[*BCM*] Be the change you want to see in the world & SUVs

[Jym Dyer]

=v= Here's some inspiring change to see in the world:

  BELGRADE (Reuters, 06-Jun) -- A Serb man set his car on fire
  when he heard how much he had to pay to reclaim it after it
  was towed away for illegal parking.

  An attendant told the _Daily_Press_ the man was very calm.

  "He went to his car, took a few things then opened the hood
  and set the engine on fire. When it was well ablaze he got
  back on his bike and rode off."

> as for reasons people drive SUVs, I would add "advertising".

=v= The advertising is based on market research, and Keith
Bradsher found out some interesting results from that research:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/071700psych-auto.html

  Sport utility buyers tend to be more restless ... less social
  people who are "self-oriented," to use the automakers' words,
  and who have strong conscious or subconscious fears of crime.
  Minivan buyers tend to be more self-confident and more
  "other-oriented" -- more involved with family, friends and
  communities.

  While the psychological research is closely guarded by the
  automakers, executives are willing to discuss some details.
  For example, minivan buyers tend to be more comfortable than
  sport utility buyers with being married; sport utility buyers
  are more commonly concerned with still feeling sexy, and they
  like the idea that they could use their vehicles to start
  dating again ....

(The above is excerpted from a _New_York_Times_ article by
Bradsher.  There's a lot more in _The_High_and_the_Mighty_, his
book on the subject.)

=v= So basically SUV-drivers are paranoid jerks with good reason
to be insecure about their sexuality.  And minivan-drivers are
well-intentioned but think that driving children around sprawl
is somehow a social good.
    <_Jym_>

P.S.:  It astonishes me that SUVs were *first* sold as part of
a love-the-outdoors lifestyle, complete with photos of redwood
forests and quotes by John Muir -- and people were actually
dumb enough to respond by buying the damn things.