tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post6681315586158695944..comments2024-03-27T18:24:19.683-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: Saving the Environment & Anti-MomismUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-33336493600171524542008-09-23T09:32:00.000-07:002008-09-23T09:32:00.000-07:00Who needs three or more toddlers at the same time?...<I> Who needs three or more toddlers at the same time? Oh, right, career parents who delayed having kids until the last possible moment and then had to go on fertility drugs and had quintuplets, whoops. </I><BR/><BR/>Or women who start young and have children very close together, perhaps?Lucillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03225011724349777456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-22581134880287573352008-04-22T21:35:00.000-07:002008-04-22T21:35:00.000-07:00My swinish ADHD children need at least two feet of...My swinish ADHD children need at least two feet of space on either side for numerous hyperactivity inducements and the deep basin of slop they eat from throughout the day to maintain their supple forms.<BR/><BR/>It has always been thus, of course, you'll recall the roomy horse-drawn carriages that were used in a bygone era to transport the morbidly obese offspring of the upper middle class.<BR/><BR/>The West is lost, but if you believe that this is because bobo self-indulgence is not applauded enough then you are lost too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-63111423143011293202008-04-21T22:10:00.000-07:002008-04-21T22:10:00.000-07:00Leonard said...Don't forget the malign influence o...<I>Leonard said...<BR/><BR/>Don't forget the malign influence of the government in this. The cafe standards allow significantly lower MPG rating for "light trucks", as versus other vehicles.</I><BR/><BR/>This is a mendacious spin on the situation. It isn't the malign influence of the government on us, it is the malign influence of private corporations on the government. GM, Ford, etc have lobbied for these breaks because truck sales are their lifeblood.<BR/><BR/>Of course, the idea that private tyrannies such as Ford can do anything wrong is heretical to modern day conservatives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-55383899593580718482008-04-21T16:12:00.000-07:002008-04-21T16:12:00.000-07:00Those comments of udolpho's sum up perfectly why t...Those comments of udolpho's sum up perfectly why the West is lost. We have a bunch of stupidass regulations and an absence of custom that make it severely difficult to parent, even with an upper-middle class income; you try to explain the situation to childless people and they just stick their fingers in their ears and say lalalalala it's all your fault somehow.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-57066985073921773012008-04-21T15:28:00.000-07:002008-04-21T15:28:00.000-07:00One big thing to keep in mind: If you look at the ...One big thing to keep in mind: If you look at the causes of mortality (there's a great CDC webpage that generates custom-made mortality summaries--wanna know what's most dangerous to non-hispanic white 50 year old men?), for almost everyone up to advanced ages, car wrecks are one of the main ways you're likely to die. So spending extra gas and cash to decrease that risk is a big win.<BR/><BR/>What I'd really like to know, though, is how much of an impact on expected mortality these car choices really have. Suppose I go from a Honda Odyssey to a Ford Escort--what's the expected impact in terms of my life expectancy? Is this like taking up smoking, or like walking by the nuclear plant once a week?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-68792250043920679582008-04-20T09:35:00.000-07:002008-04-20T09:35:00.000-07:00Who needs three or more toddlers at the same time?...Who needs three or more toddlers at the same time? Oh, right, career parents who delayed having kids until the last possible moment and then had to go on fertility drugs and had quintuplets, whoops. What you want and what you need are two different things, also your kids are probably fat that's why you can't fit five 5-10 year olds in the back of a sedan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-44771841300432385792008-04-19T21:04:00.000-07:002008-04-19T21:04:00.000-07:00One thing I've wondered about: the SUV craze is no...One thing I've wondered about: the SUV craze is now old enough for plenty of the monsters to now be in the secondary market by now. Which means the purchasers and drivers should by now increasingly be the last people you want behind the wheel of these things: teenagers (nothing need be said) and immigrants (if they are illegal they almost certainly don't have insurance, and sometimes don't even when they are legal, have higher incidences of DUI, etc.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-71928767112225637762008-04-19T16:18:00.000-07:002008-04-19T16:18:00.000-07:00I must admit I can't quite figure out the populari...I must admit I can't quite figure out the popularity of SUVs.