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Originally Posted by bar10dah
Perhaps the smugness JeromeP is talking about isn't a hybrid driver trolling in an H2 forum. But more along the lines of a hybrid driver that lashes out at H2 drivers at gas stations about how the H2 driver is killing the environment while the hybrid driver is protecting it.
Both, extremes. The H2 driver is not necessarily killing the environment in relation to how much of the environment the hybrid driver is protecting.
Take the South Park video for instance. The hybrid driver was portrayed as someone that tells everyone around him that SUV's are evil and that the only way to protect the Earth is by driving a hybrid. THAT's smug...
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That is closer to my meaning. Bear in mind that I did not see the South Park episode in question, I don't have cable. But I have a good idea as to the slant of the humor. I watched South Park all the years I was in college. After that much South Park, there aren't too many story lines that you don't understand without seeing the show.
In the grand scheme of things some Prius drivers drive their car like anything else and don't make a huge deal over it. They don’t want to be noticed. On the other hand other Prius pilots think they are single-handedly saving the world and that everyone else has to get in toe with them, or else... I'd like to think I'm in the middle. I'm enthusiastic about the major change in automotive technology, but am realistic about the need for various kinds of types of transportation. I live in a rather rural place and know that most of the pickups I see are not just joy wagons for those that buy them. There really is a solid utility they serve on a day in and day out basis. I understand that members living in urban areas see SUV and pickup behemoths on the roads every day, vehicles that have never seen mud or any utility beyond the HDTV that somebody took home from Costco one weekend. I’m not all that worried about those people, I’m more concerned about myself. As such I know that the consumption choice I made with the Prius was correct for my lifestyle and my financial needs and goals. I am paying less at the pump and I’m paying less in maintenance. I couldn’t be happier. More of my budget is staying in my pocket, where I like it. Those that feel they can afford fuel, are welcome to spend on it. But they don’t keep the money in their pockets, which is where it should stay also. I empathize with those that have been cut off, flipped off or verbally accosted because they were driving a Prius or other hybrid. That is just plain rude and totally unnecessary by the offenders.
But the reality is that the market is going to communicate the benefits of hybrid technology, or hydrogen technology or whatever alternate transportation comes about on its own. The term “commercially viable” works very well here. Honda’s hybrids are commercially proven. Toyota’s hybrid designs are commercially proven. So are Ford’s. I don’t need to proselytize it, I just need to buy into it and be a good representative, not a loud representative or an obnoxious representative.
Self-examination is good every now and then. As a community, it is humor and parody like South Park which illustrates the most extreme viewpoint of a group. Do I feel harangued. No! I’m not part of the very limited group of hybrid drivers who are out there proselytizing the vehicle, usually to the wrong crowd. I support the vehicle and the technology, but if somebody doesn’t want to know or have correct information, well that is their loss.
Re: Rate your smugness 1 - 5, 5 being smuggiest
