The Debated and Hated SUV
Since the early 1990s, the car market has become saturated with sport utility vehicles. While SUV’s have been enthusiastically received by a wide spectrum of the demographic – everyone from teenagers to soccer moms -- not all are excited by its arrival. Some of the current complaints with SUVs have to do with their ridiculous size and relative fuel inefficiency. Others criticize the vehicles as being unsafe, and certainly unnecessary, for the tasks for which they are commonly used. But even with the recent campaigns to educate the public on the possible physical and environmental risks posed by the automobiles, SUV purchases continue to be on the rise. Indeed, with car sales on the decline, and the SUV being seen as a possible savior -- or at least band-aid -- for the struggling motor industry, any movement to ban SUVs in the near future is unlikely.
There have been many arguments made for and against SUV’s. Anti-SUV groups have made good points by closely entwining logos and pathos arguments. Often anti-SUV arguments use crash statistics and environmental research to make there clams. While their use of statistics is good, anti-SUV arguments can err on the side of being so emotional they create a pathos fallacy. SUV advocates make arguments also based on statistics, but they rely more heavily on pathos based argument. One of the most prevalent fallacies made in pro-SUV arguments is that of distraction by focusing on the anti-SUV groups rather than discussing the issue at hand. Both anti and pro groups have made fallacies, but they have also made several great arguments.
The desire for self-preservation is present in all people; this is why SUV safety is such a huge issue. “Ask a typic...
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...e. There are those that would ban SUVs, and others that would rather just regulate them. Those that proudly drive their SUVs feel that all the bad press is directed at them. In the end there are several good arguments made on both sides.
Works Cited
Davidson, Ross. “The Bully on the Block.” Salon. Dec. 8, 1997
http://www.salon.com/news/1997/12/08news2.html
Flint, Jerry. “The Holy War on SUVs.” Forbes. 03.03.2003. http://www.forbes.com/global/2003/0303/051.html
Kirn, Walter. “Why I Love My SUV.” Time. Feb 24, 2003 v161 i8 p42
Mencimer, Stephanie. “Bumper Mentality.” Washington Monthly. December 20, 2002
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14839
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/
SUV Info Link, The. “Environmental Double Standards for Sport Utility Vehicles.”
http://www.suv.org/environ.html
I believe that the essay, “Did My Car Join Al Qaudea” by Wood Hochswender, is persuasive. The reason why I think Hochswender’s essay is persuasive because he makes several statements about why SUV’s are more efficient. Hochswender shows the use of ethos by stating “I choose not to whip around corners or to follow others so closely and at such high speeds that I have to make harrowing, emergency stops. I drive so as not to roll over (Hochswender 155).” I believe Hochswender is trying to get individuals to understand that it is not the SUV that makes the passengers unsafe, but more so the driver. Hochswender shows the use of pathos by stating “If some drunken driver veers across the center divider-I would prefer that my 9-year-old and I not be
The American consuming public has a long history of imposing patriotic consumption decisions upon the marketplace. They may be small things, like choosing to consume “freedom” fries over french fries or looking for the “Made in USA” label on products, or they may be forceful actions, like revolutionary era boycotts of British tea or holding foreign food and drug products to American standards. Recent anti-SUV campaigns have grown out of this legacy of consumption protest. The Detroit Project is at the forefront of promoting anti-SUV sentiment to a mass audience.
Firstly, one of the differences between SUVs and sedan is safety. When we drive a SUV, we probably feel safer than sedan. On the
In the year of 1880 a spontaneous event took place which piqued the interest of young woman and girls in competing in a competition which was solely made up upon having good looks; this competition is called a beauty pageant. Approximately 700,000 pageants take place a year all over the world, but the first pageant ever originated in Delaware in the United States. Although pageants claim to be an event which promises to help bring world peace, they are actually a very costly event which showcases young children in inappropriate clothing, acting much older than their age. To add to all of the negativities, mothers of these pageant beauties are manipulatively living their childhood dreams through their own child. Because beauty pageants can be detrimental to a young child’s physical and emotional psyche, they should be banned for children under the age of 12.
A Recent study by a Global research firm shows some interesting information about Indian SUV Market .It predicts that by the year 2020, the SUV Sales growth will overtake sales growth of passenger vehicle in Indian market. The main reason behind this change could be economic growth and infrastructure development.
