As American As�
I really don’t like Hummers. And it’s not just because I am opposed to our newly elected governor who drives and promotes these beasts of the road. And it’s also not just because they’re menacing and bossy. It’s because to me they stand for something very, very American and, in turn, very, very scary.
This is why I love Slate’s Seth Stevenson’s critique of Hummer’s new ad. The one where the kid builds a Hummer-looking soapbox car by stealing wood from a dog house, is mocked by all the other kids because of its unorthodox appearance, and ends up pulling through in the end by “off-roading” (read: cheating) his way to the finish line and getting first place.
Stevenson sums it up correctly: “Of course, some will love the shameless Hummer kid and his take-no-prisoners, win-at-all-costs individualism. Not coincidentally, these are the sort of people who buy Hummers.”
