This reminds me of a study I heard about....a group of college students were
asked to grade their own paper, grade other people's papers, and then grade
their own again in light of the competition. The top %15 usually at first
only rated them selves as average, because they were highly self critical
and generally believed everybody else was roughly the same skill level.
People in the bottom %15 at first graded them selves in the top %15, and
then even AFTER grading other student's papers they still graded them selves
in the top %15.
It seems that if you are totally inept, you don't even have the skill to do
any self performance analysis, which often leads to delusions of grandeur
and/or persecution when things don't turn out. Directly applicable to SUV
drivers I would think... ;-)
-Carl
> -----Original Message-----
> From: james creasy [mailto:Black94PGT@pacbell.net]
> Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 10:28 AM
> To: Kelly, Katie; John J. Stimson-III; Lolita and Mike
> Cc: Larrybsp@aol.com; Sethracer@aol.com; ba-autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: SUV explosion - in numbers
>
>
> how revealing!
>
> i rode in an SUV a couple of weekends ago with a two friends
> and their two 2
> year old sons on a trip to napa. the driver, and owner, of
> the SUV kept up
> a constant dialogue during the whole trip about how that
> "f**king driver
> just pulled out in front of me, doesnt he know how to drive",
> while the
> whole time doing EXACTLY the same thing to other people, and being
> completely oblivious to it. he would curse anyone that
> passed him, or drove
> too close. he said "i dont like to go around anyone on the
> freeway", but
> would wait, cursing, a stream of dirty words behind anyone in
> front of him.
> once a car passed on the right which spurred another stream
> of complaints.
> it was clear to me he was simultaneously afraid and angered
> by the cars
> around him.
>
> unlike katie, i did not include myself in these digressions.
> i let my mind
> float free, watching as if from a distance; unable to believe
> i was part of
> this awful display.
>
> outside of the SUV, the driver was just another bumbling
> lawyer dude. maybe
> it really IS the SUVs that makes them drive that way!
>
> -james c
> OSP - Often Steering Plenty
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kelly, Katie" <kkelly@spss.com>
> To: "John J. Stimson-III" <john@harlie.idsfa.net>; "Lolita and Mike"
> <lomike@earthlink.net>
> Cc: <Larrybsp@aol.com>; <Sethracer@aol.com>; <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 9:58 AM
> Subject: RE: SUV explosion - in numbers
>
>
> > This brings us to the next question: how do you know if a
> person has, by
> our definition, a "legitimate" use for an SUV? You don't. As
> far as we know,
> everyone could be off road drivers.
> >
> > Me, I developed my disdain from having met and ridden with
> SUV drivers.
> They should not be allowed to drive.
> >
> > First example is my good friend and her new groom, when
> they traded in his
> really nice GTI for an Explorer. She wouldn't drive the GTI,
> that's why. And
> plus, the Explorer was for the "kids." That they didn't have
> at that time,
> but they were planning ahead. And we, and this other couple, were all
> sitting around at this alumni swim meet, talking about SUVs,
> pros and cons.
> You can imagine what side I was on. This was years ago, right at the
> beginning of the SUV trend, when I thought maybe my words could make a
> difference. I talked about statistics and stories I had read,
> about SUV
> drivers running people off the road and never knowing it due
> to the quiet
> and solitude of their enlarged metallic wombs. Which they
> regarded as a
> safety feature. "That's it, safety. That's priority one for me," said
> Daniel. I knew then that I could not win.
> >
> > That was the beginning of my disdain, only the mild
> beginning, when I got
> to see how these people really tick. Since then, I, too, have
> been run off
> the road, and I can still hear the cackling.
> >
> > Then, about a year ago, I met up with some high school
> friends that I had
> not seen since I was fourteen. Marla and Sonya (fake names),
> ever the grown
> ups now, pulled up to my house in Marla's SUV monster, its
> name I cannot
> recall, so I'll call it the GMC Subdivision.
> >
> > By now, I had created in my head a clear division between
> "us" and "them."
> I knew that by getting into that vehicle, that I was crossing
> over to the
> other side.
> >
> > I sat in the backseat, an unwilling guest, yet I tried to
> be open minded.
> She was, after all, a childhood friend, and how shallow I
> would be to hold
> this against her after all of these years.
> >
> > We lumbered down the road towards the restaurant, and I
> noticed that curbs
> and things really did not matter to her. All that mattered
> were the people
> in her way, which was everyone. I knew, with just a flick of
> an ankle, she
> could run them all over. She knew it too, and so did Sonya,
> and that's why
> they screamed and cursed at all the drivers, warning them of
> the emanate
> danger, of what could happen if they wronged her, if they
> blocked her path.
> Our path. I was guilty by association. I wanted to disintegrate.
> >
> > There is something I discovered about Marla, although I had
> not seen her
> in fifteen years. She was the same person. Good on the
> inside, and kind, but
> sensitive enough to want to rip off the head of anyone who
> looked at her
> funny. Stacy was the toughest girl in school. She'd fight
> boys and win. She
> gave herself tattoos, and would light her hair on fire for
> fun. She did not
> care what anyone else thought when it came to mutuality and
> understanding.
> >
> > That is why she drives an GMC Subdivision. This tank is an
> extension of
> her true self. People hide behind these walls of steel,
> thinking they are
> impenetrable to the world, that they are superior. They
> probably run over
> bunnies and laugh.
> >
> > I know she'd run me over if she read this. That's why I
> changed her name.
> >
> > Katie K.
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