I know this is the type of rant you hear all the time, but I am afraid I have to go on. I feel its time to leave Raanana. Its all because of the SUVs. This morning I was foolish enough to take my walk a little later than usual. Its Wednesday remember, so its Weight Watchers (the blackfamilyo team lost a whopping great 3.1Kg in total this week). I decided to walk to the meeting so that on the way I could listen to my food book and contemplate the wonderful food I cannot eat. Three times I came close to being knocked down. Now this is not because I could not hear the cars. In each case I was crossing at a pedestrian crossing when a SUV (twice driven by people wildly gesticulating into their cellphones) completely ignored the lines on the road, never slowed down and never gave me a second glance.
Last Friday morning I drove blackwifeo to the mini market down the road. Outside there is a cramped parking lot that can fit about eight cars. I parked in between the lines, and sat in the car while she ran in. For some reason blackwifeo takes longer than anyone else in the world to "run in and pick up one or two things" - its true, you can ask the kids. While waiting I watched numerous spoiled yuppies try fit their SUVs into the parking spaces. One overweight blob (head shaven of course), tried to back into a space. He could not do it and realizing he would have to back up and try again, he left his huge Expedition blocking three spaces. When he emerged a brief cat fight ensured with a sour Jeep driver, who shook her leopard skin tights covered butt in outrage at the fact that she had to park just outside the lot. He,of course, gave the typical response "What do you care?"
Now as I have ranted many times before, Israel has no oil. Money spent filling these enormous tanks (gas is around 6NIS a liter or $7 a gallon) eventually goes to Israel's sworn enemies. Clearly many of these SUVs are company leased and the gas tank is company filled. Raanana seems to have an abundance of SUVs, its purely a status thing. The only bush bashing most of these beasts see is the dirt road between Raanana and Rishpon and now that's been closed for six months. Its clear that this is the place that the government can raise taxes. That will probably happen just about as soon as they put in light rail in Tel Aviv.
Repaving Riverside Drive
18 hours ago
5 comments:
Must you rag on us shaven-head guys all the time?
And, while I will perch my shades atop my head periodically, I will not wear them that way through an entire movie.
Yesterday blacknephewo noticed a whole new phenomena. He noticed, while on the bus, there are those that wear their sunglasses on top of their heads, while simultaneously wearing regular glasses. That, I believe, is against the laws of nature.
Hey John, you don't drive an SUV I hope :-)
Um.. Uh... well. Would it help if I said that I had sold my house and was living in my SUV?
Truth be told, in the US economy right now, I can't actually sell either of them.
I am reminded of Randy Pausch's last lecture when he gives his take on fashion: "fashion is commerce masquerading as hip". He says that "hip people love paradies", and since there is no such thing as a "timeless parady", hip has much less value than say an "earnest" person who cares about the future.
I think that Peter is an "earnest" person and while his hipness comes in the form of exclusive black attire and his music fettish, they are more a direct expression of personality than a fashion statement.
SUVs are a status symbol and a fashion statement (because the people driving them generally wear the latest fashions). So why do I hate them so much. It's not because they are bad drivers because ALL Israelis show total disrespect when driving, no matter what car they have. In the end, I think that it's just because I'm jealous. I'm jealous because I'm so tight about money that I would never consider putting my money there. I'm jealous because I have a marginally guilty conscience about the environment. And mostly I'm jealous because my ego is not big enough to promote myself in the world as a real player trying to make money and be successful. Because that is what those cars are about - proof of success. Some of us need to flaunt our ego in order to feel worthwhile and others wish they would just go away and be more humble.
The unfortunate truth, in my opinion, is that the more you flaunt your ego in fashion statements, the less you care about others. So if the survival of the human race depends on community spirit, people driving SUVs are bringing all of us a little closer to extinction ...
Meanwhile I contemplate what my next company car will be. I've driven a "bloody" Hyundi Getz for the last 3 years and I wish that I could put my money into a bigger car with a better engine, like the ubiquitous Mazda 3. I'm tired of driving an underpowered car while the majority of Israeli zooms past me in better cars making me feel like I'm on the bottom of the ladder. But with 50% taxes and looking after a single-person income family, there is no way I can justify the extra cost of a bigger car compared to say keeping the money for holidays. But if I had the money, I think that I would pamper my ego a bit. It's a truth that I hate because my catholic education injected too much guilt into me. The Jews (with the exception of the Polish) actually encourage ego. So somehow I'm not surprised that Israel is a country where people live way beyond their means and are completely attracted by virale status symbols.
Marc
actually, where I live an Acura MDX is less of a status symbol and more of a utility. I have a steep driveway and an all-wheel drive vehicle is a big advantage in the winter. It provides me with mobility at times when I would otherwise be trapped.
Around here, the status symbols are the Escalades, Navigators and Expeditions. They're crazy-large.
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