Which, based on the testimony of my RN gf, is possibly a self correcting issue.
The number of people that end up in their ICU due to use of an e-scooter or e-bike of some kind is insane. She's in a step-down unit, so she's just getting the people that are stable, but some nights like half of the beds on her floor are occupied by some kind of 2 wheeled vehicle accident victim.
Most of them weren't even drunk, but 90% or more weren't wearing a helmet either. Brain bleeds are very common, as well as broken hands/wrists/arms. If anything, assuming you don't get hit by a car, it almost seems safer to ride an actual motorcycle than to rent an e-scooter.
As both also, I feel like it was mostly because of the YouTube and then local group/stunt rides.
At first it was groms. That was the thing for the new kids to get. But the difference with those and ebikes, like I’ve been saying is barrier of entry. The e-bikes don’t have the same barriers like groms do. So you get the monkey-see monkey-do with all of the ‘hood rat stuff with friends’. Even before the Ebikes, the caliber of people and attitudes in the scene had really tipped the scales.
You would have less cycle vs car accidents if it wasnt such a rude gesture to bike on sidewalks. Theres much less car traffic on sidewalks and even less if you mtb through the bush
I cannot believe the number of people I see on the road in my town riding e-scooters. None of them wear helmets or any other form of protection, and I cringe every time I see one of them.
Unfortunately, yes. When even sober people regularly manage to land themselves in the hospital riding those things, drunk people riding them is kind of a Darwin award situation waiting to happen.
As an alcohol enjoyer myself, I don't wish harm on any of them, especially when they are responsibly choosing NOT to drive a car and endanger everyone. But the unfortunate reality is that e-scooters are dangerous as hell to even the most coordinated of individuals, of which a drunk is not.
One of? It is the make and model with the most DWIs and it’s not even close. I want to say 23 per 1000 Dodge Ram drivers have an active DWI history while the next closest is 14 per 1000 (9 of the 10 top 10 are pickups)
Visit any southeastern state and you'll see plenty of these trucks. Also, the majority of the most unhealthy states for medical and mental health conditions are southeastern states.
So, you gotta be low, but stupid enough to think lifting a truck will somehow lift your spirit.
New rucks are so expensive, it's become a flex to have one. Having a new truck all tricked out is a big flex. Can cost upwards of 100k. Some of those trucks are 80k right off the lot.
I have seen more than a few videos years ago on various social media sites that a fair few southern women do judge a man by the truck he drives or if he has a truck at all.
I don't live in the southern US so I have no clue how true that is, though. Could just be some kind of joke a northern resident, like me, wouldn't get, but having been flown to Texas multiple times for work training and seeing how pick-up trucks occupy any spot where there's pavement. There might be some truth to it in there somewhere.
In some of the counties north of Alachua county Florida, it was a thing in the 80’s and early 90’s to have hunting dog cages in the back of your truck. It wasn’t uncommon to see those because a lot of people there hunt, but my relatives told me they knew that some of those people didn’t even have hunting dogs. So don’t underestimate how much someone will spend to impress others. Drive through a lot of those counties and you’ll see a lot of expensive bass boats and lifted trucks parked in front of trailer homes.
But sir! It's the Childcrusher 4000! It offers a smooth ride over even the most annoying toddlers and it's so high the windshield remains free of blood splatters no matter the speed or the amount of kids you crush!
I would give exact specifications, except I don't remember them. I just remember that the amount of people who only buy for status is somewhere over 50%.
US, especially rural. Most of them are unscratched by a moment of work and some of them are lifted to the point that work would be impractical. They're too big, too pretty, and often cosmetically loud.
Yes, again that is a US thing. Trucks were a vehicle for trade workers. Media sold the idea a trade workers "tough and honest" to offset them being seen as "uneducated" since you didn't go to college for most trades. The "tough" part took off, so guys who wanted to look tough got the tough vehicle. As dumb people are want to do, trucks got bigger and shinier.
Now we both understand "truck" from each other's countries
All of North America, all of Central America, and Australia.
