Napoleon famously said, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” I normally would like to assume that others who do not share my views are still people who have a legitimate set of values, and may just be misinformed. But harsh experience teaches, we can’t automatically assume that everyone cares about the natural world, the planet we leave to our children, or the creatures with whom we share it.
It’s obligatory for climate denial shills to preface anti-environment rants with “of course we all want clean air and pure water, but…”
Anyone that’s followed the litany of anti-environment initiatives and rhetoric by the current crop of non-conserving “conservatives”, or listened to Rush Limbaugh’s hatred and venom toward the natural world, might understandably be skeptical.
Now there’s this.
Pickup trucks customized to spew black smoke into the air are quickly becoming the newest weapon in the culture wars.
“Coal Rollers” are diesel trucks modified with chimneys and equipment that can force extra fuel into the engine causing dark black smoke to pour out of the chimney stacks. These modifications are not new, but as Slate’s Dave Weigel pointed out on Thursday, “rolling coal” has begun to take on a political dimension with pickup drivers increasingly viewing their smokestacks as a form of protest against environmentalists and Obama administration emissions regulations.
Last month, Vocativ noted many coal rollers focus their fumes on “nature nuffies,” or people who drive hybrids, and “rice burners,” or Japanese-made cars.
“The feeling around here is that everyone who drives a small car is a liberal,” a roller named Ryan told Vocativ. “I rolled coal on a Prius once just because they were tailing me.”
Weigel spoke to a seller of coal rolling customization equipment who described why some drivers see spewing smoke as a political protest.
“I run into a lot of people that really don’t like Obama at all,” the salesperson said. “If he’s into the environment, if he’s into this or that, we’re not. I hear a lot of that. To get a single stack on my truck—that’s my way of giving them the finger. You want clean air and a tiny carbon footprint? Well, screw you.”
For myself, I’ve always wondered, why go thru the hassle or expense of buying or building a giant, smoke belching noise machine, when a simple bumper sticker explaining that “I’m extremely insecure about my small penis”, would be so much cheaper.
Below, coal-rolling “humor”. Ha Ha.
This puts Climate Denialist in the hateful, disrespectful, and just plain stupid people that everyone can see removing any doubt for rational thought. This campaign will only backfire!.
This is a good thing! Never underestimate the power of stupidity.
“This campaign will only backfire!”
I see what you did there.
I wish I could say I’m surprised at this trend but I guess I’m to old and cynical. My first eye-opening exposure to these cretins was meeting people who, when they see a turtle crossing the road, don’t stop and rescue it like I do but aim for it because they like to feel it pop under their tires.
There is a segment of the population who feel it’s their god-given right to cut down, tear up, clear cut, and/or pollute anything, anywhere. You see this same mentality among many snowmobilers, ATV riders, off-roaders of all types, and many rural chuckleheads who feel that wilderness is improved by the addition of old tires and sofas. We saw this recently when some of the Cliven Bundy supporters insisted on driving their ATVs in a wilderness area full of irreplaceable archeological sites.
I don’t have an answer for how to eliminate this mind-set, though I think that educating the young may help, so I hope that the sensible majority can act to limit the damage they can do.
They will eliminate themselves…by inhaling the most toxic smoke there is, they wont be able to reproduce, or the children they do produce will be deformed or have other problems, and they will die from cancer or other causes related to diesel smoke…Darwin awards for all these morons!
Well, on the bright side, when their not “blowing coal” those diesel trucks still get better fuel mileage.
They are probably doing more harm to their pocketbooks and damage to their own trucks than they are to the drivers that they so hate.
They could probably be busted for tampering with the vehicle’s emission controls. Seizure of their trucks would put a damper on their fun.
I’d like to see the same seizures used to deter people who put illegally-loud exhaust systems on vehicles (esp. motorcycles).
Also vehicles with sound systems that rattle your windows with 120-140 db as a car passes your home.
You can’t do that, it’s racist!
Good point! I was wondering the same thing. Surely state emission laws would make this illegal (at least in some states). How is it even legal for these companies to install these devices ?
Won’t happen. Sheriffs get elected. One can’t get elected if they don’t have the ‘Billy Bob’ vote in these areas.
Aaack. “they’re”
There is something particularly disturbing about this type of misanthropic mindset. It feels like these people may be borderline sociopaths or worse.
Brings to mind this little gem of a few years ago…
http://www.changethethought.com/wp-content/hummercomic.jpg
They also do this to bicyclists, even if the bicyclists have children riding with them… hahahaha so damn funny and they’re so cool, ain’t they?
What part of the country are these Gommers from?
Those in the video, i don’t know. Those in general: WV, OH, KY, GA, NC, SC, FL, TX, LA, TN, AL, MS, &c. Really anywhere where you have a ‘rural’ population.
There was a push by Nashville to increase market share and growth in the early 1990’s which entailed appealing to teenagers and young adults with something called ‘New Country’ music. They created music videos that glorified ‘country’ life, where folks succumbing to a perpetual state of dressing in Halloween costumery – by their cowboy hats and boots – would ride around in well ‘detailed’ trucks through the mud, and further, small town America.
