4 ms·

Yeah, reading into the masculinity worries of truck drivers is telling. It's basically a trope that a huge truck means you're "compensating for something" and t

Yeah, reading into the masculinity worries of truck drivers is telling. It's basically a trope that a huge truck means you're "compensating for something" and this article just kinda dresses that stereotype in fancier language. The real answer is: trucks are an in-group signal. And because it's not our group, it gets slandered as a masculinity crisis and a moral crime ("look how big and scary the grill is, it'll kill a biker!" "It's authoritarian!") Is there any truth to these claims about the evils of trucks? Yes, the arguments are laid out well enough. But the real underlying reason this article was written is tribalism.

rayiner 6y ago
Like I agree there is a fair point to be made about environmental and safety concerns. But the article indulges in classism as well as racial stereotyping of Black and Latino. Pickup trucks are popular among middle class white men in suburban, exurban, and rural areas. That makes them a legitimate object of derision for college professors. The fact that they’re also popular among Black and Latino men who live in those areas is an inconvenient fact that needs to be glossed over. They’re erased to preserve the narrative. That erasure is frustrating because its those places where folks drive pickup trucks (suburban and exurban areas in sunbelt and southern states) that you actually find much of the growing Black and Latino middle class.