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Anecdote from when I was in China. My friend and I were walking down the street in Jinan (a big city though not one of the Major Chinese cities - think Pittsbur
by cmuguythrow 7y ago
Anecdote from when I was in China. My friend and I were walking down the street in Jinan (a big city though not one of the Major Chinese cities - think Pittsburgh in the US) when a yellow Ferrari fishtailed around the corner, squealing its tires and speeding away down the street. My immediate reaction - which I imagine to be the average American reaction - was "what an asshole". However, the Chinese around us on the street had quite a different reaction: "wow what a cool guy/car". Not really sure what this means about the perceptions of displays of status between the two cultures, but it's something that has stuck with me ever since.
- skookumchuck 7y agoAmericans tend to regard anyone driving a Ferrari as an asshole, regardless of how they drive.
- mtnGoat 7y agowe tend to think anyone sliding around corners and squealing tires to be one as well. this driver wad doubling down.
- skookumchuck 7y ago> we tend to think anyone sliding around corners and squealing tires to be one as well So why mention the type of car?
- EdwardDiego 7y agoOr struggling to drive their highly powerful car.
- GalacticDomin8r 7y agoDon't see many Ferrari's, but I can tell you a Prius driver is almost certainly an asshole. They are either Top Gear driving or Hypermiling, either way its at least a nuisance and sometimes a menace.
- leetcrew 7y agofrom my anecdotal experience, it seems like the brand of car that assholes drive is determined mainly by the median income of the locale. in poor areas, assholes drive shitty old hondas. in rich areas, they drive bmws and mercedes. in california, you are quite right; they drive priuses.
- taneq 7y agoAm I interpreting this right as "assholes in an area drive the type of car that poor people in that area think rich people drive"?
- leetcrew 7y agoI'm saying that there are assholes everywhere and they drive the car they can afford. the California part is kind of a joke, but also somewhat true in my experience.
- whenchamenia 7y agoPrius drivers followed by closely tesla 'drivers'.
- bigred100 7y agoIn America, it’s common knowledge that a driving a “cool” car will get you pulled over more for this reason. I wonder if it holds elsewhere.
- thablackbull 7y agoI don't think your anecdote is reflective at all. On Youtube, Daily Driven Exotics is one of the largest automotive channels and I would suppose you would consider all the antics you see on that channel to be quite obnoxious. Plenty of Americans consider everything they see of that channel as "wow what a cool guy/car".
- snazz 7y agoBurning rubber to show off in a busy city, attracting attention from everyone, is different than a YouTube channel that caters to people who would seek out that content specifically. Of course people who watch car videos think “wow what a cool guy/car” more often than the general population.
- dsfyu404ed 7y agoIf I thought I could get away with it I would lay rubber leaving every stop. It has nothing to do with what other people think and everything to do with me having fun.
- pm90 7y agoSame in India. Wealth is seen as a status symbol. The cultures value it, and whoever has more is considered to be high status. Its not hard to see why though. In industrializing countries with a lot of income inequality, wealth is rare, and anyone who has that is seen as either getting it through hard work, or getting it via their parents' hard work. BTW, Americans are hardly better, see all the yatches and private jets that corporate executives own.
- lisper 7y agoWe were in Rwanda recently to go gorilla trekking. We were told by our guide that in the villages the status symbol that shows you are a person of means is a bicycle.
- derp_dee_derp 7y agoDude. You flew to another country to look at a bunch of animals. Your guide knows that your wealth is magnitudes more than his own. He was lying to you to make you feel better so that you tip more.
- wil421 7y agoI’m not so sure you have it right. If that happened to an American child or teenager they would think it was awesome. An adult would not be so amused especially if their child was standing there. I’d think they were an asshole. BMW drivers are assholes, I know I used to drive one.
- gricardo99 7y agothis study did show that BMW drivers (along with other luxury cars) are indeed assholes: https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/the-rich-drive-differently-a-study-suggests/ https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/the-rich-drive-d...
- baxtr 7y agoReminds me of 3. Rich man in the car paradox. When you see someone driving a nice car, you rarely think, “Wow, the guy driving that car is cool.” Instead, you think, “Wow, if I had that car people would think I’m cool.” Subconscious or not, this is how people think. The paradox of wealth is that people tend to want it to signal to others that they should be liked and admired. But in reality those other people bypass admiring you, not because they don’t think wealth is admirable, but because they use your wealth solely as a benchmark for their own desire to be liked and admired. http://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-psychology-of-money/ http://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-psychology-of-mone...
- Konnstann 7y agoAnecdotal, but I don't think I've ever thought anything specific about the owners of cars I think are cool. If I see someone driving a nice car, I think "That's a nice car".
- benburleson 7y agoMy first thought is normally, "Jeeze, all that money for a tool that gets you from one place to another?"
- Sohcahtoa82 7y agoTo me, a car is more than a utility. It's a source of entertainment.
- leetcrew 7y agois your main computer also a $200 chromebook?
- honkycat 7y agoFew hundred thousand dollar difference between a nice car and a nice computer.
- yodsanklai 7y agoI've just came back from a road trip in the US, and what struck me compared to Europe is that people didn't have luxurious cars (apart from a bunch of asian kids cruising Yellowstone in obnoxious sport cars). Big SUV were commonplace, but I didn't see as many people showing off luxurious cars as I do in Europe. I don't really know if there is any truth from this subjective observation but it made me thinking. It goes against the common stereotype saying that it's totally fine to boast one's wealth in the US, whereas Europeans are more shy regarding money matters. This isn't my experience.
