Although I find no mention of the fact on the General Motors web site, nothing says "asshole" like a Hummer. Well, okay. Maybe a Hummer with vanity plates does. More and more of these scaled-down, $55,000 civilian versions of the oversized military vehicle are cruising the street of my once small town, and the arrogance of the drivers is amazing. The invaluable Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, who deconstructs the American psyche for the auto industry, reports on his Humvee research: People told me, "I can protect my family. If someone bumps into me, they're dead." People love that feeling. One female buyer said, "I have three kids in the car with me and no one is going to look at me as a soccer mom."… The reality is you want to show strength. We feel we are at war and people feel the need to be protected… "It's like putting on a Superman outfit," said Rick Schmidt, founder of the Detroit-based I.H.O.G., the International Hummer Owners Group. (Full text here (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/02/business/02HUMM.html) – registration required)A nation of frightened cowards is to be expected when its information comes from TV and its political leadership from a Texan-impersonator and a Missouri primitive who keep whispering that Freddy Krueger is down in the basement. The American psyche is being inexorably bent in an ugly direction, and it is only natural that such a nation will get the paranoid, belligerent foreign policy it demands. This is laughable. This is pathetic.

This is shameful and unworthy of what Lincoln hoped would be "the better angels of our nature.

Peace.

__________________
Youth is the first victim of war - the first fruit of peace.
It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man;
it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him.-- King Boudewijn I, King of Belgium (1934-1993)

Woah, that's FKD'd. Some people are so vain/sick

I bet insurance is a bitch though :D

I always wanted a tank.

Rush hour traffic? What rush hour traffic?

*Edit*

Anyways, I think it's kinda cool. Socially irresponsible, but cool as hell!

Now a tank is cool. There was this guy near here that used to drive his tank to work...but the company said 'Get a car or get out' so he got a car :(

Ahh, just imagine driving down the road and someone cuts you up...I can see the turret pivoting right now :)

To venture out of topic for a moment, I once saw a tank in convoy take out the corner of a residence when the turrent lock broke in a 90° turn. That main gun is one bad wrecking ball...

There was once a guy who stole a tank from the motor pool to go on a joy ride down the interstate in a near by town. He wasn't interested in passing to get around. He was caught when the track came off the idlers thereby stopping the movement of the tank.

Why, in god's green earth would anyone want one of these vehicles unless you lived out in the boonies where roads were not a common place thing? It surely isn't for creature comfort. Maybe a status thing because of the price. Who would want something you need a stepladder to get in? If you want something like that, get a monster mudder like "Big Foot". Then at least they can see your ego coming for a couple of miles...

Good post Goofyfish. I can't wait for the day I hear on TV, some businessman (who happened to be arrogant, not much unlike trans-global) has been shot up and killed in his hummer, by someone who had road rage.

People cutting other people off in traffic lanes may not think much of someone driving a hummer unless they are in camo darb or carrying an assault rifle. They may kill them anyhow. Even if their car is no match in power, maybe they are carrying a gun with them.

Do the civilian versions of the hummer have bullet proof windows?

LOL Wet1, that reminded me of a story my dad used to tell me

In short, he ran over a VW Polo in an APC while on exercises in Germany...no-one was hurt

There used to be a guy like that in my neighbourhood, he would drive his hummer so recklessly because he thought he was invincible. Then he got into a major accident on the freeway... that sure showed him whose boss.

Because Nothing Says "Asshole" Like A Hummer
:D :D