Shut the fuck up and mind your own damn business

The BBQ Pit
61

Education? Do you really think the mom got more out of that than “some bigmouthed teenager thinks my kids need to be smacked, what the fuck does she know about being a mom?”

(Full disclosure: I’m not a mom, I never plan on being one, and I frequently don’t like dealing with kids. However, I know that it’s hard to keep a leash on kids who might be stircrazy after a long ride, or a long period of time behaving in a museum or something, especially in an outdoor place that doesn’t look like one needs to use one’s “inside voice.” I also know that being snarky with someone tends to make them defensive, not thoughtful.)

62

I do this sort of thing without much distress, though I probably wouldn’t call someone else’s child sweetie. Someone else’s child is just not that sweet, usually.

If parents are absent, distracted, or otherwise on the fritz, it’s not inappropriate for another adult to point out the rules for a given situation. There are friendly, pleasant ways to do it, of course, but I sincerely doubt that you want a tutoriall.

63

I understand why people are so upset about the delivery of this rebute to the mom, but the problem is that unless you say things in a negative way, people tend to NOT PAY ATTENTION. I’m serious here. If she’d said it nicely, there’s a good chance that the mom would have just gotten mad because she was implying that her angels were in the wrong. Instead she made an impression, and made the woman realize that THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

My boyfriend has two daughters, one aged 13 and one aged 5. My sister’s boyfriend has a 4 year old. One of my friends has a 5 year old. NONE of them would do anything even remotely like this. Why? Because their parents taught them that you don’t run amok unless you’re on a playground. Sure, they get antsy sometimes, as kids do, but none of them would think to jump around make noise at a memorial, where everyone is being quiet. I took my friend’s five-year-old to our firefighter’s memorial here in town and she was very quiet and respectful, despite the fact that there WAS a playground about twenty yards away that she really, really wanted to go check out. Parenting can be hard, but it’s not that hard to teach your children what is acceptable. Kids are a lot smarter than people give them credit for.

That said, I drive a pre-SUV; a 1988 Ford BroncoII, V6, no four-wheel-drive, stick shift. It’s bad on gas but it hauls balls. I’m really lucky that Carson City doesn’t have emissions standards, because I highly doubt it’d pass them at the moment. I drive it because I got it cheap. I’d love to drive a gas-efficient small truck (I can’t stand small cars, I hate having to climb out of them; hurts my knees - I drove a 1990 Mitsubishi Mirage for three years until it died recently, and it was hell), really, I would. But I don’t have the money, and driving a bike around midwinter would be damned inconvenient, as I live two or three miles away from where I work and can’t even afford a decent jacket at the moment. Any time someone bitches at me about my car (and they do), I get snappy, because I have very little choice in what I drive. I work my ass off for a shitty wage at two jobs because I don’t have the time to stop everything in my life and go to college to get a better job, so I use what I can. I had to sell my soul to a buy-here-pay-here place in Sparks to get this damned vehicle. I took what I could get. I’d love to be environmentally friendly and gas efficient and smaller and more compact for everyone else’s convenience, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.

I can’t even afford my subscription to the Dope - it was an early birthday present from a friend. I’m not bitching about my circumstances; I made the choice to not go to college when I had the chance. I’m just saying, I DON’T have the choice to have a better car. Stop complaining because all us poor people aren’t WORKING HARDER TO GET BETTER CARS, DAMMIT.

And Diosa - your posts are some of my favorite. Don’t let people think that being young is a fault; they’re just jealous because their youth was fleeting. Seriously. You rock.

(wow, that was ramble-y)

~Tasha

64

Actually UN-NEEDED SUV always equals bad, regardless of whether it is a hybrid or not. SUVs really are a blight on the world UNLESS you have a genuine need. Need the space? Buy a conventional wagon - it’ll handle better, get more milage and be safer. If a wagon not big enough - buy a VAN - same reasons.

No matter whether the damn thing is a hybrid or not, it will not get the same mileage as a “conventional” car of the same interior space. SUV’s deserve every single pitting they get - UNLESS you have a need for the ground clearance, towing capacity and four wheel drive, then, and only then are they justified.

65

Diosa,

You do seem to need a larger vehicle, so good on you for going for an SUV, that said though, there are many many other options that would do the job just as well without the “wastage” associated with a high profile car. Not sure of whether available in hybrid or not, but what about a simple MPV - Honda, Mistusbishi, Chrylser, Toyota and many others have great models that would dynamically perform way better than an SUV - in whatever area you want to talk about EXCEPT off roading.

SUVs are boils on the but of humanity. People have so many misperceptions about them. I hate them worse than sports cars - at least sports cars have a purpose, and are used for the purpose. The huge majority of SUVs (i.e 4 wheel drives) I see never negoitate anything more challenging than a 2 inch kerb - THEY ARE NOT USED FOR WHICH THEY WERE DESIGNED which is what bugs me more than any amount of resources they may, or may not use.

66

While I’m sorry people are rude to you, this I have to laugh at:

It gets 28mpg. That’s shitty mileage. As a hybrid, you also have to add in the extra production waste for the nickel-metal hydride batteries, which is a wasteful process. To put it another way, there’s pretty easily demonstrated levels of environmental efficiency.

Buy a second hand diesel and convert it to run on used cooking oil, and you’re recycling a car and running it on a waste product - that’s as green as anyone could ask for, but is a bit too much of a hassle for most buyers.

Buy a second hand family friendly car with a modern, efficient engine - hell, you’re still recycling a car, and you’re going to get 60 mpg. That’s good logic, and no hassle.

If you really have to have a new car, then buying a medium sized family car with a small, efficient engine - ok, a whole new car load of manufacturing waste and energy usage, but still lower use of oil. Not great, but at least a start.

