10 ms·

Anglo-Saxon saying: "You know what a man is when he can do as he likes." Good people with power will remain good people. Narcissists, people who say "I told you

Anglo-Saxon saying: "You know what a man is when he can do as he likes." Good people with power will remain good people. Narcissists, people who say "I told you so", and other nasty pieces of work will remain nasty pieces of work when in power -- look at the journal editors who rejected Egloff's paper for a petty example. As for whether Mercedes drivers behave badly? I find it easy to believe that they do. There are those who don't know the social language of cars, and those who inherit family cars, but the sort of person who knows the language of cars and buys a Mercedes anyways is the sort who has money but no taste -- "West African cabinet ministers and Beverly Hills dentists" in Paul Fussell's phrase -- the sort of person who would voluntarily live in Malibu.

Arcten 10y ago
For us uninitiated, what is this "social language of cars" you're referring to?
- clock_tower 10y ago
  US culture's assumptions about what message a car sends -- things like how cowboys drive F-150s, rich old people drive Cadillacs, eco-snobs and neocons drive Priuses, Old Money drives BMWs (preferably 1970s BMWs that haven't been washed since the Clinton Administration), and so on. None of these messages are self-evident; it's possible for someone outside the US culture, or who just doesn't watch much television, to accidentally buy a car that sends a message he/she didn't mean to send. Thus my disclaimers about Mercedeses -- there are doubtless good people who bought a Mercedes and didn't realize what message they were sending.
  - Consultant32452 10y ago
    This is really interesting. Another one I'm familiar with is that Subaru is predominately for lesbians. I'm curious about the neocon Prius one. I'd never heard that before. What would be the driving force to get a neocon in a Prius? I would think they'd be in the gas guzzling trucks along with the cowboys.
    - clock_tower 10y ago
      What gets a neocon in a Prius? Fuel efficiency. Less oil burned means less dependence on the Saudis and more freedom of action in the Middle East. These days, we export oil rather than import it, so perhaps this isn't true anymore, but I remember of hearing about how one of the key Iraq hawks (Wolfowitz?) driving a Prius very early in the Prius' history -- 2006 or 2007, I think. I'd never heard of the Subaru's reputation, but that's exactly the kind of thing I'm thinking of... and exactly the kind of thing that I don't know how to learn! Perhaps a wiki of some sort could record people's knowledge of what sorts of people drive what sorts of cars. We'd just have to make sure that Something Awful never gets wind of it, lest we "learn" that everyone in the world drives Carry McCarface... :)
sevensor 10y ago
The Mercedes thing is interesting. I hadn't been paying attention to it until I began to notice a pattern -- whenever somebody in my town was driving as if the rules of the road and basic humanity did not apply, the vehicle was usually a Mercedes. I've been wondering about it ever since. There are definitely benign Mercedes drivers on the road, but the brand seems to attract more than an ordinary proportion of jerks. (This is the kind of thing one notices a lot as a cyclist, and Mercedes owners are responsible for more than their fair share of near misses with me.) I looked for the same pattern with other luxury vehicles, but it doesn't seem to apply to BMW, Audi, Porche, or Maserati. Since nobody in my social circle owns a luxury vehicle, I remain intensely curious about who, exactly, is driving these things. Does it have something to do with being the kind of person who is willing to buy a vehicle with ho-hum performance, expensive repair bills, and poor fuel efficiency? Have you got a link for the "language of cars" you're talking about?
- dota_fanatic 10y ago
  I suspect your anecdote is just that. Around here (Texas) I tend to suspect unfriendly driving from large trucks and "cheap" sports cars and am more defensive in my driving when I 'm around them. What is the actual distribution of unfriendly drivers? Many mercedes I see are older folks who drive slowly and safely (perhaps too slowly...) As for why buy a luxury car, it's much like why buy an apple laptop? It tends to be a completely different user experience compared to your early hyundai, low-end mazda, <insert budget models here>. As for my luxury car that I got a great deal on used, even considering repair costs, its performance and ride quality is anything but ho-hum...
  - sevensor 10y ago
    > I suspect your anecdote is just that. Sure, take it for what it's worth. At best, it applies only to the town where I live. Still, the opening anecdote in the article resonated with me because Mercedes drivers around here have shown an unusually small amount of concern for my welfare. As a cyclist, one tends to be more than usually sensitive to people trying to kill you with their cars. I submit that as the driver of a high-performance luxury vehicle, you may be more than usually sensitive to people driving too slow for your taste.
dikdik 10y ago
I've heard a very similar saying about people in LA, as many people love to talk about how narcissistic the population is here. LA does not turn people into assholes, the environment allows assholes to blossom into their full potential. If you are a humble, good-hearted person and move to LA you will generally stay that way.
- clock_tower 10y ago
  That's what I've heard about LA as well -- especially with Hollywood being there. It isn't necessary to be a narcissist to want an acting career, but it "helps". Now that I think of it, LA and Hollywood might have the same problem as DC and politics. Our political class is a collection of horrible freaks and sad sacks for a reason: the only way to get power in this country is to want it so desperately that you'll spend your whole career trying to get it, even though you'll probably never get past the rank of junior senator or political aide. This is literally megalomania -- the level of power-hungriness normally associated with Lovecraftian cultists and evil wizards, and sometimes not even with them. Anyhow, I could see LA having the sort of problem with fame that DC has with power: the people who make it in Hollywood are a subset of the people who want so desperately to make it in Hollywood that they'll throw their lives away on a career track that gives them a small chance of getting a big break and a large chance of waiting tables. Desperate commitment and fear of failure can make a good person turn very bad -- despite my quoting that rather smug Anglo-Saxon saying previously.
wj 10y ago
What your issue with the people of Malibu? Or with the city of Malibu?
- clock_tower 10y ago
  It's an expensive place, and yet it has neither history nor a pleasant climate. No battles, no culture, no castles or fortresses, no regional wines or cheeses, and yet it's as expensive as Burgundy and the Savoy. Also, there are probably a lot of Mercedeses sold there. :)
  - wj 10y ago
    I lived there for three years and loved the climate. Ocean views outside most windows and wherever I drove. There was a castle in Malibu (not the ancient kind) but it burned down and there are some wineries. No cheeses that I am aware of.

