GayandRight

My name is Fred and I am a gay conservative living in Ottawa. This blog supports limited government, the right of the State of Israel to live in peace and security, and tries to expose the threat to us all from cultural relativism, post-modernism, and radical Islam. I am also the founder of the Free Thinking Film Society in Ottawa (www.freethinkingfilms.com)

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Is owning a Hummer a crime???

Here's a horrible case of political correctness...

What is it with the media when it comes to sport-utility vehicles? Let me rephrase: What is it with the liberal media when it comes to SUVs? Why do they hate those vehicles with such thinly veiled vigor? And how to they reconcile that hatred, their undisguised bias against SUVs, with their putative mission to report the news fairly and objectively?

The short answer is that they don’t.

Anyone doubting that should review the coverage of a heinous assault on personal property last month in a District of Columbia residential area.

The target of the crime was a 2007 Hummer H2 SUT (Sport Utility Truck), which has a base price of $54,155. It is a niche-market truck, which means it is aimed at a relatively small buyer population — usually young, single men who have a penchant for things such as extreme sports and off-road driving.

The H2 is a four-wheel-drive vehicle available as a four-door SUV — its more popular format — or as a four-door pickup, such as the one that was viciously destroyed on what my paper, The Washington Post, called a “narrow, leafy street in Northwest Washington where (Toyota) Prius hybrid cars and Volvos are the norm.” The H2 SUT, with its 6.0-liter, 325-horsepower V-8, is the workhorse of the bunch.

General Motors, maker of all things Hummer, sold 17,107 H2 models in the United States last year, down from 23,213 in 2005, a precipitous 26.3 percent drop — a clear indication that the market is doing what it so efficiently does, which is to weed out products that are becoming too expensive because of externalities such as rising fuel prices.

But zealots on narrow, leafy streets have no patience for the workings of the market. They have no respect for freedom of consumer choice. They have no respect for personal-property rights — or for anything or anyone that gets in the way of their self-righteous ideology.

That is bad enough. That is dangerous enough. But what is worse is the tendency of the media to tacitly condone such attitudes and behavior, to chortle over it, make light of it when a violent expression of media-held biases — to wit: We don’t like SUVs — occurs.

That is what happened in the local coverage of the attack on Gareth Groves’ Hummer H2 SUT. (I repeat the model designation because of the general media’s disgusting habit, which is another indication of media bias, of incorrectly describing all Hummer vehicles as being one and the same, as was done in many of the stories about the destruction of the Hummer on Brandywine Street.) Consider The Post’s headline on the story: “Hummer Owner Gets Angry Message: Vandals Batter D.C. Man’s SUV, Slash Its Tires and Scratch In an Eco Note.”

Think about that. A crime against property was committed. It was a hate crime. But because it was a hate crime against a hated SUV, there’s a headline that equates the crime to nothing more than delivering an angry message.

What if that Hummer H2 SUT had been a church, synagogue or mosque? Headline: “Congregation Gets Angry Message: Vandals Break Windows, Slash Pews and Carve In an Anti-Religious Note.” That would have been sufficient? That would have been fair?

7 Comments:

Blogger Mac said...

Your title caught my eye, Fred.

I own a Hummer H3 and I get better gas mileage than a Ford Explorer (I had one at work) or any full size SUVs. I wish the diesel version of the H3 was available in North America but it's only available on other continental markets.

You're right about the irrational and illogical hatred which some folks have for Hummers. For some reason, I suspect part of that hatred is because the original Hummers were military vehicles built by a company called AM General which produced purpose-built vehicles for mainly military applications. GM bought marketing rights for the name "Hummer" from AM General.

Let's face it... the only thing which the leftists hate worse than SUVs is the military so a SUV with military heritage is truly anathema.

3:35 PM  
Blogger Brian in Calgary said...

Let's face it... the only thing which the leftists hate worse than SUVs is the military so a SUV with military heritage is truly anathema.

I don't know, mac. Some leftist pro animal rights zealots react violently to the sight of people wearing fur or leather (and I just bought a leather jacket - on sale - this afternoon). Perhaps I should get a can of mace or bear spray.

6:30 PM  
Blogger Mac said...

I can see it now. Brian wearing his leather jacket while driving a Hummer and fog-misting a crowd of PETA freaks with pepperspray and doing his best Chretien imitation "Pepper? I put it on my steak!!" :lol:

11:08 PM  
Blogger Raphael Alexander said...

I don't hate SUV's because of Liberal, or environmental reasons. I hate them because they're huge, impractical, dangerous to drivers and to others on the road, and obstruct vision of normal sedans driven by suckers like me.

I hate the Hummer particularly because it's ugly as sin, like a pickup truck mated with a Jeep and then the Jeep smoked and drank during the pregnancy.

12:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So, Raphael, you are absolutely positive that those big SUVs are all dangerous to the drivers and to others? Under ALL circumstances? Trust me on this: I get hit by an SUV blowing a signal at 40 per I am gonna get killed just as bad as if it was done by the elitist asshole in his SaaBenzAuVogen, or the oh-so-proper Prius driver so busy looking at his mileage meter he didn't see the light change.

I see Hummer 1s and 2s in particular as an indicator of other problems the owner may have.

But as long as they are not running me over, tailgating me, weaving in and out of traffic like damned fools, or sitting in the passing lane doing 54mph I say live and let live.

-the friendly grizzly

11:19 AM  
Blogger Raphael Alexander said...

Most assuredly to each his or her own. But SUV/Hummer hatred is not always correlated to Liberal angst.

1:23 PM  
Blogger zolton said...

The guy buying a Hummer is materialistic, Shallow and not informed of the true COST, no doubt!
Honestly I give the finger to every hummer I see and here are some reason's why.
www.fuh2.com
The person who bought the hummer obviously is not happy and needs something to make himself look cool in the view of "societal conscious"
However "popular media culture" is not reality.
The hummer is made by the American military industry, by buying one your supporting weapon manufactures and terrorism. Not cool
You also have a vehicle that has horrible fuel efficiency and pollutes more then the average car.
So by me giving that guy the finger I'm just trying to antiquate a somewhat karmic balance, for this guy does not look cool but foolish.
Just a clearer perception of reality I guess.
During 2000-2002 in the United States you were able to fully write off you're hummer. But no federal tax breaks for environmentally friendly vehicles.
Now if you selfishly live your lifestyle to a degree so in the future the possibility of conscious human life is at risk (because you were stupid enough to confuse happiness with chemical satisfaction).
Does that not mean you do not value life or even you're own existence if we were to quantify you're actions?

Oh wait! Do you guys recognize the enviroment to be a reality yet?
Or do you still hate them Thar coloreds?

2:30 PM  

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