There's a term for a certain class of commenter who pretends that they are interested in your arguments and are really just trying to educate the blogger and other commenters: concern troll.
I would say it is almost impossible to be a concern troll poster, but this Amanda Marcotte post comes close. Starting out with a sympathetic pout about those poor SUV owners having to spend 100 bucks to fill up, Amanda then launches into the strangest explanation-sneer I've ever read.
On an individual level, it’s easy to feel superior to people who bought SUVs and are paying for it now. But that’s foolish, because we all rationalize our choices like this, so it was inevitable that a high percentage of people would like SUVs not in spite of their low mileage, but because of the low mileage. Instead of wishing human nature to change, then, I’m going to suggest that the people who exploited this rationalization tendency hold the lion’s share of the blame. For people who wanted to engage in wishful thinking about the relationship between oil and environmental problems, right wing pundits, car companies, and oil companies did all the hard psychological rationalizing work for people. They painted critics as effeminate hippies that are just trying to tell you what to do because they’re sanctimonious and nosy. (That some really are sanctimonious only made the situation worse.) They gave people pseudo-scientific explanations they could latch onto.
Pandagon is tiresome to read most of the time because everything--and I mean everything--is political in nature. So, if you are making hamburger tater tot casserole, it isn't because it's a cheap and filling meal your kids like, it's because evil Republicans like George W. Bush and Satanic radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh told you to.
For the record, I own an SUV. I didn't buy it as a status symbol or because I was making a political statement about gasoline. I bought it because I had three kids (two in car seats) and typically hauled a lot of stuff around that wouldn't fit in, say the Honda Fit referenced in Amanda's post (I love this photo because it tries to make the Fit look like it comfortably seats 5. I guess if you're all anorexic contortionists, maybe, but I dare them to try to load three kids--two in carseats!--into that thing and then survive the drive to soccer practice).
I seriously doubt many other people bought SUVs as fashion statements about their belief that oil would last forever. Most people bought SUVs because their families had more than 1 1/2 people and they needed the room. It's sort of the 21st century equivalent of the station wagon.
None of this changes the fact that gasoline prices hurt when you drive a car or truck that doesn't get good mileage. But, honestly, SUV owners are not victims of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, nor are they
zombies who dragged their rotting limbs into car dealerships to buy gas-guzzlers because a radio show host told them gas would remain 50 centers a gallon forever.For 20 years, people have talked about the coming high price of gasoline. Well, the price is here and will get worse and guess what? We will all adjust (seems I've made this argument before). We'll drive less, get smaller cars for commutes, use public transportation and/or move closer to jobs we assume we'll have for 10 years. And liberals will still have their snooty noses in the air telling the rest of us how "sorry" they are about high gas prices.
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