Monday, July 04, 2005

Be careful of envy...

A certain kind of person (and haven't we all been that person at some point?) finds it very tempting to say "nobody really needs a _____", where that something is an ostentatious luxury good of some sort. But one must be careful with that kind of reasoning. Just as a mock definition of 'promiscuous' could be "anyone who has more sex than I do", a definition of 'ostentatious' or 'unnecessary' could be "anything nicer than what I've got".

So, the next time you criticize someone for driving an 'unnecessarily large' SUV, remember that you're opening yourself up for attack from the cycling advocate who doesn't think you need a car at all. Can they not use the same reasoning you do? Who gets to define what is 'necessary' and what isn't?

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