<BR/><BR/>SUVs are horible to drive, horrible to look at in most cases, easier to roll, use more gas and have mediocre storage.<BR/><BR/>Sure they are safer around town, but not many fatal accidents occur in town anyway. <BR/><BR/>They certainly aren't safer on hills as they have a high centre of gravity. <BR/><BR/>If you a are looking for a reasonable balance of safety, looks, economy and space then you're best buying something like a Volvo Station Wagon or Japanese copy.<BR/><BR/>These have surprising good mileage, especially if you buy a diesel or manual version.<BR/><BR/>The average SUV owner, is usually a lower middle class white person who wants to emulate an upper class Range Rover driving country squire<BR/><BR/>Hence if I were an upper class left liberal, I'd hastle SUV owners for being unclassy wannabes, who don't have enough taste and breeding to buy a Volvo.<BR/><BR/>Hastling SUV owners for being anti-environmental won't work as most of them are brash right liberals, but they will be offended if more sophisticated people say they haven't got any class.Mike Courtmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15226171376902020196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-55442739490259486312008-04-19T08:14:00.000-07:002008-04-19T08:14:00.000-07:00SUV + cell phone + woman = serious menace on the r...<I>SUV + cell phone + woman = serious menace on the road.</I><BR/><BR/>Last I heard (several years ago), women are safer drivers, at least as evidenced by their lower insurance rates.<BR/><BR/>Not that you stated otherwise, but that seemed to be the implication.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-43326876437819344842008-04-19T06:44:00.000-07:002008-04-19T06:44:00.000-07:00Station wagons are still cooler than either SUVs o...Station wagons are still cooler than either SUVs or minivans. A Subaru Outback, for example, or one of those Volvos with the extra jumpseats (seats 7 in other words, but two had better be children)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-7129481503466395542008-04-19T05:33:00.000-07:002008-04-19T05:33:00.000-07:00Re liberals as 'cool':I've noticed that jocks beca...Re liberals as 'cool':<BR/><BR/>I've noticed that jocks became conservatives, artsy guys became liberals, and geeks split the difference. Now, I am in the Northeast. Is the pattern the same in red states?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-49422339582339320492008-04-18T22:31:00.000-07:002008-04-18T22:31:00.000-07:00testing99,Its not liberals, The Washington Monthly...testing99,<BR/><BR/>Its not liberals, The Washington Monthly or even Keith Bradshers who's making that assessment of who buys SUVs, he's just citing auto industry marketing research (to again quote from the Washington Monthly review):<BR/><BR/><I> David Bostwick, Chrysler's market research director, tells Bradsher, "If you have a sport utility, you can have the smoked windows, put the children in the back and pretend you're still single." </I><BR/><BR/><I> Armed with such research, automakers have, over the past decade, ramped up their SUV designs to appeal even more to the "reptilian" instincts of the many Americans who are attracted to SUVs not because of their perceived safety, but for their obvious aggressiveness. Automakers have intentionally designed the latest models to resemble ferocious animals. The Dodge Durango, for instance, was built to resemble a savage jungle cat, with vertical bars across the grille to represent teeth and big jaw-like fenders. Bradsher quotes a former Ford market researcher who says the SUV craze is "about not letting anything get in your way, and at the extreme, about intimidating others to get out of your way."</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-21447567279636500652008-04-18T22:01:00.000-07:002008-04-18T22:01:00.000-07:00God forbid we act like intelligent people and buil...God forbid we act like intelligent people and build walkable neighborhoods based around light rail. I HATE DRIVING MY KIDS AROUND. They are on their own at 12, and I do not care what that neighbors think. Even that age seems really late to me and is a concession to the lawless police state parents live under - I was getting myself around at 8 and my husband was doing it at 6. This was in the 80s, in pretty high crime areas too. Why do people put up with being their kids' chauffeurs? Americans are more interested in looking like they're still on the market than in actually having the leisure time to engage in any actual adultery. IT'S SICK AND WEIRD.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-31551630525915156422008-04-18T20:38:00.000-07:002008-04-18T20:38:00.000-07:00This is more about (the Washington Monthly article...This is more about (the Washington Monthly article) how un-cool and un-hip SUV owners are and how the "cool people" should tell them how to live.<BR/><BR/>Liberals are like the "cool kids" in High School, forever wanting to control every aspect of other people's lives. No wonder Hollywood, the media, etc. are filled with Liberals.