Posted on 08/05/2020 5:21:03 AM PDT by Kaslin
We have watched our society slide into a disturbing trend of permissiveness when it comes to assaulting and removing aspects of our culture. Between evictions of historical monuments, the eradicating of entertainment properties and the condemning of commonplace practices, we have almost become conditioned to accepting these efforts. Now we may be seeing the effects of this movement metastasizing.
The Wall Street Journal delivered a lengthy treatise that looks at a normal aspect of American life, one that almost nobody looks at as being a nefarious component in our existence, with contempt: driving pickup trucks. Using "almost" is the qualifier here, as we have come to learn that the learned elites are capable of looking at the most mundane characteristics of society and sneering. In a display of abject elitism, writer Dan Neil has managed to take an isolated personal experience and elevate his near-trauma to a need for bans on the venal vehicles.
It turns out Dan was in a Costco parking lot and had a close call with a GMC Denali. To suggest he was affected by an event that a large swath of America has probably experienced is an understatement:
"As that chrome grille closed on me like a man-eating Norelco shaver, time slowed. It seemed I was watching myself from afar, being nimble for a man my age, darting from the path of a towering, limousine-black pickup with temporary plates, whose driver barely checked his pace."
Yeah, we can say he was affected:
"It was huge! The domed hood was at forehead level. The paramedics would have had to extract me from the grille with a spray hose, like Randall Jarrell’s ball-turret gunner."
Mr. Neil then goes on to list a number of safety features that these trucks could be outfitted with to ensure the safety of others, and he tips his elitist hand by employing the tired argument involving the supposedly more-evolved souls on the continent: "such systems are not mandatory, as they would be in Europe." Yes, we need to follow the guidance of those who are outlawing butter knives and look askance at pedophilia scandals for fear of being labeled as intolerant.
What we have here is the familiar practice of leftist elites who encounter an inconvenience in their personal life and immediately conjure up a way for the government to remedy their discomfort. This was the mentality of a San Francisco Board of Supervisors member who tired of his young child pestering him for Happy Meals to get the toys. Rather than be a parent he decided to pass a law forbidding the restaurant chain from giving away free toys. Now we have a grown man who saw a scary truck and thus wants to impose European neutering standards in order for him to feel protected.
Dan Neil of course found an ally in academia. Well ... sort of. He cited as a fellow pickup truck opponent an associate professor of design at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. You have to wonder just how many phone calls had to be placed before getting someone this far-flung to latch onto his paranoia. But hey, now he can back up his impotent argument by stating that anyone who opposes his efforts are not among the educated set, and they probably hate science too.
Then, sensing a true movement among the elitist minds, Ryan Cooper over at The Week decided to take up the pitchfork and torch and join in on the flatbed fussilade, and of course, he had to take things a step further. Not content to merely lobby for EU truck standards, he went so far as to "expose" what pickup trucks are designed for in reality: running people over.
sales of mega-pickups, which have basically been deliberately designed to intimidate and kill pedestrians, are booming https://t.co/RpCLHH3PCE— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) August 3, 2020
ACADEMIA (ak-uh-DEEM-E-yuh): An institution, usually a college or university, infested with academics; Academics as a group.
ACADEMIC (ak-uh-DEM-ik): An individual educated beyond his intelligence who is unwilling or unable to create or provide anything of value to others, who pontificates and expects to be paid for it, usually from public funds.
JUST SAY "NO" TO WHITE LIBERAL 'ELITE' THUGS.
I’m Fascinated at your defense of such a beta cuck.
...so would a few freepers...
Outside airbags.
Read the WSJ article instead of reading about the article. Then read a few more of Dan Neil’s articles. The decide if he is a cuck. Or just settle for derivative news and be fascinated by someone who checks original sources.
Only leftist Marxist idiots are run down by Pick Up trucks, especially the new big ones. Go Pick Ups!
Don’t forget what gave birth to those vehicles’ popularity. Idiots fought to get rid of the station wagon due to fake environmental concerns and did. Thus the SUV was born.
While I agree with your premise it is not entirely accurate. The Suburban was introduced in 1935. Yes, the death of the station wagon did popularize the SUV.
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