Re: not butter, guns

Camille Scaysbrook (c_scaysbrook@yahoo.com)
Thu, 19 Aug 1999 17:43:18 +1000

John Smith  (who is ... who? in cybernetic disguise???) wrote:

> Forget Spandaus and Ouzis, we should commision Chevrolet to design
> tanks.  Think of what this would do to the economy.
> 
> First product off the assembly line would be weak and inferior, a mere
> status symbol.  Aluminum doors, plexiglass windows and an ancient
> Gatlin gun on the roof.

I'd like to know if you have the same ridiculous and contemptible
phenomenon overseas as we do over here in Australia, which is this: the 4
Wheel Drive all-terrain vehicle as status symbol. It's absolutely the
social symbol of the upwardly mobile middle class. No mother drives her
children to soccer or dancing in anything else. It's the most bizarre and
sickening thing ever, they're even actively marketed to the suburbs to the
point where there's a model called the Mitsubishi Suburban.

Theories on why the hell this is would be appreciated too. Surely people's
psyches aren't so shallow that it's the mere fact that they are higher up
than anyone else on the road???

Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com


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