the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it
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the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/25/2006 4:31:56 PM
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Greenblade
Posts: 649
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I've been fascinated with the hymmer-hysteria (both positive and negative) ever since i first test drove the H2 and realized i liked it alot more than anything else i'd test-driven & started surfing it on the web. For a time, i thought about forgoing hummer ownership because of all the ruckus but... ultimately, after surfing about 10,500 threads, it became fairly clear that the rational anti-hummer arguments were few and far between, and most of it boiled down to what internet-lingo calls "flaming". And, ultimately, i've enjoyed reading all the hysteria, and offering my two pennies now and again here and there.
And since then, my mind often drifts to the topic, and i try to ponder my way to an answer to this question "what is it about the hummer that generates such emotion? why the h2 why the amazing extent of the hummer hysteria?"
I think that i've gotten around it all enough to offer this, and then i'll leave any thoughts or comments i have about it off the web, lest this talk wind up a pain in the moderators rear(s).
I think the easiest response to hummer hate/hysteria is to write it off as class warfare. I'm sure that any "status symbol" vehicle driven through whatever part of town could generate some negative responses. Ask a rolls royce driver if ever you meet one. But i don't think that we would be correct to just cry "get a better job" and leave it at that.
But, there is no denying that classism / class warfare / rich-vs-poor (whatever you want to call it) is a part of this. Filter through www.fuh2.com and note how many times you see "rich a$$" or similar comments. You will almost never see a jeep-based hummer hate thread that doesn't eventually revolve around money. its in the little movies they make and pass around - collecting every "bad" picture of a hummer, making some fake scenes or feigned scenes, blah ... always they'll wind up with cost involved in this, if not right in the movie. Money plays a role, and if the H2 hadn't been latched on to by the rich and famous with such zeal... none of this probably would have ever come to pass.
But i say again, this isn't just class warfare of the rich-vs-poor sense.
Instead, i think the hummer phenomenon distills to class warfare of the rich-vs-rich variety. At the core of the hummer panic, the hummer hysteria, is a clash among the two basic segments of the educated "white collar" "whatever" part of society.
Imagine (just greenblades pondering) two segments of "upper class" people.
1) doers. business owners, proprieters, innovators, etc. You would find more of those to be conservative in political leaning, more ambitious in the workplace/business endeavors, and so forth. in general conservative in political leaning.
2) thinkers. its harder to put labels on this group, pictures, for me. those who have "intellectual" jobs. in general liberal in political leaning.
a "doer" would look at life and say "hey, lets try this". A "thinker" would ponder through the pros and cons of all the choices, list them eloquently, and ultimately not know what to try for fear that it was the wrong thing.
New money would always wind up in the hands of a "doer", old money might often be a "thinker". if my dad gave me 10 million dollars, i probably would be alot less motivated and ambitious, and perhaps alot more unsure about what to do with myself.
And i think at the core of the hummer hysteria is a clash between "doers" and "thinkers". I think the "thinking" class isn't entirely admiring of the "get-right-in-there" confidence/recklessness/willingness to fail of the "doer" class. The guy with the $100k office job, nice and secure, and maybe a raise someday to $105k -vs- the guy throwing hsi every penny on the table at a chance to make a whole lot more than $105k.
The guy in the corner of the college party looking at all the pretty girls, but a bit concerned about getting shot down -vs- the guy wal
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/25/2006 4:49:20 PM
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Greenblade
Posts: 649
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holy hell that was alot of typing. i guess i got a bit carried away.
now, alot of "doers" aren't all that formally educated, indeed i'd wager that a significant percent of business owners aren't college grads. but the "thinking" upper class (and me, i fear) are typically quite well educated.
And with education comes a certain (deserved, if you have a pHD, you've certainly done something, and you deserve to be proud of that) pride that can inhibit risk taking. I think it breeds and nurtures fear of failure in a way by virtue of pride... the proud educated type is afraid of failure, perhaps, to some extent because that would undermine the legitimacy of what they are proud of.
the "doer" class, by definition, lacks that fear of failure. and with success after risks comes (just as deservedly as pride in education and less risky accomplishment) the desire to celebrate that success.
nobody is a bad person here, at core. not the "doers", not the "thinkers", not the hummer haters either (although it is a little campy to post feigned jeep > hummer videos), we're all just people with different DNA and different paths in life doing what comes naturally as a by-product of those paths.
given different circumstance, i could easily fall into the ranks of the hummer haters.
in fact, in a way, i have been. i've gone broke 3 times (all debt paid off), and i will confess to driving my son everyday to a school i couldn't afford in little POSs and parking amongst the porsches and land rovers and escalades and feeling a little annoyed at my lot in life... and i will also note that of all the expensive vehicles, the hummers seemed the most ... condescending.