But buying a brand new car which is more wasteful to produce than a standard model and only gets marginally better mileage…you’re kind of kidding yourself if you think thats achieving much.

67

Oh, totally; they’re for thirty-something traders to sit in while they converse on their Nokia KQ3000Vx (silver), having parked outside an exclusive Kensington restaurant for maximum exposure. And I wouldn’t mind at all really, but why the hell do these clowns have to buy Ferraris but get them in grey? Buy a fucking Volvo already if you want grey; Ferraris are red, unless you own three - then one can be yellow. Maybe. Dammit.

Sorry, I appear to have wandered off there. Er, I think we can all agree that kids driving SUVs into war memorials is bad. Yes.

68

Since I run a coffee house, I see hippies every day…tons of them. They are easy to spot, they are the ones that when it gets busy and they notice my employees are overwhelmed will go around and pick up the dishes that the yuppie larva left on the tables and bring them up to the counter. They are the ones that seem more concerned with the comunity as a whole and want to help out. I could use a lot more of them.

and they love my SUV, a 1973 International Travelall…Even though it isn’t a hybrid or anything.

69

How many production models get 60 mpg? Second hand? Just curious…

70

Quite a lot, these days with CRD engines going about. Here’s a fairly reasonable attempt at setting the record. A bug standard chrysler voyager, driven around Europe, average 65+ mpg:

http://www.diskdrive.co.za/newsstories/chrysler_voyager_diesel_record.html

71

Nitpick: US gallon. So to our gallon it gets ~33mpg. Still not great, mind.

72

I think that’s pretty unusual, though. According to this site, only one passenger car sold in the U.S. gets 60/51 (city/hwy)- the Toyota Prius Hybrid, one gets 49/51- the Honda Civic Hybrid, and the rest are 40 mpg and lower. For Trucks/Vans/SUVs, the best is the Ford Escape Hybrid, with 36/31. And thiose are 2007 models, so I’d suspect that after a few years- to allow for it being a second-hand car- the efficiency drops a bit.

73

If you want lots of interior space for passengers and stuff, great gas mileage, and no “Death to SUV” hassles, why not get one of these? I love mine (in kickass salsa red pearl). I can haul ten bags of shavings or five bales of hay in it, it’s fun to drive, and I hardly ever hear jokes about Spongebob Squarepants any more. :smiley:

74

I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy! Hal, if not for your well documented predilection for sheep, you’d be my new hero.

75

Honestly, at this exact moment my car is parked downstairs next to an xB and it really is not all that much bigger than the Scion. I’m too lazy to walk down there and take a look, but I remember parking yesterday and thinking, “Wow, my SUV is SMALL” because I was right next to the Scion.

As far as me getting a smaller, less evil car (this isn’t directed at you Eddy, but the previous comments): I actually had a new Honda Accord four door for about 3 months. Back in 2003/ early 2004, actually. As some of your might recall, I was in a really bad car accident and my pretty lil’ car was totaled (the accident wasn’t my fault at all)- I’ve actually spent the last two years saving up and shopping around. I liked my Honda a lot, but it was actually a REALLY big car. Like, I was shocked one day when I parked my Honda next to my dad’s Ford Explorer in his driveway, only to find that my Honda was longer. What was strange was that the car was so damned big, but really lacked storage capacity. On top of everything else, the ride was a little bumpy and the handling was what I’d mark as OK.

I test drove lots and lots of cars. Lots. Everything from another Accord, to the Element, to every sedan, and then the Highlander. Out of all of them, the Highlander met what I needed and was still aesthetically pleasing (I actually could have gone with the Element, but I think those things are ugly as sin). I could also afford it, so why the heck not? I think everyone who is saying they hate big evil SUVs needs to realize that my SUV really is not that big. I know the evils of driving a small car around big ol’ machines- I drove a BMW Z3 for a while in this land of 1000 pick up trucks, no fun. I’ve yet to have anyone flip me off or honk at me for almost running their cars over, so I think I’m ok.

And when I say “great gas mileage” perhaps I was going a little overboard. The dealer actually told me that this car isn’t so much about good gas mileage, but is more about having a car with some get up that also has clean emissions. And as far as SUVs go, my car does get damn good mileage- especially considering the new Ford Explorer gets about 20 MPG.

But I’m not trying to out yuppie anyone- I didn’t get my car just so I could be some douche with braging rights. The entire point of the latter half of my OP is that I just want to go about driving my pretty car without getting accosted by hippies. I’m not one of those people that walks around in my T Shirt with the earth printed on it, eating granola, telling everyone how OMG I just got a hybrid, and then lecturing them for not having a hybrid. I knew I needed a slightly bigger car for my purposes and thought it was convenient that the one I like came in a model that was slightly better for the environment. Sue me.

76

Mmmmm…

77

no, you have a Camry with headroom and a third row. A big, giant, road hoggin SUV is this or this

78

From Edmunds:

Scion xB
Length: 155.3 in. Width: 66.5 in. Height: 64.6 in.

Toyota Highlander
Length: 185.4 in. Width: 71.9 in. Height: 68.3 in.

Never underestimate the power of self-deception! :wink:

79

I just have to say -

If I’m going to get a brand-new car and shell out that money, it had better look good. And the Scion xB does NOT look good. It’s a bread box on wheels. I don’t care how spacious they are inside, they’re ugly. So is the Honda Element.

~Tasha

80

DiosaBellissima, you sound like an opinonated loudmouthed pain in the kiester alpha-female. You also sound like you’re strong, self confident and articulate. One goes along with the other, so don’t you ever change a thing. :smiley: You sound awesome, even if you do drive an overpriced land-yacht.