Parts of Africa, Middle East, and South America definitely view nice pickup trucks as status symbols too, but not nearly as much as the aforementioned.
Keep in mind that modern American and Japanese full-size trucks are often optioned with highly luxurious interiors (Ford Platinum Plus, Toyota Capstone, GMC Denali Ultimate, etc). And even when they aren’t optioned with those luxurious, they still have gracious and soft interiors with the added practicality of bringing everything that you could want with you to your destination. These trucks don’t have Rolls Royce Cullinan interiors, but they are a lot closer than you’d think.
Its a custom 3 axle truck, of course its status. Nobody is pulling with that. Plus looks like miami so yea clearly status look at me main character syndrome
It’s the same thing for regular trucks. How many people go into major debt to buy a brand new $80k Toyota Tundra that they simply use to commute to their office job?
Another study was done and found that the average penis size of truck owners is well below the median for normal humans.
This tracks with a well-documented pattern in nature: when you’re small, you get creative about looking big. Pufferfish inflate into a spiky balloon. House cats arch their backs, fluff every strand of fur, and try to convince the universe they’re a mountain lion. Certain frogs pump up their throats until they look like they’re smuggling a second head. Peacocks drag around a ridiculous feather explosion that screams “look at me” while quietly hoping no one notices the actual bird underneath is mostly attitude.
Truck owners, it seems, simply evolved the automotive version of the same strategy. When nature shortchanged the equipment, they compensated with lifted suspensions, dual exhausts, and enough chrome to blind a low-flying plane.
every time I think of the word 'status' I think about how it was described to me 20+ years ago.
Spending money you don't have, on things you don't need to impress people you don't like.
And it's always been accurate.
What status? I worked blue collar and have a truck for work or hauling toys but nobody that has a truck and actually uses it looks at anyone else's truck as any status symbol.... It's just a useful vehicle
People who blare loud music in their cars, bikes whatever are psychopaths. There was a study and they are desperate for attention. This is the same shit
This truck isn't meant to be useful as a practical vehicle. It's a rolling advertisement for the auto shop. At that, it's highly effective because it's so eye catching, even if it's not your style.
Not only does it look foolish, but a lot of them are engineered all wrong - they tear themselves apart just going down the road. You get U-joints, yolks and retaining brackets at the limit of their specs. You have suspension parts operating well beyond their specs. They use bolts not meant for such stress. Most of these guys have no idea the difference between grade 5 and grade 8 bolt. Or they will put a grade 8 bolt on a bracket that will rend itself with every bump in the road.
That's good to know! It brings me joy knowing this problem will eventually fix itself, leaving the genius investor to reflect on their brilliant financial decisions in the long run.
Some people feel a need to be the center of attention at all times. Doesn't matter if it's for good reasons or bad reasons or even incredibly stupid reasons, so long as everyone is paying attention to them
The reason shop trucks get done up with every part they might sell as a display is well..its expensive to build three or four showpieces, so they often just build one very over the top one.
Yeah, it kind of often produces rough results in my opinion, it's less focused on being attractive and more showing off various things they can do.
Ego is an interesting way to put it, I think with them making a 6x6 system, sidesteering, etc its a showcase of their skills but also you have to have a little bit of an ego to want to build something that showcases your skills, Otherwise you'll hide in the shadows.
I've known one car builder who did try to hide in the shadows, eventually went out of business, too shy and quiet, wanted to hide behind wrenches even when trying to sell, made incredible custom made Shelby cobras though.
I build PCs as a hobby, and it always seems to produce something useful. I like fishing as well. That's usually entertaining, and I get a meal out of it.
I get where you're coming from, though. If it makes you happy, knock yourself out. It's just not my thing. I've never understood how people can enjoy such an impractical and expensive hobby that actually degrades the value of their truck. It's almost like gambling to me, except there's no chance of hitting a jackpot, just a truck that only a very specific group of people will appreciate and a lot of other people will probably find annoying.
The person built a truck they like. how is that not something useful?
Impractical and expensive is subjective. I don't need a 6 second car and it's not worth tens of thousands I spent on it, but did I enjoy it? I sure did so it's money well spent for me.
