As I write, unleaded regular gas costs about 3.30 a gallon and it costs me about 45 dollars to fill up my Volvo S70, which gets a not very pretty 15 mpg around town. If I had a Prius I would probably gloat as I watched others in their Expeditions and Hummers filling up at the pumps.
One of my students owns a Prius, which affords her diamond lane privileges, and I asked her if she gloats as she drives past people on the freeway. At first she denied it, but I pressed on. “Come on,” I said. “Don’t you just beam with self-righteous certitude as you move past the SUVs, knowing that your car gets five hundred percent better gas mileage than theirs?” She started to laugh because I suspect deep down she does enjoy a little glow of joy from knowing she has an advantage over the SUV buyers who for so many years have so obnoxiously bullied small car owners on the road.
It is this gloating that feeds the ire of John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI Radio’s The John and Ken Show. One of the hosts recently described Prius drivers as those prissy know-it-all types who drive super slow in the passing lane, so proud of themselves for slowing down the traffic and asserting their politically correct, environmental prudence on the rest of us. Further adding to the Prius driver caricature is a recent episode of South Park which characterizes Prius drivers of being so in love with themselves that they relish with giddy delight when inhaling the sweet smells of their own flatulence.
I believe it was Saint Thomas Aquinas who said that the those residing in heaven would enjoy their bliss all the greater by being afforded a view of the damned writhing in hell. And so it is with Prius drivers as they watch the conspicuous consumers of SUVs writhing at the gas pump inferno. Nothing like being a know-it-all who gets the last word.
Comments