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Why can't a person own a truck......because they want to?
Because the truck-hating crowd will always start threads like this and claim overcompensation as your motive because they likely can't afford one themselves.
I knew a couple that used to whine incessantly about SUVs and pickup trucks until the wife got a promotion and raise to go along with it. Guess what? They were rolling in a Honda Pilot within a week.
Damn I love this thread! If I wasn't civilized, I'd be inclined to jump in the truck for nothing more than to run over some imports and smartcars just to hear them crumple under me and waste some of my precious gas!! But then ... I'm civilized. (mostly) Keep up the smack!
Because the truck-hating crowd will always start threads like this and claim overcompensation as your motive because they likely can't afford one themselves.
I knew a couple that used to whine incessantly about SUVs and pickup trucks until the wife got a promotion and raise to go along with it. Guess what? They were rolling in a Honda Pilot within a week.
Envy is a terrible thing.
Agree....see it time and again. I remind my tree hugging friend constantly. His mom died and he was flush with cash. All of a sudden it was ok with killing Woodsy Owl. Big SUV, BMW motorcycle and addition on the house.
Drive what you want. Just don't be a jerk about it!
I always thought it was to teach our children a valuable lesson?
ex. Johnnie, if you don't study hard in school, you gonna be liv'n in a doublewide and drivin a pickup like them folks!
Funny...I bet my F150 cost as much if not more than your Bimmer or Outie.
I have a 4x4 pick up for a few reasons, from time to time I need it for my business. I live out in the country and when it snows my neighborhood doesn't get plowed in a timely manner. Next I like the safety
factor compared to a Ford focus that last week got mashed against a wall by a Semi on 95 and killed the
driver and passenger instantly.
Because the truck-hating crowd will always start threads like this and claim overcompensation as your motive because they likely can't afford one themselves.
I knew a couple that used to whine incessantly about SUVs and pickup trucks until the wife got a promotion and raise to go along with it. Guess what? They were rolling in a Honda Pilot within a week.
Envy is a terrible thing.
You assume too much. For the record, those who assume all pickup truck drivers are rednecks and the like, they often-times assume too much as well.
Seriously, you could give me $10 million tomorrow no strings tied and tell me I could buy any vehicle I wanted, and a pickup would not be something I'd be apt to buy. Even if it were, that hardly means I'm sitting around envious of those who have them, it would be more of a thing of "I have enough money, why not" sort of thing--you know, if I need one, I've already bought one so it's already a done deal. Just because someone who came into $10 million proceeds to instantly buy a Ferrari doesn't mean they were insanely envious of Ferrari owners all along. I actually PREFER vans even if they were the same price, because they are more versatile in terms of being able to switch roles as either cargo carriers, people carriers, or a mix of both. That they're also cheaper doesn't hurt. Why pay more for something just because other people consider the truck more cool?
The original poster is asking a legitimate question. I've done likewise with regards to people who buy a hard-edged sports car yet barely even drive the speed limit and often-times drive BELOW the speed limit. It's like "gee whiz, you have something that can peel the rubber off the roads and you drive it like it's a Buick?" You can't help but see it and think "what a waste, let ME have a crack at that car and I'll show you what it's made for."
We all do that sort of thing. Sometimes I do the reverse, questioning professional photographers using smartphone cameras when they're clearly inferior to using a real camera, and they are professionals after all--you don't see people who call themselves chefs serving Chef Boyardee from a can do you? In all of these cases, the people have the right to do what they bloody heck want to, but that doesn't mean you can't find some of their decisions curious and question other people on their thoughts on it.
As for safety, that is often-times cited as a truck advantage, and I call bull on it frankly. If you get hit by a semi, you're almost for sure a goner in practically ANY normal vehicle. For every wreck I hear involving a truck/SUV and a passenger car where the passenger car occupants "lost," I read an equal number of stories where a truck or SUV rolled over and the driver died, or where the truck/SUV hit a tree and the truck/SUV "lost" to the tree. In fact, with the rollover situation, I read MORE stories about truck or SUV drivers dying from that than I do car drivers, which doesn't surprise me as the high center of gravity would tend to make a truck or SUV more tip-over prone.
Auto makers spend collectively hundreds of millions of dollars a year for image. Many industries collectively spend billions of dollars a year for image. This fact shows that image is a very important item to most of the world's population.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shyguylh
Then most of the world has some really screwed-up priorities then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HansProof
If gas is a priority, you can't afford it. Folks who pay an extra $3000 a year in gas…really don't care.