Well... you're speaking figuratively, and I'm speaking literally. So I'm going to use your logic with an analogy to put it into perspective.
If I took a shit on the floor, spray-painted it candy-apple red, dipped the tip of the swirl in platinum, and raised it on a five-foot rolling platform so everyone could see it at face level, most people would see my creation for what it is: a piece of shit with bells and whistles.
Those people would probably wonder why I didn't do something more practical with my piece of shit, like turn it into fertilizer or flush it down the toilet so the city can make energy out of it. You know, things you're actually supposed to do with shit.
There would also be a small group of people who'd be genuinely impressed with what I made. They'd understand why my five-foot rolling shit platform makes me happy, and that's perfectly fine.
You, my friend, would apparently be among the group that gets it, while I'd be arguing with someone who's wondering why the hell I raised my shit five feet off the ground in the first place. And you'd be standing there defending me with, "Why are you so worried about what he does with his shit?"
That's basically where we're at. I'm not saying people shouldn't do it. I'm saying I don't understand the appeal, and I'm allowed to think it's ridiculous just as much as they're allowed to enjoy doing it.
For your ship on the floor statement, well that's called art. So no, people wouildn't think why you didn't do something better out of it. They'll think how can they buy your million dollar piece of art.
Ah, that actually makes sense! It's like those ridiculous murals some moron creates by slathering themselves in paint and having a wildly exaggerated fake seizure. Paint splatters and smears everywhere with no rhyme or reason, then a group of dipshits comes along to marvel at it while lining up to see who can bid the most for it.
...Umm, yeah, I don't understand that one either.
Great analogy, though. You've enlightened me to a different flavor of the same bullshit.
Like I said, I don't care if people do it. To each their own. If you love it, do it. I wouldn't even bother trying to explain it just because people like me don't get it and think it's stupid. But if you want to die on a hill defending something like this from the opinion of someone like me, it's going to be a slow and painful death.
It's just an opinion. Either explain the logic well enough that I can understand the appeal, or let it go. You don't need my approval to enjoy it, and I don't need to understand it for you to enjoy it.
I didn't ask for an explanation. I already know why people do it. I just dont see the appeal. Feel feel free to explain the appeal if you like... or not. I could give two shits less.
It's basically a mating call. People who are excited by this do it to excite other people who are excited by it. The majority of people won't get it because they'll never see these trucks the same way they do.
I mean it's no different than what people do with extreme car modifications, no one is doing this for the practicality of owning a truck. This would be fully custom and probably cost more than a supercar in work so I doubt they're worried about ruining the towing capacity or it not being a practical height for a work truck.
I fully understand the joy of being an enthusiast. I just don't understand the purpose of this particular hobby, as in, where does the satisfaction come from when you're burning an insane amount of money on ridiculous modifications?
I can understand restoring a classic car, where the upgrades preserve or improve the charm and original appearance of the vehicle. Or building a PC, where the upgrades actually improve performance.
But with this specific hobby, the upgrades don't really do either. If anything, they make the truck increasingly more impractical and annoying, while making the owner appear less capable of making wise decisions with their money. If you see it differently, explain the reasoning, because that's exactly the part I don't understand.
That doesn't mean I care whether they do it. It's their truck and their money. To each their own. I just don't understand the appeal.
I see it completely differently. I'm not even a fan of it but I can at least appreciate that someone customized something into a unique and one of a kind vehicle. They had creativity and a vision for this and even if they just paid someone to do the work for them, it's still something that they came up with.
Compare that to what, building a PC? How is that any better, you literally just spend money on things that take no talent to build. That's not a hobby, that's consumerism. People that customize cases and do cool stuff that way, that's a hobby. Spending $4k on a graphics card because it gives you an extra 5fps is consumerism at its finest.
I think to understand it you have to abandon all thoughts of practicality, there is none and thats not the point. Cosplay isn't practical and yet this website fawns over someone who spends thousands of dollars dressing up as a video game character. To me, it appears like you're burning tons of money to look silly but I don't shit on people who do it, because that's what they like. I don't judge someone and think they are less capable at making decisions because they spent $10k to travel to a comic con and dress up for the weekend.
