Surprise, surprise: Hummer is a pariah
Posted by Yankee on February 28, 2006 - 2:11pm
Topic: Sociology/Psychology
Tags: commercials, hummer [list all tags]
This post is very frivolous, but I really liked this story. Treehugger reports that famous bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and the Talking Heads, among other smaller indie rock and electronica bands, have declined to provide their music as a sound track to a Hummer ad. Bands would have received between $50,000-$180,000 for their song, and they still turned Hummer down. More good quotes from the band members in the Austin American-Stateman:
Washington D.C.'s Trans Am were offered $180,000 by Hummer for the song "Total Information Awareness."
"We figured it was almost like giving music to the Army, or Exxon," guitarist Philip Manley said.
They said no.
As I've said several times on my own site, people buy minivans because they needs the space, not because they're following a fad. But in the US a large share of pickup trucks and SUV's (especially Hummers) are bought by people chasing a fashion. There are some people who really do need pickups and SUV's (like my brother-in-law, who runs a construction company), but for the vast majority of drivers a car or minivan is fine.
Well, I guess it's time to dig out all my Talking Heads CD's and have a David Byrne overdose...
"Well, I guess it's time to dig out all my Talking Heads CD's and have a David Byrne overdose... "
The perfect place to start is "(Nothing But) Flowers" on the album "Naked"(1988)
... a nostalgic 'look back' to the age of oil...
Here we stand
Like an Adam and an Eve
Waterfalls
The Garden of Eden
Two fools in love
So beautiful and strong
The birds in the trees
Are smiling upon them
From the age of the dinosaurs
Cars have run on gasoline
Where, where have they gone?
Now, it's nothing but flowers
There was a factory
Now there are mountains and rivers
you got it, you got it
We caught a rattlesnake
Now we got something for dinner
we got it, we got it
There was a shopping mall
Now it's all covered with flowers
you've got it, you've got it
If this is paradise
I wish I had a lawnmower
you've got it, you've got it
Years ago
I was an angry young man
I'd pretend
That I was a billboard
Standing tall
By the side of the road
I fell in love
With a beautiful highway
This used to be real estate
Now it's only fields and trees
Where, where is the town
Now, it's nothing but flowers
The highways and cars
Were sacrificed for agriculture
I thought that we'd start over
But I guess I was wrong
Once there were parking lots
Now it's a peaceful oasis
you got it, you got it
This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
you got it, you got it
I miss the honky tonks,
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
you got it, you got it
And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
you got it, you got it
I dream of cherry pies,
Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies
you got it, you got it
We used to microwave
Now we just eat nuts and berries
you got it, you got it
This was a discount store,
Now it's turned into a cornfield
you got it, you got it
Don't leave me stranded here
I can't get used to this lifestyle
He lives in NYC. Maybe I'll run into him one day. If I do, I'll ask him if he knew about peak oil in 1988.
My favourite PO track is "Big Business" its an extra on the "stop making sense" DVD
"Think you've had enough
huh?
stop talking
help us get ready
Big business
after the shakeup
Stop talking help us get ready"
me and a friend always refer to post peak as "the shakeup" now
"Life during wartime" is also quite apt. but probably more for the billy cottrells of this world
I designed some of my own versions of those ads, one where African Kids in dustbowl villages are huddled excitedly around a shiny new Coke Machine, while the Bottling Company Upstream has dammed their river (cue music), and another where people are all driving Bradleys and Tanks down the highways to the mall, which is full of the same..
the song I enjoyed the most from Talking Heads was this -
---------------------
The Big Country
---------------------
I see the shapes,
I remember from maps.
I see the shoreline.
I see the whitecaps.
A baseball diamond, nice weather down there.
I see the school and the houses where the kids are.
Places to park by the fac'tries and buildings.
Restaunts and bar for later in the evening.
Then we come to the farmlands, and the undeveloped areas.
And I have learned how these things work together.
I see the parkway that passes through them all.
And I have learned how to look at these things and I say,
(CHORUS)
I wouldn't live there if you paid me.
I couldn't live like that, no siree!
I couldn't do the things the way those people do.
I couldn't live there if you paid me to.
I guess it's healthy, I guess the air is clean.
I guess those people have fun with their neighbors and friends.
Look at that kitchen and all of that food.
Look at them eat it' guess it tastes real good.
They grow it in the farmlands
And they take it to the stores
They put it in the car trunk
And they bring it back home
And I say ...
(CHORUS)
I say, I wouldn't live there if you paid me.
I couldn't live like that, no siree!
I couldn't do the things the way those people do.
I wouldn't live there if you paid me to.
I'm tired of looking out the windows of the airplane
I'm tired of travelling, I want to be somewhere.
It's not even worth talking
About those people down there.
Goo Goo Ga Ga Ga
Goo Goo Ga Ga Ga
-----------------------
Peak Oil and Kunstler's suburbia hatred in one song.
I actually posted excerpts from this article at Kunstler's site a few days ago.