The idea was to tell young people it was quite okay, pretty ‘cool’ even, to live a small ‘country’ life, further giving them a music genre, an activity list*, and a dress code, that they may distinguish themselves from others, in order to sell their product. Never underestimate the popular music, tv, and film industries in their ability to shape a culture through hype and propaganda in order to sell a product. This is especially true in places with large amounts of uneducated folk, like the countryside; those folk are steeped in idolatry for music ‘stars’, race car drivers, and actors to the same degree they are for Jesus.
Anyway, the result was that a new youthful ‘truck’ culture started springing up, even in suburbia, where a 19 year old kid would buy a truck, put a suite of ‘detail’ or ‘bling’ on it and this would be part of his self identity. Perhaps it was also partly an offshoot from the general notion that American males are supposed to be attracted to ‘high performance’ engines and vehicles: hot rods, sports cars, &c., again pushed by one dimensional caricature on popular tv, movies, car and motorcycle advertisements (and music videos).
Coal Rolling just seems like the natural next-step in this cultural phenomenon.
*Activity list: ATV use, 4-Wheeling, line dancing, NASCAR observation, and other forms of truck use in rural settings, &c.
And to add to my previous comment:
http://youtu.be/KFjNPew-Yfs
And in case anyone hasn’t noticed, an inordinate number of these trucks are Dodge Rams, the penultimate cure for those with small penises and poor self-images.
When Dodge Rams first appeared in northern VA years ago, they were conspicuous because of the atrocious driving habits (mainly bullying) of their low-IQ and small penis drivers. (The biggest such offenders among early SUV’s were Ford Explorers and Jeep Cherokees).
I drive somewhat assertedly myself, and often looked up in my mirrors to see one of those puffed-up Ram grilles riding my rear bumper, even when I was going 10 miles an hour or more over the speed limit. Had some interesting “interactions” with several of them as I “educated” them on their driving habits.
Yeah, I recall a time years ago traveling on Rt. 60 (a two lane country road that somewhat parallels the interstate between Huntington and Charleston, WV), where some fella behind me kept flashing his lights at me. I think what he wanted was for me to slow down so he could get around me by illegally driving in the oncoming lane. But why would i do that?; I was already going the limit and wasn’t slow-poking around. After 10 or so miles the road finally branched out into 4 lanes and the guy honked and carried on then sped off into foreground. The situation had kind of a ‘truck entitlement’ vibe to it – ha, ha!
And of course I’ve had a few people get upset out here in Los Angeles because I was driving 5 miles under the limit…
Fossil corporations have paid a lot to make belief in CC a central identifier in America’s never ending ‘Culture Wars’. To quote Bendan Nyhan (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/upshot/when-beliefs-and-facts-collide.html) “Once people’s cultural and political views get tied up in their factual beliefs, it’s very difficult to undo regardless of the messaging that is used.” People are trying to understand how conservatives can KNOW about the 97% scientific consensus on CC, believe it as a fact, and yet STILL not believe in CC. I think a big part of the reason is this: fear. Of course, the internal fear that they will lose their cultural identity (“If I’m wrong on CC, what else am I wrong about?”). But, especially in conservative circles, there’s also a tribal fear that is fairly rigidly imposed. For example, Rush Limbaugh talks as though he will personally wring your neck if you, as a conservative, admit you believe in CC. And these “coal rollers” as well. Sure they are being personally antagonistic toward ‘greenies’. But rest assured: what such behavior is REALLY doing is policing their own tribal ranks. They are making other conservatives fearful of displaying the wrong tribal colors. It makes no difference to them that those colors were hand-picked for them by the Koch brothers.
The Koch brothers get their money from coal, right? Try Saudi Arabia.
Fred Koch, the father of Charles and David Koch, is famously known as having been an oil man. He helped set up oil refineries in the Soviet Union, that is, until his business partners were imprisoned by Joseph Stalin. At that point Fred Koch veered towards libertarianism and became one of the founding members of the John Birch Society.
In the United States, much of the Koch brothers’ wealth is concentrated in industries that support the oil production rather than consisting of oil production itself. Thus they own refineries (Flint Hills Resources, LP), own pipelines responsible for the transport of oil (Koch Pipeline Company, LP and Koch Alaska Pipeline Company, LLC), and explore, develop and trade in oil and natural gas properties (Koch Exploration Company, LLC). However, they also have major investments in coal (Koch Carbon, LLC). In Canada they are one of the three largest leaseholders of tar sands and has had a stake in Canadian heavy oil for half a century.
However, their business concerns are much broader than simply fossil fuel. Charles Koch is sometimes accused of being a micro-manager. In keeping with this, Koch Industries is the second largest privately held company, and it makes use of what is largely a vertical business model in which Koch Industries controls each stage of production, beginning with the raw materials and ending up with the Angel Soft toilet paper.
PS
I know what you are thinking, but with that last sentence I meant to finish with “… in your bathroom.” Even with the Koch brothers there is no reason to be too crude.