Arcten 10y ago

For us uninitiated, what is this "social language of cars" you're referring to?

clock_tower 10y ago
US culture's assumptions about what message a car sends -- things like how cowboys drive F-150s, rich old people drive Cadillacs, eco-snobs and neocons drive Priuses, Old Money drives BMWs (preferably 1970s BMWs that haven't been washed since the Clinton Administration), and so on. None of these messages are self-evident; it's possible for someone outside the US culture, or who just doesn't watch much television, to accidentally buy a car that sends a message he/she didn't mean to send. Thus my disclaimers about Mercedeses -- there are doubtless good people who bought a Mercedes and didn't realize what message they were sending.
- Consultant32452 10y ago
  This is really interesting. Another one I'm familiar with is that Subaru is predominately for lesbians. I'm curious about the neocon Prius one. I'd never heard that before. What would be the driving force to get a neocon in a Prius? I would think they'd be in the gas guzzling trucks along with the cowboys.
  - clock_tower 10y ago
    What gets a neocon in a Prius? Fuel efficiency. Less oil burned means less dependence on the Saudis and more freedom of action in the Middle East. These days, we export oil rather than import it, so perhaps this isn't true anymore, but I remember of hearing about how one of the key Iraq hawks (Wolfowitz?) driving a Prius very early in the Prius' history -- 2006 or 2007, I think. I'd never heard of the Subaru's reputation, but that's exactly the kind of thing I'm thinking of... and exactly the kind of thing that I don't know how to learn! Perhaps a wiki of some sort could record people's knowledge of what sorts of people drive what sorts of cars. We'd just have to make sure that Something Awful never gets wind of it, lest we "learn" that everyone in the world drives Carry McCarface... :)