- fucking_tragedy 7y ago> It goes against the common stereotype saying that it's totally fine to boast one's wealth in the US, whereas Europeans are more shy regarding money matters. This isn't my experience. Up until the early 2000's, this was the case in the US.
- fl0wenol 7y agoIf I had to pick a local reason for this, it's because rap music videos since the 90s featured brown people in obviously fancy cars, so obviously fancy cars equals nouveau riche or drug dealer. And people love to correct others about their bags or shoes when others misidentify them as a more affordable imitation of an exclusion designer, and then get to tell them who and how much it cost and how it is so worth it for the "quality".
- adamsea 7y agoWhat? I’m sorry but, no. Also, car ownership depends on the region. In Los Angeles in many parts of the city you can’t throw a rock without hitting a Mercedes or BMW.
- PeterStuer 7y agoIn Europe cars are very heavily subsidized by the government. In Belgium for instance it is very common to get payed part of your salary under the for of a car (replaced every 4 years) and fuel card, exempt from taxes both for the company as well as for the employee (the result of decades the automobile lobby being very close to the governments). This results in significant more of German luxury cars, especially BMW, Mercedes and Audi, being quite common, as well as being the most jammed up country on the planet. So while it looks like fancy flaunting, the BMW 5, Audi 6 or Mercedes E is very common will not turn many eyes here.
- klenwell 7y agoA while ago, my wife and I were in the mood for dumplings so we headed to a nearby shopping center here in Southern California with a lot of Asian shops and restaurants and not enough parking spots. It's popular among locals and visiting tourists, including nouveau riche from mainland China. It's a Sunday, it's lunch time, and it's packed. After going up and down a couple rows, I get lucky and see the reverse lights on a minivan light up just as I'm approaching the end of a crowded row. So I stop and wait. While I'm waiting, I look in my rear-view mirror and notice this very new (no plates) white BMW aggressively weaving around other other cars stopped in the lane waiting for something to open up. Just as the spot clears, the white BMW races around me to take the spot. I'm stunned. I'm not a violent person nor even a particular strong person and haven't been in a fistfight since elementary school. But I'm ready for bloodshed. I lay on the horn. A young handsome fashionably dressed Chinese guy wearing sunglasses exits the car on the driver's side. His attractive young fashionably dressed wife, also wearing sunglasses, gets out on the passenger side. She pulls out their young son, also well dressed and wearing sunglasses. Obliviously, they start walking toward the dumping joint where we're planning to eat. I turn to my wife, incredulous: "Can you believe this? Did you see that asshole?" I'm not Chinese. My wife is. "Asshole?" she replied. "In China, that guy would be a hero." She didn't seem particularly upset by the turn of events. So I just laughed, put my vendetta in the hands of karma, and went in search of another parking spot.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago>my immediate reaction - which I imagine to be the average American reaction - was "what an asshole". However, the Chinese around us on the street had quite a different reaction: "wow what a cool guy/car" Is "good for him he's enjoying what his nice car has to offer" not an option?
- cannonedhamster 7y agoBy driving his car uncontrolled on a public way surrounded by people? Nope not an option. He's flaunting his wealth by putting other people at risk. That makes him an asshole. Just because you happen to like bullies and assholes didn't make that any less true. On a race track or deserted road? Maybe that's kind of fun and cool, you're generally only putting yourself at risk.
- agent008t 7y agoBut that kind of dangerous behaviour is what any cool guy / protagonist does in pretty much every action (and not even just action) movie. And people don't usually see those characters as bullies or assholes. The line between 'cool' and 'asshole' is very slim and depends on your assumptions about the individual in question, their character and motivations.
- athroway 7y agoYes, and actions movies are silly entertainment for teenagers. Hopefully adults don't actually think the tropes found in action movies should reflect the real society.
- jtms 7y agoPossibly, but only if he were driving in a way that was respectful of other people's safety and well being. Driving recklessly is usually pretty heavily correlated with a disregard for others and a feeling of superiority/being above the rules.
- zionpi 7y agoI dislike the squealing tires thing neither.
- teekert 7y agoAnother anecdote, my Russian, very Dutchified colleague and friend bought a very expensive and nice watch with many survival/hiking functions (compass, altitude meter etc.). The watch was unobtrusive and minimalistic (and black). We both though it was very functional and a sign of good taste and an eye for quality. His Russian family though did not understand how he could have spend that amount of money on a watch that was not "expensive looking".
- seventhtiger 7y agoWhen it comes to wealth specifically, I've always noticed this about American culture. They have this myth of the ultra rich everyday man, who despite their immense wealth and power, are just as relatable and humble as the rest of us. They wear blue jeans and you see them joking with the cashier, even though they could buy the supermarket chain. In many other cultures that would be the epitome of hypocrisy. It's perceived as cheap and an outright lie. Being rich actually obligates you to look rich. It's expected. You can be kind, you can be generous, you can be helpful, but don't hide that you're rich. Although it might be more pronounced in Asia, even in Europe the rich don't try as hard to be relatable as in America. Somehow Americans find displays of wealth almost offensive.