Image-consciousness, in one form or another, is fundamental to human societies. It was important in hunter-gatherer bands, in ancient nation-states, in 19th century empires, and today. What makes modernity special is that so much of our yearning for prestige and projection of image comes from mass-produced goods. The exclusivity is illusory, for even if the products are expensive and of high quality, they were built not by dedicated craftsmen but by machines, in vast quantities. Hence the need to “customize” one’s vehicle, for example. But true customization is difficult and requires mechanical skills. So there is a whole industry of aftermarket customization… which again means mass production, and so forth.
What many people are saying in this thread is that while perhaps trucks promote their image, such image-promotion is not bought by harming some other, more pressing needs. However superfluous the aspects of image, such pursuits don’t come at the cost of greatly inconveniencing oneself, or at some opportunity-cost. Yes, trucks might have worse gas mileage than economy cars, but the cost is not significant to the proud truck owner. This of course is another aspect of projecting an image: that of commanding sufficient wealth, that fuel economy becomes a minor consideration.
Yet another projection of image is buying equipment well beyond that of daily needs, “just in case”. Every now and then, it’s necessary to haul something from Lowes or a yard sale. But that happens rarely. Most driving is yeoman commuting. Fair enough. But by owning a vehicle that’s capable of extreme duties such as hauling a half-ton of lumber from Lowes, the owner basks in the satisfaction that he’s a wise man who prepares for emergencies and who isn’t at the mercy of life’s vicissitudes. Whatever nature throws at him, he’s ready. He doesn’t depend on continued good luck. He does not need to rent or borrow a large truck when the need arises, because by being prepared, he elevates himself above the sort of daily vigilance that the less-prepared must endure.
My own pursuit of image is a kind of iconoclastic reverse psychology. By intentionally driving a ridiculously small and fragile car, I project the image of being a tough-guy who doesn’t need to compensate or to assuage emotional insecurities. By being vulnerable to getting crushed in traffic, I say that I’m a clever and responsive driver who can dart out of the way, while others, who are less agile, must rely on their air-bags and crumple-zones. And by driving something dilapidated and cheap, I assert that my wealth is superior to mere consumption, and that I scoff gleefully at the middle class, which defines itself by what it consumes and owns.
We are all thralls of the pursuit of image. What varies from person to person is how that pursuit is manifested in our consumer choices.
Image-consciousness, in one form or another, is fundamental to human societies. It was important in hunter-gatherer bands, in ancient nation-states, in 19th century empires, and today. What makes modernity special is that so much of our yearning for prestige and projection of image comes from mass-produced goods. The exclusivity is illusory, for even if the products are expensive and of high quality, they were built not by dedicated craftsmen but by machines, in vast quantities. Hence the need to “customize” one’s vehicle, for example. But true customization is difficult and requires mechanical skills. So there is a whole industry of aftermarket customization… which again means mass production, and so forth.
What many people are saying in this thread is that while perhaps trucks promote their image, such image-promotion is not bought by harming some other, more pressing needs. However superfluous the aspects of image, such pursuits don’t come at the cost of greatly inconveniencing oneself, or at some opportunity-cost. Yes, trucks might have worse gas mileage than economy cars, but the cost is not significant to the proud truck owner. This of course is another aspect of projecting an image: that of commanding sufficient wealth, that fuel economy becomes a minor consideration.
Yet another projection of image is buying equipment well beyond that of daily needs, “just in case”. Every now and then, it’s necessary to haul something from Lowes or a yard sale. But that happens rarely. Most driving is yeoman commuting. Fair enough. But by owning a vehicle that’s capable of extreme duties such as hauling a half-ton of lumber from Lowes, the owner basks in the satisfaction that he’s a wise man who prepares for emergencies and who isn’t at the mercy of life’s vicissitudes. Whatever nature throws at him, he’s ready. He doesn’t depend on continued good luck. He does not need to rent or borrow a large truck when the need arises, because by being prepared, he elevates himself above the sort of daily vigilance that the less-prepared must endure.
My own pursuit of image is a kind of iconoclastic reverse psychology. By intentionally driving a ridiculously small and fragile car, I project the image of being a tough-guy who doesn’t need to compensate or to assuage emotional insecurities. By being vulnerable to getting crushed in traffic, I say that I’m a clever and responsive driver who can dart out of the way, while others, who are less agile, must rely on their air-bags and crumple-zones. And by driving something dilapidated and cheap, I assert that my wealth is superior to mere consumption, and that I scoff gleefully at the middle class, which defines itself by what it consumes and owns.
We are all thralls of the pursuit of image. What varies from person to person is how that pursuit is manifested in our consumer choices.
I just wanted a truck and never got one until 2003.
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If I wasn't civilized, I'd be inclined to jump in the truck for nothing more than to run over some imports and smartcars just to hear them crumple under me and waste some of my precious gas!! But then ... I'm civilized. (mostly) Keep up the smack!