Prius Owners, Bay Area Liberals, Rush Limbaugh

ANTI-SMUGSTER BACKLASH

Over Arrogant Attitude, 'Prius Progressives' Ridiculed







Beyond the outrageous cost of living and general overcrowding, what has made the Left Coast's bluest territory so unbearable is the increasingly- smug attitude of the Bay Area's supposedly "progressive" inhabitants.

Almost always white, they secretly prefer their own neighborhoods as minority- free as possible and through restrictive land- use policies that sent home prices to the moon, they've done a great job in recent years cleansing San Francisco of African- Americans.

As far left politically as one could imagine, they form the primary support base for Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer.

Always quick to scold those who are seen as "impure" or "unenlightened", they've recently gone overboard on another issue: touting their automotive superiority to the point where an anti-Prius backlash has begun, according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

Virtue may be its own reward -- but as any self-respecting Prius Progressive can attest, the payoffs of hybrid ownership don't stop there. Beyond the gas pump savings, the tax breaks, the entree to carpool lanes, the freedom to park without feeding meters and the aura of cool kinship with Hollywood hybriders such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, comes something more visceral.

"Absolutely, they're buying the car for the statement it makes more than anything," Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing, told reporters last week.

The firm's research concluded that more customers pick the Prius over alternatives like the hybrid version of the Honda Civic precisely because the Prius is exclusively -- and identifiably -- a hybrid. While just 36 percent cited fuel economy as a prime motivator for buying a Prius, 57 percent said their main reason was that "it makes a statement about me."

What's more, in focus groups, many Prius buyers admit expecting acclaim from friends and co-workers for making such a socially responsible, planet-saving purchase.

But the satisfaction of some eco-drivers risks swelling to self-righteousness -- like the Prius driver coasting down Highway 101 in Marin County last week with the bumper sticker: "How many lives to the gallon do you get?"

When Arianna Huffington wrote a testimonial to the Prius' ability to reduce foreign oil dependence and called owning one "an act of patriotism," her Huffingtonpost.com site also created a virtual photo album for hybrid owners. Actor/writer Larry David, whose wife is reported to delight in flipping off Hummer drivers from the comfort of her Prius, quipped "I needed something to make me feel smugly superior."

Add to the mix the bitterness some other drivers feel because parking and carpool lane rules don't apply to most hybrid owners, and the hypocrisy of Prius-preening celebrities who prefer to travel on private jets, and even the recent arrest of Al Gore's son, an associate editor of a magazine called Good, who allegedly was speeding at more than 100 mph in a Prius.

The predictable result? Backlash.

An episode of the raunchy and politically incorrect cartoon "South Park" took merciless aim. One character purchases a "Toyunda Pious" and tries to harangue the rest of the town into converting, before giving up and fleeing to be among fellow hybrid lovers in San Francisco.

Soon the folks in South Park see the light and switch to hybrids as well, only to discover that although smog rates are plummeting, hybrid drivers are rampantly spewing a toxic gas called "smug" -- leaving South Park with a smug pollution level second only to San Francisco. Then, oppressive smug clouds above both collide with a third smug cloud emitted by George Clooney's Oscar speech, creating a "perfect storm."

Ultimately people vow to eschew hybrids regardless of their virtue: the prospect of driving them sans smugness is "simply too much to ask."

Right-wing politicos exude a similar caustic cynicism toward Prius owners, whom they seem to regard as stand-in punching bags for their old nemesis Gore.

Complaining about liberal greenies motivated by "glamour reasons" to buy Priuses, Rush Limbaugh declared "I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those things. They look ugly to boot. I mean, part of the intrigue of these things is they've tried to design these things as a car that the Jetsons would drive. These liberals think they're ahead of the game on these things, and they're just suckers."

South Park has it right: a city built on smug is going to need more than a few downpours to clean its filthy air. In the meantime, Bay Area "progressive" elitists sure are good at alienating the rest of the nation.


Here, Rush Limbaugh explains why they may not be saving the environment after all:

(March 13 2007) We have a fascinating editorial here from a college campus -- and as we all know, college campi are frequented in the majority status, by liberals. So this is interesting. Chris Demorro is writing in the Editorial and Commentary section of the Central Connecticut State University Recorder Online.

Here's the headline: "Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage -- The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate 'green car' is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer. Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.

The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed."

Anyway, it goes on to say, “if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage - buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot. It takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.” This is from a college newspaper, ladies and gentlemen, where you would think that the Prius would be among the most prized possessions among the "environmentally conscious." That's just the tip of the iceberg of what's coming.

So where does the smug attitude originate, particularly in San Francisco? It comes from the unique way in which the so- called "progressive" movement has isolated itself from individuals and ideas that differ from its own. Also common in Portland and Seattle, it takes different forms there.

Once separated from the rest of society, these extremists easily fall for kooky conspiracy theories (Bush was behind 9-11, etc) and elect fringe politicians.

Luckily, the best way to fight back is to expose who they are and what they do to the rest of the world. Under the slightest bit of scrutiny, the "progressive" movement is revealed as silly and foolish.


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