But those people aren't bad people, and i never thoguht they were, they just make alot of money. good for them.
but now my blinged-up hummer is probably the most expensive vehicle in the same parking lot on any given day, and i notice this seperation of class - thinker and doer. The Land Rover seems to be a "thinker" vehicle. so trendily imported & all, and the land rover drivers tend to try not to look like they're checking out le hummus. other peopel really seem to like the hummer & sometimes ask if they can give their kids a ride in it around the blcok and all, they ask what i do for a living & they say congrats on making it over the break-even line, kid & take it easy.
it is what it is - the H2. and it'll never lbend in, and it'll alienate many people before they ever even get into one. but i doubt anybody involved in designing it WASN'T aware of that before the first one hit the streets.
And i've found that if you are just a reasonable guy, most people really like the big truck. except those who just won't, of course. pull up to a nice club in a blinged-up hummer, with a stained T-shirt, and the guy who really can't afford to be there, but is sporting clothes wroth more than his pontiac isn't necessarily going to have a favorable initial impression of you.
but taht's just life. drive up with the prettiest girl in town, and someone will hate you. be the best looking guy in town (not me, certainly, but i've seen it, and i've resented guys for being 10x more handsome than I) and someone will hate you. be the richest, and someone will hate you. If your kid is the one who gets all A's and the science trophy, someone will hate you. get a promotion and someone will hate you. show up in ripped jeans and a T-shirt to the expensive club thats just full of people trying to look the look, and someone will hate you. show up at a dive bar in gucci and someone will hate you. wear a pony tail or shave your head and i'm sure someone will hate you. be poor and i'm sure someone will hate you for that too.
its just a part of life.
if you want to not be hated by anybody, i recommend making $35k in a go-nowhere job, working for someone else, driving an '02 accord, having 2.3 kids, an average looking wife, a
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/25/2006 6:26:42 PM
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blackstangs281
Posts: 6826
Joined: 11/13/2005
From: Pittsburgh PA
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WOW!............Very good, but..........WOW.
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/25/2006 7:48:49 PM
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Linus Gump
Posts: 960
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Here where I live, I don't think its possible for someone to be anymore liberal or a "thinker" as Blade put it and its interesting to see someone in a brand new land rover giving the bird or talking trash to a H2. Finacially and economically the vehicles are almost identical, but some how, the yuppie thinks thier vehicle is superior.
I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go around.
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/25/2006 9:54:21 PM
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HummBob
Posts: 16117
Joined: 5/6/2006
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DAMN, My EYES HURT
Good read though
For all the HATERS
FU(K 'EM
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/26/2006 12:20:48 AM
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Greenblade
Posts: 649
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Linus Gump
Here where I live, I don't think its possible for someone to be anymore liberal or a "thinker" as Blade put it and its interesting to see someone in a brand new land rover giving the bird or talking trash to a H2. Finacially and economically the vehicles are almost identical, but some how, the yuppie thinks thier vehicle is superior.
I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go around.
but the finger from the land rover is akin to what i was talking about above. people like big SUVs, they're trendy, they feel secure, its cool up there in the clouds, they're comfy, they can be very practical, and blah blah blah.
But the "thinkers" in my little fable would look at hummers and ... and a hummer would be too dangerous. too risky. some people don't like them, they're SOOOOOOooooo over-the-top and attention drawing. Boy, what's trendy in my little cirlce? imports are trendy. there we go, a land rover, that's nice and socially safe and "good", because its british, and they drink tea, so that's cool (i've a few very good friend that are brits, i'm not poking fun at brits, i'm poking fun at the very trepid "thinkers")...
so they get teh land rover. But... like the guy standing in the corner of that party not taking any risks by talking to girls... that guy might tease the guy who got shot down 5 times for getting shot down so much, but he also is envious/resentful of the other guy for having the guts to try. And to some extent, perhaps, the land rover driver is envious/resentful of the hummer guy for being so bodacious or whatever.
they opted not to get the hummer for whatever reason, and then they want that reason to be correct.
