I am really fucking tired of the extent to which people take brand loyalty on cars. I understand that people like one vehicle over another. It's just human nature to have a preference. You get burned on a car, suckered into buying a lemon, constantly repairing useless expensive items that should be built to last for a long time, you dislike another brand. When you pay a good portion of what you earn in an entire year for something, you expect a great deal in return. But people actually argue over who has a better vehicle. It's ridiculous. It's like arguing over who has the better toothbrush.
"Mine fights plaque and prevents cavities!"
"Yeah, while mine does it better!" You see the futility of the argument. It is essentially no different. I've been in the middle of some of these arguments before.
"Which car do you like better," I'm asked, "Ford or Chevy?"
"I crashed a Ford once, but I never crashed a Chevy, so I've got to go with Chevy."
"That's dumb. Which car did you like driving better?" I don't like being called dumb by people arguing over a toothbrush. So I looked at the debating idiots.
"You drive a Chevy, right?" A nod in return. "And you drive a Ford, right?" Another nod. "Have you ever had problems with them?"
"Sure, but every car has it's quirks." Another similar response. This is when I know I've won.
"So you've both had reliability issues with vehicles that you both paid five figures for. My understanding of the internal combustion engine is that it operates the same in every car. Gasoline is ignited to cause power. Unless one of your cars runs on water, you're arguing about which one of your cars is prettier. That's about it." After a speech much like that one, every time I get a look as if I've lost my fucking mind.
I'm reminded of Bill Hicks's thoughts on patriotism every time, because the two situations are similar. People taking pride in following and supporting corporate greed. It is fucking outrageous. What set me off on this little rant was the constant sight of the Calvin stickers. Those of you that have seen them know what I'm talking about. The little picture of Calvin from the old Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip urinating on the car logo of choice. It really pisses me off to see the memory of the favorite comic strip of my youth soiled by a idiotic argument such as that. Particularly when so much of that comic strip was based on much more adult humor than I realized as a child. I still look over many of the books that I collected growing up, finding new humor in them that I didn't understand at the time. Why not one of the characters from Family Circle taking a big steaming shit on the logo of choice. That comic strip, I mean circle, sucked anyway. It would then offend only the proper morons that the image seeks to offend. At least it doesn't have Hobbes in any of the stickers. He was always the smart one anyway.