Harry Shannon
The Hamilton Spectator has a one-page section each week entitled “Wheels.” Last Friday there was an over-the-top review of a Dodge muscle car. Here is my subsequent letter in the paper:
It isn’t exactly what I sent to the Spec, as it’s known locally. The editors removed (censored?) a sentence and reworded a sentence in the penultimate paragraph so it isn’t properly grammatical. As well, my wife Eileen had suggested the title “Yesterday’s wheels” but the subtlety was apparently missed. Here’s the letter that I sent:
Yesterday’s wheels?
It’s great that the Spec continues to publish reviews of supercharged gas vehicles (e.g., Wheels, Jan. 24)
I know that some people will complain that they’re often noisy, over-powered and highly polluting. But these vehicles are important for males who feel, er, deficient in their own manliness. They help their owners maintain the level of machismo they crave. Indeed, the reviews read as if the authors type them while throbbing with excitement.
Sure the vehicles contribute excessively to climate change, but what’s that compared to being able to get off on disturbing unfriendly neighbours at all hours and smothering them in exhaust fumes?
Sadly, in a few years, we will all be buying quiet, emission-free electric vehicles. But there is a silver lining: with EVs, it’s all torque and plenty of action.
Harry Shannon, Dundas