public policy that has made our economy strong, and we finance a lot of the road stuff through taxes that hit everyone, rather than through user fees. Real freemarket types will argue that we should have privately owned toll roads, but we would have a crap third world economy if we did. Imagine how much we spend tax-wise on highway safety, state troopers, check points, cop cars, etc? If I don't drive can I get my share back? I don't think so. So the government should have a say in making this public arena safe and having it pollute as little as reasonably possible net. | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1701 Registered: 1-2003  |
Yeah, why do we use those words that way? I think we should say "drive a bicycle" and "ride a car" but we have it backwards. Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| Marvin Gardens Citizen Username: Marvin_gardens Post Number: 54 Registered: 11-2003  |
If people didn't want these stupid cars, no one would make them Yeah, but people don't know what's good for them which is why they put warning labels on products and just because people want something doesn't mean they should be able to have it. You are safer in an SUV You may be safer inside one, providing that you don't roll over but not if one crashes into your fuel efficient compact. So, until everyone has an SUV they are dangerous. People are idiots. Statistics show that the more educated parents have less children. It's true. And the less educated have more children, so slowly but surely the world is being overpopulated with morons who all want SUV's. _______________ Do Not Pass Go | ||
| Cato Nova Citizen Username: Cato_nova Post Number: 28 Registered: 12-2003 |
Marvin Gardens: There is a book called a dictionary. Look under the letter "C" and you can examine the entries for "correlation" and "causation." It might prove an interesting experience for you. | ||
| Betty Crock Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 2607 Registered: 5-2001  |
Lumpyhead, If you would like to refine your "primitive" style of art, I am giving private art lessons. Apparently, this themp character thinks we're the same poster, but, should "we" care what she thinks?  | ||
| newone Citizen Username: Newone Post Number: 113 Registered: 8-2001 |
Again, stop classifying ALL people who drive SUVs as morons. Yes, some are but a lot are not. Just as not all people who drive Porsches or Corvettes or any sports car are "reckless speed demons." | ||
| Cato Nova Citizen Username: Cato_nova Post Number: 29 Registered: 12-2003 |
Why are people so reluctant to face the truth? If you drive an SUV, it means that you value your own (incorrectly) perceived safety as worth more than the safety than others and the well-being of this petroleum addicted nation. An SUV is an affront to all the brave men and women in Iraq who are dying everyday so that SUV owners can keep on their selfish ways. Someone who says "aint personal choice great" is a person who disregards the social cost of their actions. In short, a pig. | ||
| ligeti Citizen Username: Ligeti Post Number: 46 Registered: 7-2002 |
Cato, Newone - Read "Road Killers" in the current issue of The New Yorker. It's not about whether SUV drivers are better off in a collision than sedan owners...it's the way they start driving because of the artificial sense (read: self absorption) of security they feel. And btw, research in the same article points to clear evidence that SUVs are far more dangerous to the driver in rollovers compared to other vehicles, including minivans. This is because the manufacturers are held to significantly relaxed saftey standards because SUVs are defined as trucks instead of cars. | ||
| Marvin Gardens Citizen Username: Marvin_gardens Post Number: 55 Registered: 11-2003 |
Cato please, the grown ups are talking _______________ Do Not Pass Go | ||
| newone Citizen Username: Newone Post Number: 114 Registered: 8-2001 |
Cato OK, so they're fighting only for us SUV drivers. Thanks for the clarification - I thought we were there for other reasons. Since you know what other's are thinking do you know what I'm thinking now? Calling me a pig, how brilliant and intelligent - good argument. ESBAM | ||
| sportsnut Citizen Username: Sportsnut Post Number: 843 Registered: 10-2001 |
Of all the reasons I purchased our SUV, my safety was the least of them. Having driven rear wheel drive sports cars (the only true kind) for nearly my entire adult life, I can honestly say that I am not one of the people who feels safer in an SUV. So since I didn't purchase one to feel safer (read: to be self absorbed), and I really don't care that much about the price of gas (yes it should be more expensive, especially here in NJ) I obviously haven't bought into the marketing hype could it be......omigod....I wanted one. Your argument about buying into the marketing hype would be valid in cases where people decided to purchase a vehicle and without driving any other type decide (solely based upon advertisements) to purchase an SUV. But since most SUV owners are probably on their second or third could it be that they have tried other vehicles and just simply aren't satisfied with them? | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1706 Registered: 1-2003 |
I think we are all influenced by marketing. The differences among us is that we are influenced by different factions. Some of it is political. But no one is immune. Still, calling SUV owners morons or pigs is really off the deep end. That's labeling someone because you don't agree with his particular flavor of materialism. How shallow that is! Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| curb Citizen Username: Curb Post Number: 366 Registered: 1-2001 |
Cato, Why don`t you just move your sorry ass to another country then? I don`t want to see you having to hang around a bunch of piggish Americans that the rest of the world hates. Don`t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. Better yet, let it hit you in the ass, and keep walking. | ||
| themp Citizen Username: Themp Post Number: 372 Registered: 12-2001 |
Go to France! | ||
| Crazyguggenheim Citizen Username: Crazyguggenheim Post Number: 498 Registered: 2-2002  |
I drive a '77 Malibu! Call me crazy | ||
| Marvin Gardens Citizen Username: Marvin_gardens Post Number: 56 Registered: 11-2003 |
If it's an Americans god given right to drive an SUV because they "want" to, then I have just as much right to refer to them as morons. Isn't that what our boys are dying for? So, the people back home can do what they "want' ? Isn't that America? Instant gratification, to hell with the other guy, to hell with the environment, if someone wants it they can have it no matter if it impacts others negatively. Screw them, I want it. It's a good thing god is on our side, nobody else is. _______________ Do Not Pass Go | ||
| newone Citizen Username: Newone Post Number: 115 Registered: 8-2001 |
I didn't know there was an amendment in the Constitution for "the right to drive an SUV." True, you do have the right to your opinion as I do mine - that is what's great about this country - no matter how wrong you are  (In case you weren't sure that last was a joke) | ||
| Habanero2 Citizen Username: Habanero2 Post Number: 21 Registered: 12-2003 |
Marvin, How much stuff can you carry back from Home Depot on your gas free scooter? Oh, wait, let me guess, you drive some form of gas powered vehicle, just not an SUV because Ralph Nader says those are for yuppies. I get it. "You kids today have it easy. When I was a kid everything was HUGE. My dad was nearly four times bigger than me. You couldn't even see the tops of counters.... Then gradually everything became smaller until it was the manageable size it is today." | ||
| Marvin Gardens Citizen Username: Marvin_gardens Post Number: 57 Registered: 11-2003 |
You bought an SUV to carry things home from Home Depot??? God help us _______________ Do Not Pass Go | ||
| anon Citizen Username: Anon Post Number: 919 Registered: 6-2002 |
I suppose this is an interesting discussion but I have been unable to focus because I can't get the image of the "young tart" out of my mind.  |
