Have you ever had your car spat upon??

Umm, doesn't NRA stand for "Nerds Revered Association"?

 

Baloney. You did, and people draw conclusions, all the time, after just one event. Maybe what you meant to say is, it's impossible to draw any meaningful/valid conclusion after just one event?

In your very first post you said:

" It was obvious to me that someone had done it deliberately, and, well, it just made me sick. WHO would do something like that??? Has anyone else been the (suspected) victim of Prius-hating vandalism?"


Doesn't sound like speculation to me.

Again, you may be right...this may have been a hate crime perpetrated against the Prius, specifically?? But then again, it could have been accidental, a frat boy was coming home after a night of bing drinking and thought this would be funny (you are on campus, where adolecent/juvenile behavior abound), it could have been meant for foreign made vehicles (you are in union country), or maybe, this was an act perpetrated against you, personally? Lots of possibilities.

Sorry, but you have drawn a conclusion based on one data point. So yeah, maybe you do need a "lecture" about jumping to conclusions.

 

Cool it, guys. That was a pigeon -- annoying, but there are some good pigeon recipes.

 

Hmm... frat boy coming home after a party... in the middle of the afternoon??? Not likely.

Most likely culprits: random rednecks who go around trying to be superior, or someone who really hates Prii.

Does this exclude the entire world civilization? No. But it sure does whittle down the logical likely suspects, something your argument refuses to attempt.

 

Ummm...yes, likely. Partying all night...go to sleep by 3AM/4AM...wake up at 1PM-2PM. One reason why the student section in most D1A stadiums don't fill up (right away) for a noon game start time. Unless they have classes the next day, most college kids don't even think of rolling out of bed, after a hard night of partying, until maybe noon, and that might be on the early side.

There we go...the "random redneck".

 

Baloney, and you know it.

 

I too am in the field of psychology. That doesn't mean I've learned mind reading. I live in a VERY Republican, Hummer, SUV neighborhood. I've been run off, tailgated to the point of it being dangerous, given the finger. I've put campaign signs up and had them torn down the very night after I've put them up. My best guess is that there are some really visceral haters of progress out there. My 2nd car was a brand new Pontiac GTO when I was 18 (I've worked since I was 8 years old and paid for it myself), but I grew up.

Tony Renier
Green Bay, WI, USA

 

Living in that neighborhood, it's probably a good thing that you can't read minds.

Tom

 

Most "suburbanites" are Republicans, and drive SUV's. That could describe most/many suburban neighborhoods.

I've been tail-gated, flipped off and cut off (many times)...and that was LONG before I ever owned a Prius. My experience is - you are more likely to encounter this typpe of behavior if you drive slow.

Campaign signs being taken down...welcome to the political world. It just so happens, where I live this ahppens ALL the time, and every election, there are articles about this...it happens.

 

Do you have an Obama/Biden Sticker on your car? I am a republican and live in very republican area and have a Prius AND a Smart Car and have never had anyone mess with either of my cars.

 

Nope, no stickers of any kind. Even if I did, I would be really saddened if politics was the root cause... Not that it matters, I can't vote anyways!

 

FUnny but I have driven my smart car for 2 years and put 33k miles on it and have had nothing but smiles and thumbs up from people around me and here in Califonia there are thousands of Prius' on the road so they are as common as chevys. I could imagine it happening in an area that has a lot of union folks that hate foreign cars maybe.

I actually have gotten the finger a few times in the smart car but only cause I drive like an donkey sometimes, I am able to squeeze in some really really tight spots between cars on the freeway and have no second thoughts about jumping in.

 

Glad to hear you can't read minds. Kudos in regards to your work history, and glad you've grown up...

Oh and too bad you seem to live in a neighborhood surrounded by a population inwhich you seemingly are so uncomfortable around.

Visceral Haters Of Progress? V.H.O.P.S...I'm going steal that.....

 

Blanket statements are always dangerous, but I'd say that isn't true where I live. In Portland? The City and The Suburbs seem to be the more liberal population. (judging from lawn signs and bumperstickers during election cycles) then the farther out you go into the farmland or Eastern Oregon the more conservative things become.

Honestly, as much as I try to avoid stereotype, there really seems to be a unseen line you cross. In the suburbs last election? Many Obama stickers....get out into the farmland, large trucks with McCain stickers.....

 

Look at the demographics from both parties, and where they typically draw their votes from. This is a matter of public record, not speculation. Typically, the Dems do well in the city (not every city, but most), while Republicans do well in the burbs (not every burb, but most).

 

It's cool.

I don't know, the older I get the less I want to look at demographics.

My statements certainly aren't based on any hard statistics just empiracle observation based on a general "feeling" and the usual yard signs and bumper stickers I see as I drive around Oregon. So you can throw it right out the window if you wish.

Let's put it this way. I feel pretty comfortable driving in the city and suburbs in Oregon. When I'm alone and driving in the farm lands or Eastern Oregon and a Big Pick-Up with a McCain/Palin bumper sticker pulls up beside me, I get momentary flash backs to the final scene in Easy Rider.

But I admit, no indepth study of demographics.

 

Gotcha.

Although for clarification purposes, rural (ie ranch/farm) areas are NOT the "burbs". No strip malls, subdivisions and soccer moms in rural areas (that I know of).

 

That's what I said, I feel comfortable driving in the Suburbs...and City...it's when I get out into the rural area's in Oregon where I feel a real conservative vibe...