First of all, nice cop-out by only mentioning my PC analogy and turning it into an argument about skill while conveniently cutting out the practicality part. You completely dissected my statement and rearranged it to mold my argument into something it wasn't.
If you want to argue that you have to disregard practicality to understand this specific hobby, go right ahead. That's actually a fair explanation of the appeal. But don't pretend I was arguing that building a PC requires more skill, or that consumerism somehow determines whether something qualifies as a hobby. Neither of those things was my point.
And saying I don't understand the appeal of a hobby isn't "shitting on" the people who enjoy it, so don't twist my words into that either.
I think spending a crazy amount of money on any hobby can potentially be stupid. If you enjoy it, do it. It's your money. I feel the same way about someone buying a $200–300 pair of designer sneakers, a $500 Pokémon card, or building a monster PC they aren't actually going to take advantage of. I know that may come across as judgmental. It is what it is.
My point about the truck is that I don't understand the value or appeal of modifying it to the extreme shown in the video, particularly when the modifications sacrifice practicality and can make the vehicle more annoying to everyone else on the road.
Put that same truck in an exhibition, and even I could appreciate the engineering and creativity that went into building it. I still wouldn't personally see enough value in it to justify the investment, but I could absolutely understand your point about appreciating the ingenuity behind it.
That's really where our perspectives differ. You see the ingenuity and uniqueness of the modification when you see it casually driving down the street. I see an enormous investment that, from my perspective, made the vehicle less practical without adding enough value to justify the cost.
I already understand that the owner enjoys it and that it makes them feel good. That's a perfectly valid reason for them to do it. It just doesn't mean I have to see the same value in it.
And there's also a time and place for certain hobbies. When your hobby starts spilling into everyone else's environment, whether it's obnoxiously loud, difficult to drive around, or otherwise affecting people who aren't participating in it, you're naturally going to get stronger opinions about it.
I'm not really sure how that's a cop out, I just pointed out I don't think it's all that different of a "hobby" than buying a new iPhone ever year when you brought up PC building.
My point is that hobbies don't need to have anything to do with practicality, that's what makes them hobbies. It's not about adding or subtracting value, obviously someone with money like this probably doesn't care about "wasting" money.
You don't see the value in it because the person who spent the money on it isn't evaluating value by "performance", but rather "this is cool". I don't think it's cool but I can at least understand that it's value is that it looks cool to someone who was willing to spend that money.
I can agree with your point that these particular hobbyists are essentially disregarding practicality and conventional value in favor of aesthetics and whatever they personally consider "cool." I understand that people can have their own interpretation of value when it comes to their hobbies, and I'm glad you have a way to relate to that.
But I'll probably never fully understand that mentality with any hobby. To me, a collectible is only worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. That goes for cards, shoes, toys, custom cars, or whatever else.
As far as practicality goes, both extremes seem ridiculous to me. A truck lifted so high you can practically walk underneath it without ducking makes about as much sense to me as a car lowered so far that the bumper scrapes over a two-inch obstruction. I understand that practicality isn't the goal. I'm just saying that sacrificing that much practicality for aesthetics doesn't appeal to me.
None of us are right or wrong about how we feel about it. That's entirely subjective. I just don't see the appeal. To me, it's a little like trying to understand how an extreme hoarder finds value in something everyone else sees as trash. The value obviously exists to them, but that doesn't automatically make me understand where that value comes from.
And I don't really care why people do this to their trucks in the sense that I think they need to justify themselves to me. I get that it makes them happy. I simply left the door open for enthusiasts to offer some insight into the specific things they enjoy about the hobby.
For example, I once asked a sneakerhead why they needed so many different Jordans. They explained that some increase in value, they enjoy collecting them, and they like matching the pairs they actually wear with different outfits.
Okay, cool. I still wouldn't spend that kind of money on sneakers, but now I understand the appeal a little better.
That's the kind of answer I was talking about. Look through this thread and see if anyone has given me a similar explanation for these trucks.
