AmbivaBlog: On Their High Horse

This is the classic children's book, Goodenough Gismo, by Richmond I. Kelsey, published in 1948. Nearly unavailable in libraries and the collector's market, it is posted here with love as an "orphan work" so that it may be seen and appreciated -- and perhaps even republished, as it deserves to be. After you read this book, it won't surprise you to learn that Richmond Irwin Kelsey (1905-1987) was an accomplished artist, or that as Dick Kelsey, he was one of the great Disney art directors, breaking your heart with "Pinocchio," "Dumbo," and "Bambi."

My brother, True Ancestor, posted this morning about the "spiritual whiplash" of going from a deep, still, vibrating Jewish meditation session into the cacophonous brawl of a Jewish school's driveway and parking lot, where parents in SUVs with one hand on the wheel and the other on the cellphone jockey for advantage and brutally cut each other off. This post evoked a storm of commiseration in his Comments section. Since I think it's a pity and an error to confine this discussion to the gefilte ghetto, I've decided to reprint my comment here, in the hopes of provoking more comments with a little more diversity:

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It's getting a little claustrophobic here . . . Are Episcopalian parents exquisitely polite in car lines? What about the Southern Baptist parents (in their pickups with Confederate flag stickers, eh, Dr. Dean?). Is this a Jewish or an American disease, a subset of affluenza?

Confession: I am bigoted against SUV drivers (though I have perfectly nice friends and even a sister who drive them -- they're the exceptions, of course). In New York I find them incredibly arrogant, generally. They seem to feel invulnerable, and that because they're higher up than you and their cars cost more, they deserve the right of way. They are Winners on their way to Very Important Business. You are a low-down loser, or you'd be driving one too. Cutting you off is an expression of Darwinian entitlement.

I have another theory about SUVs. They are the upper-middle-class equivalent of a blue-collar guy's bulked-up male body. Both men and women love them because they represent the male's protection of his family. Like hired muscle, they're a substitution of money for actual courage and strength. They're the family car on 'roids, rage and all.

- amba

Comments

Gefilte Ghetto? I need to get that on a T-shirt at once! Damn, what a great name for a blog!

I'm about to leave for my daughter's school and I'm going to do my best to see if I can keep my rising anti-Semitism in check.

How does your theory about SUVs apply to Hummers? When I'm between two of those in car line I just want to give up and join an order of ascetic monks.

Posted by: Danny | February 15, 2005 at 09:46 AM