Here in Los Angeles, you are what you drive. It appears that the same holds true elsewhere. The W$J reports:
... just as the country has polarized along political lines between red-state Republicans and blue-state Democrats, a similar map could be drawn when it comes to hybrids: Blue-state drivers are embracing them much more than their red-state counterparts are. Similarly, red-state drivers tend to be bigger fans of SUVs. And as regional preferences for vehicles vary, so does related legislation: It's the blue states that are providing more incentives for people to buy hybrids.
And then there's this Beliefnet story on "metrospirituals" (presumably a meterosexual that goes to church?):
Do you go out of your way to buy organic food? Have you thought about the wu wei in your home? Have you tried yoga, belly-dancing, or surfing recently? Are you attracted to traditional crafts from other cultures or have you started knitting? Do you own a Prius or have you thought about buying a hybrid car? Are you a tea connoisseur or an organic wine- and beer-drinker? Is there a certain aromatherapy scent that brings you comfort, especially in candle form? If most of your answers are yes, then count yourself among the growing numbers of metrospirituals—the kinder, gentler post-Yuppies who want to treat the earth and native cultures with respect, connect with their inner source and inspiration, test their bodies and expand their minds with ancient physical practices—and do it all with serious style.
Do "crunchy cons" drive Priuses? Probably. Personally, "I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object." Roland Barthes (1915–1980), French semiologist. “The New Citroën” (1957). In the language of that wonderful metaphor, the decision to buy a Prius is not unlike an agnostic choosing to visit one of the great Gothic cathedrals. You have chosen to be in but not of the experience.