The world of beauty pageants is dramatic, heartbreaking, and downright hateful. Villines says “[c]hildren learn a host of unhealthy values, including the desire to defeat their competition at all costs”. (qtd. in “Beauty Pageants and Children: It’s Not Always Pretty” 6). A child should never have to go through the pressure that is put on them when entering a pageant nor should they learn to try to bring everyone down to get what they want. The pageant world can change a child for the worst. Unfortunately, it causes most of these children to become a sexual image at such a young age. Cartwright stated in her article about seeing pictures in French Vogue of, “a ten-year old model lying [o]n a sea animal print wearing a chest revealing gold dress, stilettos and heavy make-up”. (qtd. in “Child Beauty Pageants” 1). How could this child’s parents allow her to look so grown and sexy when she is just a baby? The answer to that is simple, the parents gain from it too.
All mothers want their daughters to be successful and beautiful, but there is a point where it does go too far. Mark Sichel a New York based licensed clinical social worker stated "little girls are supposed to play with dolls, not be dolls" (Triggs).Younger and younger girls are becoming exposed to the immoral ways of the world. Some girls as young as 1 month old are put in pageants. Others have no choice because this is what their parents want for them repeatedly they are told "keep smiling" "point your toes" instead of "wash your hands" or "say please". This pageant world has taken over more than a few weekends it consumes their entire lives. As the popular TLC reality series "Toddlers and Tiaras" has reignited controversy over a culture made notorious by the JonBenet Ramsey tragedy , the parents behind these pageants continue to go to the extreme lengths to win ( Triggs ).Fake eyelashes spray tans and waxed eyebrows, these are few of the things that are done to make a pageant girl perfect. This is not appropriate for a 5 year old, even worse is there behavior and attitudes. Their beha...
The majority of people, especially in America, cannot go about their daily lives without a car. Automobiles have instilled themselves in peoples’ lives and shown their usefulness since their debut in 1769. Since then, humans have redesigned and refined the automobile thousands of times, each time making the vehicle more efficient and economical than before. Now as the world approaches an ethical decision to dwarf all others, many people look toward automotives for yet another change. The emergence of the hypercar due to ecological turmoil exemplifies the change the world has demanded. Hypercars alter everything people know about automotives, modern ecology, and fuel efficiency. Not only do hypercars offer a solution to many ecological problems humans are faced with now, they also represent the only logical area for the automotive industry, and by some stretch American society, to expand.
These children are being treated like tiny exotic dancers, it’s destroying their emotional health. And there’s a few reasons for it. Beauty competitions like these ruin young girls self esteem during a crucial part of their emotional development. They go to a beauty pageant and try their hardest and get psyched up, just to be let down and told that they're not enough, ruining their self esteem. Many supporters of beauty pageants say that beauty pageants raise girls self esteem and make them proud of their bodies. However, making a little girl diet, exercise and dress like an adult doesn't tell them that they should be proud of their bodies. Furthermore, when someone loses after they tried really hard, they get an overwhelming sense of failure. The immediate response to failure is to dissect what was done and find what was done wrong. And in a beauty pageant there's only one thing to put the blame on. Appearance. “My legs are too thick. My nose is too big. My arms are too flabby.” This drop in self esteem causes a whole new predicament; eating disorders. Worldwide over seventy million people suffer from an eating disorder, and ninety percent of those people are between the ages of seven and twenty five. (National Institute for Mental Health) At such a crucial time in the emotional development of a child, is it really appropriate to subject them to judgment on such a large scale? The answer to
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In a world where padded bras and skimpy clothes are available for children ages eight and younger, parents spend small fortunes on make-up, costumes, and hair extensions for their child to win beauty pageants. In 1996, 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey—a pageant regular—was murdered, bringing national attention to the child beauty pageant circuit (Ralston). This case received national attention, not only because JonBenet was found bludgeoned in her own home, but because of the many images released of her that showed a sexualized child wearing expensive costumes and being made up to look two decades older (Harvey). Children should not be allowed to compete in beauty pageants because they teach children that
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Long have I wondered about the hand fate plays in guiding our lives—in leading us down a given path. Are we merely pawns in a greater game? Do we have the power—albeit unknown to us—to forge our own destiny? Or does the truth of it all lay somewhere in between, amidst the grey? I do not know, nor will I ever. I—like everyone else—can only theorize; my notions grounded in uncertainty and conjecture. All I know—all I can know—are facts; truths as clear and incontrovertible as the stars…