i'm rambling. but i do also notice, and enjoy, the disconnected ironic hypocresy that you describe above.
somebody in a land rover that gets ... 13 or 14 ... acting like someone in a hummer that gets ... 13. .. is doing bad.
no negativity towards the hummer from pickup drivers, at least not that i've noticed.
who knows, my fascination with hummer hysteria is going to cause me to wind up working late after surfing too much web if i don't curb it. lol
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/26/2006 12:23:14 AM
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Greenblade
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the land rover is a very socially safe choice of SUV for the "thinking" crowd. and social safety is at the core of the "thinkers" diet.
its also a devilishly handsome SUV for the "doers" if they want one, but around here it seems to be mostly "thinkers"
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/26/2006 12:25:14 AM
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Greenblade
Posts: 649
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quote:
ORIGINAL: shortbus
i needed my damn reading glasses again . . .
that's way too much detail, i can sum it up this way - "when you buy my vehicle, i'll drive what you like. until then, f@#k off if you don't like my ride." i just don't put any effort into caring why other people hate my truck, too many reasons, and none are valid IMO. but, if you're going to analyze it, blade did a damn good job of putting it down. me, i'd rather have a beer . . .
i'm having a beer!
its just fascinating to me that hummers have caused so much panic and hysteria and all... more than not, i have enjoyed it very much. the people that run www.fuh2.com are fairly lazy, though, as the site only gets updated now and again...
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/26/2006 12:31:13 AM
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Greenblade
Posts: 649
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thanks guys, and i support anybody not bothering to read something that long if they just don't feel like it.
its the land-rover driver from Linus's post that brought all of this to be. not environmentalists, not jeepcakes, not poor-hating-rich-status-symbols... but the resentment of the reckless/confident/brave/celebratory nature of the "doers" that can come from the "thinkers"
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/26/2006 12:35:28 AM
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Linus Gump
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A few years ago I wanted a Land Rover Defender 90, and I dreamed of a D110, especially after I found out that the British Royal Marines use (abuse) them. Since that time I have talked to a D90 owner, and everytime it breaks he's throwing at least $500 at it. After that I quit wanting one so bad. I would love to own a H1, but they aren't that comfortable to live in, I did that in the desert, and I cant afford the loan unless I can con the bank into thinking I'm buying a house. So, I am content with my H3. It goes where I want, looks cool, and shouldn't cost me three day's wages to fix if I break it. Anyone who cant see the logic in that needs to go look in thier mailbox for a reality check. I suppose the H2 owners feel the same way I do.
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RE: the hummer phenomenon - one guys take on it - 5/26/2006 12:46:22 AM
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Greenblade
Posts: 649
Joined: 3/19/2006
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Linus Gump
A few years ago I wanted a Land Rover Defender 90, and I dreamed of a D110, especially after I found out that the British Royal Marines use (abuse) them. Since that time I have talked to a D90 owner, and everytime it breaks he's throwing at least $500 at it. After that I quit wanting one so bad. I would love to own a H1, but they aren't that comfortable to live in, I did that in the desert, and I cant afford the loan unless I can con the bank into thinking I'm buying a house. So, I am content with my H3. It goes where I want, looks cool, and shouldn't cost me three day's wages to fix if I break it. Anyone who cant see the logic in that needs to go look in thier mailbox for a reality check. I suppose the H2 owners feel the same way I do.
a friend of mine was test driving an H3 today, for possibly going offroading with me and my H2. the dealer sort of hinted (as they've done a few times) that the H3 is better than the H2 offroad at some things.
And in a way, i think they're nicer than H2s. And in other ways, the H2 is alot nicer. i like them both. we hit the dealers muddy lot on the test drive in the H3 and put it into low range... HOLY HECK low range in an H3 is low. its like the old jeeps low range. that's gotta help sometimes.
After realizing i liked the H2 so much... i test drove a Range Rover. I'd have gone the route of the range but for the reliability issue (second-to-worst only to KIA was Land Rover on the latest JD Powers thing), and the fact that the H2 is more comfortable & ... & i just enjoyed the hummer experience more. i might grow weary of being stared at & raising a ruckus now and again just by driving. But the H2 so grossly outclasses the Range for attention drawing around here, and you only live once & i wanted the experience.
plus the range would bury its nose into some of the stuff i did last weekend with the H2, as it was cutting it close with the H2 & the range has much worse angles and stuff.
but the land rovers are unique and very nice trucks. they just aren't hummers.
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