<BR/><BR/>SUVs went up in sales when Station Wagons declined. Let's face it, cars drive better than trucks (on road anyway) and the classic 1960-1970's family car was the Station Wagon. It drove nicely. Could haul lots of stuff around. Go on long trips. Family freedom. Car makers hated them, largely as noted above for CAFE standards so in the 1980's, people substituted SUVs as the only large-space vehicle. Since as Steve and others noted, Minivans had an un-cool rep from the "cool people" which btw is still there in advertising, etc.<BR/><BR/>Make up your minds Liberals! Save the planet with Minivans, or "be cool" with SUVs!<BR/><BR/>The Dodge Magnum is not particularly good as a station wagon. It eats gas like crazy, has poor visibility, and isn't available until recently in 4WD. It and Subaru are the only makers AFAIK offering them. Ford used to have a Crown Vic station wagon, along with Toyota, etc. Great for hauling stuff, and ordinary driving.<BR/><BR/>What we are really talking about here is the demise of the Station Wagon in the 1980's and the long shadow that cast.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-13762646543013666042008-04-18T19:17:00.000-07:002008-04-18T19:17:00.000-07:00It seems to me that minivans (people movers we cal...It seems to me that minivans (people movers we call them) are quite popular here in the UK. Moms with a minivan <I>do</I> have status. A lady I know just swapped her SUV for a minivan in the last few weeks.<BR/><BR/>Also a lot of them are Japanese grey imports, Toyota and the like. The old Chrysler minivan was quite popular as well, especially when one considers they were never sold through dealers here, grey imports only.<BR/><BR/>I think therewas some study that showed children wanted their parents to drive a minivan, rather than SUVs, sports cars etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-89572640775402914592008-04-18T19:14:00.000-07:002008-04-18T19:14:00.000-07:00SUVs are just pickups with a roof and seats where ...SUVs are just pickups with a roof and seats where the bed should be. The reason people like them is they sit higher than other drivers, which makes them feel more secure, but which also increases the rollover risk. <BR/><BR/>SUV + cell phone + woman = serious menace on the road. <BR/><BR/>I hate SUVs, mainly because I used to drive them and they are pigs. Non-responsive steering, bouncy suspension and gas hogs. When I was a kid I loved the old Toyota Tercel for city driving. I could virtually dance a jig through downtown with that little car. It was fun until I got hit by a two-ton '92 Buick Lesabre.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-60609785838015764102008-04-18T17:21:00.000-07:002008-04-18T17:21:00.000-07:00I originally wanted to buy a minivan for the incre...I originally wanted to buy a minivan for the increased safety value until people told me my sexuality would be questioned (I am a single male), with attendant difficulties at work. (I wouldn't give a crap what anyone thought about me if I didn't need money.)<BR/><BR/>You guys are right about the decline of respect for motherhood. What's wrong with being a mother? I don't want kids because I'm a lazy, selfish slob and probably couldn't raise them effectively, but anyone actually willing to shell out the cash to raise the next generation is to be admired.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-1156599729286659082008-04-18T17:13:00.000-07:002008-04-18T17:13:00.000-07:00Any discussion of SUVs and who drives them should ...Any discussion of SUVs and who drives them should bring up Keith Bradsher's book "High and Mighty". Bradsher (a NY Times reporter) documents how SUVs are very profitable, very unsafe and very popular with people who should better spend their money on a psychiatrist or a marriage counselor.<BR/><BR/><I>"According to market research conducted by the country's leading automakers, Bradsher reports, SUV buyers tend to be "insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors and communities. They are more restless, more sybaritic, and less social than most Americans are. They tend to like fine restaurants a lot more than off-road driving, seldom go to church and have limited interest in doing volunteer work to help others.</I><BR/><BR/><I>He says, too, that SUV drivers generally don't care about anyone else's kids but their own, are very concerned with how other people see them rather than with what's practical, and they tend to want to control or have control over the people around them..." </I><BR/>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0212.mencimer.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-63298424321483695192008-04-18T17:12:00.000-07:002008-04-18T17:12:00.000-07:00Crash testing is expensive, so not all seven gover...Crash testing is expensive, so not all seven government or insurance institute tests have been carried out on all models, but scanning the data shows there is no apparent advantage in safety for SUVs over minivans. <BR/><BR/>A Honda Odyssey gets highest ratings in six of seven government or insurance institute crash test ratings in the Consumer Reports book, while it gets the second highest rating in the rollover test. That's the same as the Honda Pilot SUV and better than the Ford Explorer SUV, the Cadillac Escalade, the Chevy Suburban, and a host of other SUVs. <BR/><BR/>The Nissan Quest minivan outscores the Nissan Pathfinder SUV by a considerable measure. <BR/><BR/>The Dodge Grand Caravan isn't as safe as the Japanese minivans, but it's comparable to the Dodge Durango and Dodge Nitro SUVs.