You catch more flies with honey…

I was surfing YouTube, looking for GM videos about the Volt. I like downloading them and playing them through my AppleTV. (yes, I’m a geek) Everything was fun and then I saw, in the sidebar of related videos, this incident captured on video and uploaded. It really bummed me out.

To put this in context, this is less than a week after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown. I’m a father of three and the terrible news has really affected me deeply. It’s always in the background of my thoughts. I’m haunted.

Then the gun control debates began of Facebook.

I like that many of us use Facebook as a way to reach out to others about things that concern us. That was the first place I started crowing about my Volt. One day, I think a record of all the postings on Facebook will be invaluable to historians. What concerns me is the lack of civility in the gun control debate. There are complex issues here and both sides of the argument have compelling thoughts and statistics to back them up. I don’t claim to have any answers, although I’ve thought about the issue for a long time. I have friends on both sides of the argument. I myself have been a gun owner in the past and enjoyed target practice. On the one hand, I do believe a government has a lot tougher time becoming tyrannical if the populace is armed. I also have seen cultures have high percentages of gun ownership and handle it maturely and with low levels violence. On the other hand, I’ve seen Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hook, et al.

As I said, I don’t have answers, just questions. This is a life and death debate.

Now, back to the world of EVs.

I am concerned about the lack of civility and plain old decent conduct in almost all public debate on any issue. Those surrounding EVs are no different. Is global warming real? If so, does man play a part in it? I have attended parties where my host called me an idiot for my views although I never resulted to name-calling. Are EVs able to be cost justified when compared to gasoline powered vehicles? I’ve seen debates on Facebook where name-calling started with the first posts, not after things got heated. I’ve heard people called fools because their battery will be dead in a year and cost a fortune to replace.

Those of us who have purchased EVs did so for multiple reasons. Some environmental, some not so much. I have to admit I think my Volt is cool and fun to drive. But, if we did include environmental impact as part of our reasoning, it behooves us to bring others around to the point that they will at least consider an EV when next they purchase a vehicle.

As the saying goes, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

The woman in the video on YouTube, is a terrible ambassador for environmentally friendly vehicles. The comments left by others deride her ownership of a Prius. Just as it would be uninformed for someone to assume the motivations that prompted us to buy an EV, she is uninformed when she derides a person in the field of marketing owning a large truck. She uses offensive language in front of the truck owner’s children. What she did was just flat out wrong!

It is true that certain media outlets have derided EVs, ridiculed the owners and supporters, for political gain. This is not the fault of the viewers who become misinformed. We may have people with good intentions try to explain to us how deluded we are for having fallen for the marketing hype.

I used to work for Apple. They had a practice of “assuming positive intent.” When conflict arose in the workplace, each side was encouraged to see that the issue between the opposing sides may have been generated by each side trying to do what they felt was right and that if the opposing sides would assume this, they could work through the issue without damaging workplace relationships. It’s a good policy.

When you come across people who are a bit abrasive in their comments about your vehicle choice, try not to get pulled into an angry altercation. Remember that if we want to save the planet (and our country), we’re going to need their help as well. People dig in their heels when confronted with negative aspects of their own behavior. That’s the last thing we want.

Let’s keep it civil out there!

I got really ticked off by a 20 month old posting on a political website that derided owners of EVs. It included the sentence, “What the Volt, Leaf, and Liberals have in common, however, is the high cost of stupidity.” I responded in the post’s comment section with the following:

“For the second year in a row, the Chevy Volt sits atop Consumer Report’s owner’s satisfaction survey, a position that used to be held by the Porsche 911. Try as you might, the conservatives are not going to kill the Volt, even with the false claims that they “burst into flames.” As of the end of November 2012, 28,825 Volts have been bought. Those 28,825 owners are out there raving about how great their Volt is. Their friends are getting interested. A tipping point will be reached and I believe it’s not far away.

My last three cars were Lexus ES300’s. I won’t be going back and my money went to an American company this time. Why is that bad?

My fuel and maintenance savings make this wonderful car a MUCH less expensive vehicle to own than my Lexuses were. Most days, my entire commute is performed on wind generated electricity. Better for the environment. Better for national security. Better for American jobs.

Yes, Volts are currently subsidized by the government, in order to steer people toward considering this new technology. The government also subsidizes property ownership by giving tax deductions for mortgage interest because as a culture we think it is better for people to own homes rather than rent them. Some of us also believe it is better to pollute less, use American resources rather than foreign, and support the American workforce.

Early adopters will always pay a premium for being the first to adopt a new technology but they’ll also be paving the way for economies of scale that will reduce the price over time. The first VCRs were $1,300. They ended up being less than $90, once mass production got rolling.”

I kept it civil, as I wanted to “rise above the fray.” This morning, I received an email from the writer of the post:

“Dear Buzz Smith,
I wanted to thank you for your comment at Capitol Commentary (http://capitolcommentary.com). I appreciate the time you spent visiting and commenting on my blog and I hope to see you here again in the future.
Best regards,
Harrison”

Yes, it was probably an automatically generated reply, but it made an attempt at returning to a level of civility and I have to admit, made me a bit less angry. Let’s each of us have an “automated reply” in the back of our thoughts so that, when confronted in a rude manner we can defuse the situation and possibly help the other person see from our perspective.

One of my favorite movies is “An American President.” I’ll close with my favorite lines from the film:

“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.

Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”