The American Spectator

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p> PHARISEE SOUP br> Re: Ben Stein's Roadway Pharisees : /p> p>Interestingly, the Pharisaicism of SUV-haters is not evidenced by a self-denying modesty: far from it. Rather it rests in the beggar-thy-neighbor attitude of denying others their pleasures, while quietly enjoying one's own little trinkets. SUV haters would be horrified to hear that houses of more than four rooms were to be taxed into extinction, or that energy-inefficient sink holes like opera houses, art galleries and public libraries might face punitive fiscal treatment. That grand Pharisee, Bertrand Russell, tells an engaging story about a child enrolled at his experimental school who put hatpins in the soup. Asked by Russell whether she had thought about the risk to herself, she replied, "But I don't take soup." Indeed. br> -- Lawrie McFarlane br> Victoria, British Columbia /p> p> Ben Stein's article about the SUV pharisees reminds me of an incident in Denver about ten years ago when I was a hotel doorman. A pair of guests arrived in a run-down old Buick that was so out of tune it was barely running, and was emanating a ghastly trail of pollutants. The driver was wearing a shirt (actually, if memory serves his wife/girlfriend was wearing an identical shirt) with a montage of cute wild animals on the front, along with a message along the lines of "I refuse to pledge allegiance to a country that [devastates the environment]." When they checked out, they couldn't get their car started because it was so out of tune. Having had some experience with cars, I nursed the car to life for them, but couldn't even look them in the eye. Imagine, someone who would disown his own country for the sake of a feeling of self-righteousness, before spending $100 on a tune up which would actually do some good. br> -- Ted Angell br> Florianópolis, Brazil

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