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-8360499141093825882008-04-18T16:57:00.000-07:002008-04-18T16:57:00.000-07:00With new laws mandating kids in car seats and out ...With new laws mandating kids in car seats and out of the front seat until they're a certain size and age, that means if you have more than two kids, you need a third row of seats. Modern car seats are enormous, with no room for a kid to squeeze between two of them. <BR/><BR/>And modern minivans-- especially the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey-- are ridiculously well-engineered and built and have vastly more storage capacity than a similarly-sized SUV because they ride lower.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-46951550186865074802008-04-18T15:50:00.000-07:002008-04-18T15:50:00.000-07:00Udolpho is obviously childless. There is no way yo...Udolpho is obviously childless. There is no way you can fit three toddler car seats across the back of a Camry or Accord, especially the super safe Britax ones. (Though we could do it in our Volvo wagon in a pinch.) Additionally,children usually have a lot of support stuff associated with them - toys, snacks, diapers when they are small, sports equipment once they are large so a sedan is not the optimal choice as the primary vehicle for a family with children. <BR/><BR/>Moreover, I want as much mass surrounding my kids as I can afford to drive to better my odds in a collision. Thus, I have a very large five star safety-rated Honda Minivan. <BR/><BR/>Minivans are fairly popular here in child-friendly Orange County. However, they are usually the top of the line Sienna XLEs or Odyssey EXs with leather and DVD systems. Go to any soccer or Little League game and the parking lot is jammed with minivans or SUVs. <BR/><BR/>Families in colder climates probably choose SUVs because of the availability of 4-wheel drive. They weren't available on minivans until recently.LuluAddicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15318393465984291725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-17562061467413120532008-04-18T15:48:00.000-07:002008-04-18T15:48:00.000-07:00I find this observation pretty good though it does...I find this observation pretty good though it doesn't apply to me perfectly. I'm one of those moms who doesn't like driving a minivan though I drive one. For me personally, they're just non-descript and blah. I'm more into beautiful rather than sexy, however, and wish there was a Jaguar that could haul my five kids around. I can't relate to the SUV driving women, but understand they're the norm.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-31311866555657964952008-04-18T15:47:00.000-07:002008-04-18T15:47:00.000-07:00We bought a Landrover in the days when we used to ...We bought a Landrover in the days when we used to go hill-walking a lot. The trouble is, those vehicles just last and last and last.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-25677826524954017462008-04-18T15:42:00.000-07:002008-04-18T15:42:00.000-07:00Udolpho,The way my brother explains it, you can fi...Udolpho,<BR/><BR/>The way my brother explains it, you can fit the kid in the back of the sedan, but you also need all the stuff that goes along with the kid: Stroller, tricycle, playpen, toys, daiper bag, etc. He has one child and his wife refused to consider a sedan when it came time to replace her car.<BR/><BR/>You can't just go somewhere and turn your kids loose anymore. You have to bring things for them to eat and things to do or you'll be criticized by the mother mafia.<BR/><BR/>Also, even though the statistics don't bear it out, people <I>think</I> SUVs are safer. I've always wondered if that has something to do with the relative paucity of children - if you're only gonna have one kid, you put all your resources into protecting and educating that child.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-89425471217603523692008-04-18T15:39:00.000-07:002008-04-18T15:39:00.000-07:00Old people or childless dweebs think you can carry...Old people or childless dweebs think you can carry three kids in a sedan... because they forget about child safety seats. The damned (and <A HREF="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=930609" REL="nofollow">nearly useless</A>) things are so bulky that you cannot fit three of them across a bench seat.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, the guy who mentioned CAFE and safety was spot on. Minivans fail to protect their occupants in crashes, so it's no surprise that parents with some concern for safety and enough money to buy an SUV do so.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com