The Deeper Lesson Coal Rollers Accidentally Teach Us – CleanTechnica

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

It doesn’t matter who you vote for. You could be the most dedicated MAGA Republican on the planet, but if you’re driving an EV, some people will make assumptions about you. Worse, some of them will pull alongside you in a modified diesel pickup and spew a cloud of black soot onto your car. “Owning the libs” is the name of the game, right?

Here’s the thing, though: it’s not all about politics. If you look at the kind of driver who does this, it’s almost always a guy. While I’m sure there are exceptions, very few women are even interested in driving a modified diesel pickup. While jokes about male anatomy are both cliche and unhelpful, there is a core of truth to them because we know this is the kind of thing men are more likely to do than women.

This has led some researchers to coin terms like “toxic masculinity” and “petro-masculinity,” which point out warped forms of masculinity. In response, the people engaging in behaviors like coal rolling and being abusive toward women try to re-frame those arguments as being against all masculinity, and not just the distorted versions of it that lead to the bad behaviors.

But, anyone who took much history at the college level knows that these issues are much older than modern feminism, pickup trucks, and even the Industrial Revolution. Conspicuous consumption has long been a way for wealthy people to show off their status and signal power to others. Fancy things aren’t just a sign of taste, but of ability to spend. It’s a phenomenon that’s literally older than history, with archaeological sites often finding signs of it.

In other words, it’s not some modern failing of conservatism or of today’s men to show off wealth through pointless consumption and opulence. It’s a normal human trait that has been with us for longer than we can remember.

Hijacking Our Desire To Flex

Marketers are obviously well aware of this human tendency, and are more than happy to take advantage of it. We usually associate conspicuous consumption with things like jewelry, watches, and expensive supercars, but while those are good examples, any excessive consumption will do. A pickup truck that costs tens of thousands of dollars with expensive wheels, expensive tires, a lift kit, and an aftermarket engine computer tune isn’t as cool as a Lamborghini or a Rolls Royce, but it still shows off a lot of spending power.

It’s not just the vehicle, but also the fuel, that can be part of the consumption. Fossil fuel companies know well that consumers will consume more if there are luxury vehicles, modified trucks and SUVs, and other high consumption vehicles ready to burn more fuel. They couldn’t get many women in on the fad, so it should be no surprise that these companies are targeting men.

Though, this isn’t just a matter of having something fancy that gets attention. It’s also a matter of maintaining the masculinity others see. Companies have successfully pushed people into thinking that threats to the dominance of fossil fuels are threats on masculinity itself. This manufactured insecurity gives them great power to keep consumption up and keep their jobs secure.

Today’s Gender Panics Make More Sense When We Follow The Money

While there are some limited exceptions, few people can say that they’re really affected if someone wears the “wrong” clothing or otherwise violates gender norms. If you see someone you disapprove of walking down the sidewalk, it doesn’t hurt you, ever. But, as we’ve seen in politics lately, people have been getting very passionate and sometimes ugly about everything from transgender people, a very-much-female Olympic boxer, and even Kamala Harris’s daughter. The bottom line: violate gender norms, even unintentionally, and there are people out there who will try to make you pay.

But in a world where politics and policy needs to tackle warfare, diplomacy with other countries, economic issues, violence in the streets, and housing shortages, it’s a little odd that some people in politics are making gender norms their central issue. When we have people roaming the streets homeless, is this really something we even have time to worry about?

But when we consider the amount of money that depends on gender-specific conspicuous consumption norms in the market, it’s inevitable that the money will make its way into politics. Oil companies need a constant supply of young men who think pointlessly burning their product is not only cool, but essential, to their identity. Other industries can also benefit from forcing people to adhere to gender norms and attaching products to those norms.

This obviously doesn’t explain the whole phenomenon of obsessing with gender norms. Religious considerations, the natural human instinct to dislike that which is different in others, and a generally overheated political environment all make contributions to this. But, when we see sponsors, donors, and others back it financially, it usually comes down to dollars and cents.

The Decoupling of Conspicuous Consumption and Fossil Fuels Is Already Underway

There’s some good news, though: society is starting to move on. Conspicuous consumption will always be with us, and men and women will always like different things. But there’s no reason that we have to destroy the planet having fun with jewelry and pickup trucks.

People who want to flex and look cool are starting to give EVs a second look, especially as militant-esque vehicles like the Tesla Cybertruck start to show up on more and more streets.

How did EVs go from being something regarded as weak and effeminate to being considered adequate for America’s aspiring strongman Dear Leader? A change in design priorities enabled by falling battery prices. The first EVs all had to look a bit avant-garde to have adequate range even for local and regional driving, but as battery packs could be bigger, designs that tried to do other things could emerge.

The fact is this: if we want to get people to stop pointlessly throwing soot around on the street, we can’t get there by attacking their masculinity or even appearing to do so. Instead, we should aim to provide better alternatives that still provide a visceral, raw experience. Electric trucks are starting to do just that.

Featured image AI generated. Have fun spotting all of the errors and weird stuff!