RANGER AGAINST WAR: Hubris <

Monday, March 29, 2010

Hubris

Most of the greatest evils that man
has inflicted upon man have come through people

feeling quite certain about things that were in fact false

--Bertrand Russell

_________________
Today Ranger went to Capital Eurocars in Tallahassee to look at Porsche Boxters with the idea of buying a little relief from a mid-life/old man syndrome (or as it's more pointedly known, crisis.)

Mike L. --
client-advisor -- was a likable enough young guy, up to a point, which was when asked, "What is the gas mileage?" Note the question did not pertain to price, only fuel efficiency.

Client-advisor Mike promptly replied, as if on cue, "If you have to ask, then you can't afford this vehicle." Ranger is a grown man, and that is not the sort of patronizing answer which floats his boat. It is not an answer at all, it is an obnoxious judgment.

I pay cash for everything -- land, houses or cars. Wasn't I the guy without a debt and free to do as I choose, and Mike the guy hustling for his commission?
I was looking at a car, not looking to join some arrogant imaginary club which excluded the hoi polloi who actually are concerned about depleting resources.

Anyway, Mike was right. I can't afford the car. Though the price is within grasp, the bullshit and snobbiness is not in my budget. That's not a club Ranger needs to belong to.


I'll stick with my Mini. It is paid for, and the salesmen were more than happy to talk fuel economy, because they know that just because you can afford to squander resources does not mean you should.

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7 Comments:

Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

once i was shopping for a sportscar myself. i was leaning toward the italian ones. (ended up with a midengine alpha GT, purple).

at one point i noticed that the rearview mirror was a tiny thing, about the size of a pack of kents, mounted on the dashboard. i commented on that, and the salesman, who was italian gave a perfect italian guy shrug and said

"if it's behind you, who cares?"

i agree that this was a bullshit answer. i wouldn't have bought from that asshole either.

p.s. when i became a single parent the sportscars woke up one morning and had metamorphisized into minivans. life can just bite a guy on the ass.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 1:02:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger Jim3rdOpsBN said...

So what was your response to this fool?

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 10:24:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger Jim3rdOpsBN said...

Hey.. I know this is off topic but I wanted to bring it to your attention in case you hadn't seen it yet... members of a "Christian Militia" have been arrested in Michigan regarding a plot to a kill a police officer and then attack his funeral. And here we thought Americans hadn't learned anything from Iraq.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/29/michigan.arrests/index.html?hpt=T1

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 10:32:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

Jim,
I simply left w/o any cmt. I'm really rather not inclined to get in pissing contests more than 3 x's a day.
I'd used my quota that day.
The militia junk will be a bunch of wannabees with rifles. Wow , i'm shaking in my booties.
jim

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 10:39:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger Jim3rdOpsBN said...

These idiots are reportedly springing up like fungus after a rain

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 11:09:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

aside from them posting their plans, presence, locations, and intentions on the web along with some pretty stupid videos of their training (which to my eye shows them to be worse than amatuer, they make a lot of noise, shout too loud, have very poor muzzle discipline, poor enough that were they in my unit there would have been some severe cuffings followed by pushups)

they are the "don't" picture of how to organize an insurgency.

their ideas for how to do that kind of thing are really stupid. rather than kill police officers why not go after targets of real value? things like system choke points.

insurgents should always refrain from things that invite trading of body counts. that might work against a foriegn occupier, but it is always more effective to disrupt and discredit the occupiers by denial of service attacks.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 1:20:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger Jim3rdOpsBN said...

After seeing the mug shots of these heros I just shook my head in disbelief...

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 1:11:00 AM GMT-5  

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