This is a light-hearted story. So, I'm "a &#@! hypocrite" for driving a Prius... at least according to some guy in Schaumburg, IL yesterday. I parked the car and was walking up to the restaurant, when some guy on a bike who was riding by proceeded to start yelling at me. I know he swore a lot and called me smug, and mentioned that if I really cared about the environment I'd be riding a bike. I had a hard time at that point to keep myself from bursting out laughing at this guy, or from calling him some of the choice acronyms that we Wisconsinites have for our neighbors from the south. On a number of occasions, I've had encouragement yelled in my direction, and on other occasions, liberal epithets, but never a berating for destroying the environment by driving a Prius. Too funny!
So did the guy tag a telephone pole as he was looking back over his shoulder yelling at you? That would have been a nice touch.
He's got a lousy way of presenting his case, but he has a point. Cyclists are a step ahead of Prius drivers on the saving-the-planet curve, and have one more smug star than we do.
"I'm not smug, just educated" Thinking of getting that as a plate frame lol I love when people think that yelling at someone is going to correct a problem. Apparently they dont understand basic human psychology lol
Just FYI... think of it this way. The way you felt getting yelled at by a bicyclist is how most car owners feel when Prius owners (and I've never done this, honest) smugly drop little shots about only having to fill up every x days instead of every y days. Or the fact that winter knocks mileage down to the high 30s. And so on.
At that moment he was riding a bike!!! Does he never, ever, ride in a automoblile? I was once berated by an individual, saying that he did not and would never own an automobile. Asked how he got around he said he always 'hitch hiked' rides. ??????? He did not see the irony of that statement.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(8AA @ Sep 4 2006, 03:49 PM) [snapback]314114[/snapback]</div> hey now... this happened in illinois! :lol:
That guy rides a bike, which is made from steel or aluminum, plastics, and other materials that require the use of fossil fuels in order to manufacture and ship to a distributer/resaler. He's the hypocrite for yelling, unless he made his bike himself from driftwood, rocks and mud, and he rides it home to his tent in the forest (made of hemp, and also handmade by him) and enjoys a nice dinner of raw grass. And not everyone's reason for driving a Prius is to wave the "environment" flag either, so for all he knows, he's yelling at someone whose only reason for driving the car is to save some money on gas... which they do.
Not everyone who drives a Prius thinks they're the most environmentally friendly person ever. We just do our bit when it comes to car choice. Of course, we probably could all drive less. Some people just love an excuse to score points over others - even if they have to fabricate the other person's position.
For the record, the trip from Madison, Wisconsin to Schaumburg, Illinois is pretty darned far. I've driven it. If biker guy has a problem with automated locomotion being used for a few-hundred-mile round-trip excursion, he's the only one with a problem.
I wouldn't worry about it. I understand that darelldd has gotten the same comment because he drives an EV instead of biking.
On my walk to work tomorrow, I think I'll yell at a few cyclists, just for thinking they deserve all that planet-saving-smugness for themselves.