sevensor 10y ago

The Mercedes thing is interesting. I hadn't been paying attention to it until I began to notice a pattern -- whenever somebody in my town was driving as if the rules of the road and basic humanity did not apply, the vehicle was usually a Mercedes. I've been wondering about it ever since. There are definitely benign Mercedes drivers on the road, but the brand seems to attract more than an ordinary proportion of jerks. (This is the kind of thing one notices a lot as a cyclist, and Mercedes owners are responsible for more than their fair share of near misses with me.) I looked for the same pattern with other luxury vehicles, but it doesn't seem to apply to BMW, Audi, Porche, or Maserati. Since nobody in my social circle owns a luxury vehicle, I remain intensely curious about who, exactly, is driving these things. Does it have something to do with being the kind of person who is willing to buy a vehicle with ho-hum performance, expensive repair bills, and poor fuel efficiency? Have you got a link for the "language of cars" you're talking about?

dota_fanatic 10y ago
I suspect your anecdote is just that. Around here (Texas) I tend to suspect unfriendly driving from large trucks and "cheap" sports cars and am more defensive in my driving when I 'm around them. What is the actual distribution of unfriendly drivers? Many mercedes I see are older folks who drive slowly and safely (perhaps too slowly...) As for why buy a luxury car, it's much like why buy an apple laptop? It tends to be a completely different user experience compared to your early hyundai, low-end mazda, <insert budget models here>. As for my luxury car that I got a great deal on used, even considering repair costs, its performance and ride quality is anything but ho-hum...
- sevensor 10y ago
  > I suspect your anecdote is just that. Sure, take it for what it's worth. At best, it applies only to the town where I live. Still, the opening anecdote in the article resonated with me because Mercedes drivers around here have shown an unusually small amount of concern for my welfare. As a cyclist, one tends to be more than usually sensitive to people trying to kill you with their cars. I submit that as the driver of a high-performance luxury vehicle, you may be more than usually sensitive to people driving too slow for your taste.

dikdik 10y ago

I've heard a very similar saying about people in LA, as many people love to talk about how narcissistic the population is here. LA does not turn people into assholes, the environment allows assholes to blossom into their full potential. If you are a humble, good-hearted person and move to LA you will generally stay that way.

clock_tower 10y ago
That's what I've heard about LA as well -- especially with Hollywood being there. It isn't necessary to be a narcissist to want an acting career, but it "helps". Now that I think of it, LA and Hollywood might have the same problem as DC and politics. Our political class is a collection of horrible freaks and sad sacks for a reason: the only way to get power in this country is to want it so desperately that you'll spend your whole career trying to get it, even though you'll probably never get past the rank of junior senator or political aide. This is literally megalomania -- the level of power-hungriness normally associated with Lovecraftian cultists and evil wizards, and sometimes not even with them. Anyhow, I could see LA having the sort of problem with fame that DC has with power: the people who make it in Hollywood are a subset of the people who want so desperately to make it in Hollywood that they'll throw their lives away on a career track that gives them a small chance of getting a big break and a large chance of waiting tables. Desperate commitment and fear of failure can make a good person turn very bad -- despite my quoting that rather smug Anglo-Saxon saying previously.

wj 10y ago

What your issue with the people of Malibu? Or with the city of Malibu?

clock_tower 10y ago
It's an expensive place, and yet it has neither history nor a pleasant climate. No battles, no culture, no castles or fortresses, no regional wines or cheeses, and yet it's as expensive as Burgundy and the Savoy. Also, there are probably a lot of Mercedeses sold there. :)
- wj 10y ago
  I lived there for three years and loved the climate. Ocean views outside most windows and wherever I drove. There was a castle in Malibu (not the ancient kind) but it burned down and there are some wineries. No cheeses that I am aware of.