Of SUVs and Rationality

I have noticed an interesting trend in this city recently. It appears that there are more Hummers and similarly large and expensive SUVs driving around town than six years ago. This troubles me because try as I might, I cannot find one rational justification for anyone to own a Hummer. I will be honest and admit that I am open to the possibility that there are some very legitimate reasons for someone to have such a machine, but I cannot think of them. In fact, even the one possibly valid rationale, that these vehicles are larger and sturdier than passenger cars and therefore are significantly safer for the occupants, has just been refuted.

Towing the trailer, moving the furniture, carting the children to the soccer game, or tearing that old stump out of the lawn can surely be accomplished by more modest, more eco-friendly, and more fiscally responsible machinery than a $60,000 truck.

So I offer these thoughts in hopes that anyone who is considering buying a SUV might change their mind. Stop. Think rationally. You don’t need it. You just want it. You want it because you have been brain washed by clever marketing into thinking that owning such a vehicle is a valid representation of your wealth, worthiness, and/or social status.

In fact, owning a large expensive SUV really means you can’t think rationally, you don’t care about the environment, you don’t care about the depletion of the oil reserves and the rising cost of fuel, you don’t care about the safety of your passengers and family, and you are easily manipulated by the auto industry.

So please, open your mind, not your wallet, before you hand over the average annual income for a whole family in exchange for 6400lbs of steel and plastic.

QG