Hummer Owners Claim Moral High Ground To Excuse Overconsumption, Study Finds

[Fumesucker]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090921162156.htm

ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2009) — Hummer drivers believe they are defending America's frontier lifestyle against anti-American critics, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

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"As we studied American Hummer owners and their ideological beliefs, we found that they consider Hummer driving a highly moral consumption choice," write the authors. "For Hummer owners it is possible to claim the moral high ground."

The authors explain that Hummer owners employ the ideology of American foundational myths, such as the "rugged individual," and the "boundless frontier" to construct themselves as moral protagonists. They often believe they represent a bastion again anti-American discourses evoked by their critics.

"Our analysis of the underlying American identity discourses revealed that being under siege by (moral) critics is an historically established feature of being an American," write the authors. "The moralistic critique of their consumption choices readily inspired Hummer owners to adopt the role of the moral protagonist who defends American national ideals."

[WillParkinson]

1. And little weens...

Don't forget the little weens.

[JBoy]

2. You do see a lot of Hummers in mall parking lots. And shopping is as American as it gets.

[kestrel91316]

3. They are a bunch of limp-dicked John Galt wannabes AFAIAC.

[opihimoimoi]

4. A Needless WASTE of precious energy...its "I wanna use more gas...period."

Fuck everyone else is how they rationalize shit...assholes....

[Arctic Dave]

5. Hahaha. Yeah, nothing says "rugged individualist" like driving your big, bloated hummer

down to the mall to go consume mass produced crap from China. I'm pretty sure that's the route Lewis and Clark took also.

[BlueJazz]

6. The Two Hummer owners I know have a real "I'm better than you" Attitude about them.

Their "Smugness" makes me want to :puke:

[baldguy]

7. There's no "morality" in maintaining a frontier lifestyle when there's no frontier left.

[BlooInBloo]

8. (shrug) Anything to cover for their small penises.

[fascisthunter]

9. men and women playing dress-up while driving

I really get a kick out of watching upper-middle class men driving around in shiny, unused pickup trucks. There's a real working man...lol. Meanwhile he goes to work and sits behind a desk all day.

[lunatica]

10. yawn

Like I care how they rationalize. Geez, tell me something I haven't already figured out on my own.

[polichick]

11. I had a run-in with a Hummer driver recently...

He ran a stop sign and pulled right in front of me, so I shot him a bird.

He stops his Hummer in the middle of the road and gets out, demands to know what my problem is.

I told him he ran a stop sign and almost caused an accident ~ and then I just couldn't resist. I glanced at his Hummer and told him to get that hunk of shit out of my way. He was so pissed he threatened to punch me in the face.

I pulled out my cell and suggested he tell that to the cops, so he finally drives off in his hunk of shit.

My guess is a lot of Hummer drivers are arrogant assholes who don't care about running stop signs or blocking the road.

[Democrats_win]

12. In 2002, U.S. gov't said people who bought illegal drugs were supporting terrorists.

Do you remember? It was in a commercial during the superbowl. Most people thought it was odd because the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia while the illegal drug business was in Latin America.

The truth is that if anyone in America is supporting terrorists, it is those who bought Hummers. Luckily, while sensible Americans pay $20-$30 a week on gas, Hummer owners pay $65 to $100 dollars. Lesson: A fool and his money are soon departed.

[Ian David]

13. Does the fact I always give them the finger help at all? n/t

[baldguy]

14. .

http://www.fuh2.com/submissions.php

[bridgit]

15. Mindless-Overconsumption no doubt...

Keeping up with the Jones' is so yesterday - *I'm better than you are, more moral, more patriotic, more religious, more deserving than you, my kids are more deserving than yours, etc* - is a powerful message that sells to; while it encourages vanity. And vanity is huge business in America. Huge. I'm seeing a product list forming as long as my arm filled with symbols of opulent overconsumption, but smirking self centered Hummer owners is as good a place to start as any

[DavidDvorkin]

16. Duplicate

See here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6627231&mesg_id=6627231