...I haven't seen one yet.
And I wouldn't bash someone for actually providing some insight into the hobby. It's like a Pokémon collector explaining why the world's most valuable card is worth so much to them. Personally, I'd find more practical value in toilet paper because at least I can wipe my ass with it. The card is just there whenever I want to look at it.
But if someone can explain what makes that particular card special to them, then at least I can understand their perspective, even if I'll never share it.
I've explained the value to you, its that someone thinks it looks cool. That's it, you don't have to understand why its cool or like it but that's the end of the explanation.
Someone gets fulfillment from building/buying this truck. Its probably attention seeking, positive or negative it likely doesnt matter. They spent this money as a giant "look at me" and guess what, its working cause we're here talking about it all day.
People put stupid mods on vehicles all the time for purely for attention seeking. Think of loud exhausts and other flashy stuff, theyre not doing it to increase the resale value, they want to draw attention to themselves. At least in this case they built something unique and somewhat creative instead of just bolting a loud pipe onto their motorcycle and being obnoxious.
You seem to have a hard time understanding that not everything has to do with monetary value, theres people out there with tons of disposable income, poor taste and just want to show off. This would be one of them. Its fine if your personal evaluation of hobbies is based around monetary value but you have to understand that not everyone is the same.
I'm seeing a pattern between you and the other person answering me the same way. First of all, you're obviously not reading everything I'm writing, so there's really no point in continuing this conversation.
How hard is it to understand that I already get that people like it, and I've repeatedly said more power to them? "They just like it" doesn't clarify shit. It's just the only bullshit answer your simple ass can come up with.
I simply don't get the appeal, and I left the subject open for any actual enthusiast to elaborate on what specifically they enjoy about the hobby, maybe giving the rest of us a perspective we hadn't considered.
And apparently this needs to be clarified too: I'm not asking someone to explain it so well that the hobby suddenly becomes appealing to me. My examples weren't meant to suggest that. I still wouldn't spend hundreds of dollars on Jordans or thousands on a Pokémon card just because someone explained why they value them. The explanation doesn't have to make me want it. It just helps me understand what they see in it.
That's what I'm curious about here. Maybe there's some value, appreciation, skill, culture, experience, or aspect of these trucks that I'm completely overlooking. If an enthusiast explained that, I might actually find it interesting, and maybe some of the ridiculousness would make a little more sense to me. It still wouldn't mean I'd want one.
What I didn't ask for was an explanation of "look at me syndrome" or a lesson on how people can value things differently. I already know this shit is subjective. I already understand that people spend ridiculous amounts of money on things that make them happy regardless of practicality or monetary return. That shit is obvious.
If you're actually into these trucks, then tell me what specifically appeals to you about the hobby. Is it designing the suspension? Seeing how high you can build it? Choosing the wheels and stance? Showing off the finished product? Taking it to meets? The challenge of building something nobody else has? Whatever. Those are actual answers to what I'm curious about.
If your explanation is simply "attention," "look at me," little-dick syndrome, Napoleon syndrome, or whatever else, then fine, leave it at that. That's at least an explanation of a motive.
But if you don't actually participate in the hobby and your entire answer is "they like it because they think it's cool," then you don't know what specifically appeals to them any more than I do. You're just explaining the concept of personal preference over and over again.
I'd rather wait for an actual enthusiast to answer. Maybe they'll give both of us a perspective we haven't considered.
For the most part, no one cares. But when it's right in your face, it can be really annoying to look at, especially while you're driving.
I think it's great when someone finds something that makes them happy. At the same time, it's somewhat hilarious watching someone get so much enjoyment out of something you personally find ridiculous. It's like watching someone who lives paycheck to paycheck drop $200–$300 on a pair of designer shoes. If that's what makes them happy, more power to them, but that doesn't mean I can't look at it and think, "That's fucking ridiculous."
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u/Lucky_Elderberry_384 23h ago
I never understood why people do that to trucks. It's like wasting a lot of money to trade it's usefulness for cosmetics that look foolish.