Further down the spiral

My friend Wesley first broke this story to me and I didn't believe it until I read through the story myself.

As a recent environmental studies graduate, I'm not a fan of the SUV, particularly the so-called "luxury SUV" since its intended purpose is to go off-road into the country but now that is no longer used for that purpose, I'll admit that I don't know what an SUV's purpose is.

Environmental problems aside (gas consumption, air pollution, the actual amount of material used to build one), and the safety and the traffic it adds, etc, etc ad nauseum, THIS to me is an indication of how unimaginative we've become and the lack of willingness to tackle the important issues.

I mean, what the FUCK? an SUV built from the platform of a truck cab? Are you kidding me? Does anyone actually need to drive something that size? It just looks like a truck cab with an added bed on the back and better interior. Have automobile designers run out of ideas that they've resorted to turning EVERYTHING into an SUV? What next, SUV motorcycles? golf carts? wheelchairs?

A spokesperson for Navistar, the maker, said, "We can see it as a vehicle for business people who want to make a distinct impression. For personal use, it's for people who want to make a statement." A statement of what? That I'm rich and I have a closet 18-wheeler fetish? I would make a compensation joke, but that's frankly too easy. As for business people driving it, I doubt I'll see Donald Trump driving such a garish vehicle. I'd like to think that business people have better tastes than that.

And I thought Americans were trying to reduce reliance on foreign oil? Or was that just a sound bite for the public? Isn't this type of vehicle a step backwards? What will it take for not only Americans, but the rest of western society as well to wake up to the cognitive dissonance between our comfortable living and our excessive resource consumption?

I've told some of my friends my theory that society won't learn to curb our excesses until some major freak environmental disaster force us to make those lifestyle changes. I don't want to be right, I really don't, but I've yet to see evidence that indicates otherwise.

"Monkeys. This world is run by monkeys."