What was most interesting about it was how it actually shows a number of people not buying into certain current American myths - and this group ranges pretty wide, with music over decades. Strange how it becomes interesting news to get an occasional reminder that principle is still part of being a person.
And Byrne has his own radio station at -
http://www.davidbyrne.com/radio/
We don't really need the mass media, which is why I wonder so many people care about the MSM - notice that this article, spreading through the Net, is not really MSM in the traditional sense - though it is very good journalism. Read about Byrne's experiences, and you might notice that the MSM is part of the problem in a number of ways, some quite concrete. There are certain inherent virtues in not using corporate sources except as completely untrusted information sources requiring thought and cross-referencing.
People buy monster-vans because energy prices are so cheap and that they figure than once in a while they'll need the space! Hell I've got a mid 40's (eternally) single neighbour looking to buy a SUV because one a year he MIGHT want to move some larger items that don't fit into his, current, full-sized car! This is the same moron who complains about having to cut his grass and yet he fertilizes it etc etc!! Note - he DOES NOT go outside of his house!!
Several friends (even Green Party supporters!) just bought a pollution spewing minivan because they had a 2nd child. Heck, if we had a third we'd still be in a car!
But that's our beliefs expressing themselves. Few people think about the pollution they're making, the conseques of their actions, or even think about what they need vs what they want.
Basically I see very very VERY little proof that people can moderate their wants or desires and that's the basis of destructive capitalism! Check this out:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2006nl/february/moderation.htm
My family went vegetarian for, in order of importance:
1) the environment
2) health
3) animal welfare
but I've recently gone vegan because of #2.
Curiously enough if peak oil hit in force I would have no quams about eating some small quantity of animal products - as long as they're free range and not from modern "farms".
One interesting interview as with Dr. Davis Suzuki when they were filling in a big city hospital during a smog day. He said that the people coming in were kids and elderly being brought my middle-age people driving SUVs. They would all do anything to help their family members in distress - but NONE of them saw the link between their pollution spewing road hogs and the injury done to their family members :<
But a lot of people don't need them. I have a friend who bought minivans because she had four kids. The kids are grown and gone now, but she still buys minivans. She likes to sit up high, so she can see over the other traffic.
I find it is very difficult for even very rational people to completely see the connections between their actions and their situation (to be fair I probably couldn't claim to be perfect in this regard either). My sister who doesn't (or can't or won't) see the connection between or irony of the long line of SUVs waiting to pick up children at her kids' school and the American flags and yellow ribbons on the bumpers. Thinking wholistically, let alone globally, is difficult.
I really don't see the reason so many here don't like him.
He strikes me as being spot on in his comments.
We will have to make alternate arrangements.
Here at TOD, the story contributors and commenters present the "hard cold facts" but that doesn't actually get through to most people. A proselytizer like Kuntsler (like Paul of Tarsus) is just what we need. The analogy breaks down a bit because peak oil is not a religion and there's no Kingdom to look forward to. Instead, it is a geological, geopolitical reality but every reality-based movement that goes against the grain needs a fire-breathing prophet or two. Who do you want to listen to--one of Colin Campbell's boring but accurate lectures on the subject of peak oil or Jim Kunstler who gives you a sense of what's really at stake here?
I'm glad he's around and saying what he's saying.
i did not mean to make it sound like i did not like Kuntsler. all i wanted to do was point out that he speaks rather bluntly, which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.
These days any real bands would jump at the opportunity of this exposure and would probably be offered alot more. These bands have the advantages of senility and low bribes to influence their moral stance.
Here is an article in the New Republic by Lawrence F. Kaplan on Hummers. He also wrote a lengthy piece in the same issue making an excellent case for staying in Iraq for any of you left-wingers who can take it. Unfortunely you will have to pay for that one or visit your local library.
Why Hummers are Unpatriotic. Reckless driving.
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w060220&s=kaplan022206
The link I provided reverts to a preview of article. Just put title and author into Google and I think the second or third link goes around paywall to whole article. Hey! maybe I can do that for Iraq one, too.
Clearly buddy above is experiencing some difficulty understanding the significance of bands - however many - turning down $50K+ when they're sleeping 5 to a van.
"But these days doesn't everyone cave in? Nope. Doors drummer John Densmore was once, against his better judgement, talked into letting Pirelli tyres use Riders On The Storm. Having seen the result, he's held out against every subsequent offer. Apple offering $4m? Cadillac SUVs offering $15m? He's told them to f*** off."
this link below is a good article on who'se sold out and who hasn't and for how much..
http://www.juliancope.com/uknow/features/index.php?id=67
Hollywood words of the year
But what do you call it when it's a rational fear?
Just fear.
A few weeks ago, on the 11 o'clock news, the scene of an accident in Portland Oregon where a Hummer rear-ended a Nissan sedan set off my alarm bells. The Sentra had stalled and stopped on the narrow shoulder of the curving ramp between I-205 north and I-84 east. The Sentra was completely demolished, crushed on every side and top, probably rolled between the ramp's concrete abutment wall and the Hummer. The Hummer? Not a scratch! Not a fucking scratch! The two passengers in the Sentra died. They were on a cell phone to their son at the moment of the crash.
My first thought was whether the Hummer driver had at high speed cut the corner of the ramp into the shoulder. Now I wonder if maniacal (music noise?) was playing on the stereo.
The more people drive Hummers the faster oil will go to $200. The faster it goes there the more will be left for the essential needs for our kids.
If they want to make a favor to the society, then take the 180 grand, buy 60 Hummers and Hum around with them :)
Well, how about we all start standing up to the Hummers that invade our cities and villages?
This guy is totally right!:
And then, there is always their sociopathic Superbowl commericial.
SUVs & Hummers>>>> "Nuke their Ass--I want Gas!"
Bicycles>>>>>>>>>> "No Thanks--I like Empty Tanks!"
Detritovores vs Biosolars: how will the collapse of the 'humanimal ecosystem' play out?
Here is a sad story from CNN: http://tinyurl.com/lhvwb
Excerpt:
--------------
According to the UNHCR office in Aden, Yemen, a boat sailing from
Somalia forced all 137 passengers, three of them Ethiopians, into
deep waters off the Yemeni coast, before turning around and heading
back to Somalia.
-------------
Smuggling wolfpacks, just profiting wildly from the one-way strategy of secretly hoping to drown the hapless deer huddled on their boats' decks. "Lifeboats?--We don't need no stinking lifeboats! We need profits to rapidly grow this cruise industry!"
++++++++++++++++
Storm drops dark brown snow in Colo.
FRISCO, Colo. (AP) -- Snow that some residents described as dark as chocolate brown was reported across parts of Colorado Thursday, a result of a wind storm in northern Arizona that kicked up dust that fell with the snow overnight, officials said.
"It's pretty much statewide," said Ethan Greene, director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. "We've had reports from the San Juans, Winter Park ... all over."
Greene said it's not unusual to see plumes of reddish dust from the desert Southwest drop on the Rocky Mountains in the spring. (Related Weather Guys blog post:Don't eat that brown snow.)
Exceptionally dry conditions in northern Arizona contributed to the dust, Greene said
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2006-02-17-dirty-snow_x.htm
+++++++++++++++
My comments:
Now 133 days without rain in Phx. Everything is dusty and dry except the tourist golf courses, the lavish winter lawns of the rich enclaves, and the endless gulping of countless toilets. Car wash industry is booming as idiots
desperately seek the high gleam polish on their 'chrome penis'. Local Milgov unconcerned, still approving permits so square miles daily get paved with asphalt, concrete, and McMansions. Millions of burning streetlights, porch lights, yard accent lighting, illuminated billboards, and store signage angrily glare all night long as if the
setting sun is a criminal act. New vehicles by the trainload arriving daily to add that much more congestion to the Clusterfuck. Maternity wards full of newborns for future deaths. Area casinos packed as everybody believes you can get rich effortlessly. TV talking heads drone on about the latest wildfire.
Eventually, the brown snow coming down in Colorado will be
plentifully sourced by the avalanche of emissions from the Gulag Crematoria.
------------------
Please read Matt Savinar's LATOC updates please.
OR, please return to your shopping extravaganza...Nothing more to see here, remain calm, just move along.
Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
Great post.
I particularly like the idea of a "shit" storm.
Please don't accept any free Milgov offers of a luxury weekend cruise for your family. My favorite Dieoff song was composed by Harry Chapin called "Remember when the Music":
http://www.harrychapin.com/music/remember.shtml
Excerpt:
------------
And I feel that something's coming, and it's not just in the wind.
It's more than just tomorrow, it's more than where we've been,
It offers me a promise, it's telling me "Begin",
I know we're needing something worth believing in.
Remember when the music
Came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire
And as we sang the words, it would set our minds on fire,
For we believed in things, and so we'd sing.
-------------------
My comments: I think this song says it all. Can Humanity overcome its infinity of Thermo-Gene delusions, then find the simple moral beliefs to welcome the biosolar path back?
My heart aches when I hear this song cause I know we're all needing something worth believing in.
My mind constantly goes back to that horrific CNN post:
http://tinyurl.com/b6otp
It tears me up to think of an innocent gasping first breaths cold, helpless, and naked in the putrifing darkness, half buried in the filth, as the hordes of rats scramble to fight and feast over the tender pink flesh.
The word "mankind" should be forever stricken from our vocabulary.
Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
There was a story about someone putting stickers on big SUVs that said "I am changing the environment - ask me how".
I wouldn't want to get caught doing this though.
There's a website for everything
The quote she attributes(by omission) to Keith Bradsher is actually that of the French psychological-marketing genius who advises Detroit. What is so sad is that she obviously knows this.
"I Hate SUV Haters"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/decoster/decoster70.html