Ugh. We DO manufacture our own brand of fools don't we...

So these states don't check emissions during inspections?

I do find this gross and unnecessary in the same way I think driving a Cadillac with 157" rims is (while not as destructive).

However, people that live in the country or more rural areas are consistently stereotyped as being ignorant, dumb and dirty, there for they either accept this stereotype or reject it. Much like many inner city low income minorities, they buy large status objects... like really expensive cowboy boots or really big trucks, which I hope you see comparisons I don't have to draw. Most of the guys I knew growing up were really poor, they went home to tiny trailers in crowded trailer parks.

This is just another extreme reaction when a a group without many means or opportunities to succeed short of joining the military is deemed poor, stupid, ignorant, hateful, dirty etc etc etc...

I've only been able to draw these general parallels to rural people whom I grew up with, to poorer people in the city where I've lived my adult life. More and more I see stronger reasons these issues are rooted in poverty and less about race. That also doesn't mean I don't think racism exists or that it isn't systemic.

Sorry for the rambling, I'm just an uneducated country raised city boy that has experienced life on easy "white male " mode as well as being judged a libertarian by my city liberal friends and an elitest liberal by my country family and friends.

So driving a hybrid electric car is an "ostentatious display of objects that mark a person as eco-friendly"?

There's no question that most full and hybrid electric cars are expensive. But if I did own one (and I don't, because they cost more than I am able to comfortably pay for a car), it wouldn't be because I was trying to ostentatiously mark myself as eco-friendly. It would be because if I'm going to drive a car (and I am at least some of the time) I'd prefer to drive one that's relatively more environmentally sound. And unlike an SUV or a big diesel truck or a car on 157" rims, these cars are pretty small and unassuming. Unlike a purse or a watch, there is no low-cost, off-brand version that you can buy instead if you want a car with electric functionality. So how exactly is owning one "ostentatious"?

This also a visible statement the guys in question do not believe in anything but themselves as independent beings, separate from anyone else. Pollution is a city-directed plot to take away "our fuel hogs"; climate change is a liberal plot to force world government; and any schoolmarm who tells ME what to do will get smoke blown in her face. Why? because they have no other outlet. They are near-unemployable; any job they can get is dead-end; and people from outside their culture laugh at them. So: "in your face" has become the acceptable way for an American young male to show himself. Everything is in opposition to what the Middle-of-the-road person (or the elitist) thinks is OK. Sort of like blustering as you are kicked out of the tavern.

As a owner/ driver of a diesel truck, I have to chime in. This article makes assumptions and implications that are just plain wrong.
1) Assuming that people who roll coal are all men (mostly white)... I know plenty of women and men of other races that love their diesels rolling coal. The author comes across as a sexist, as well as racist person with that statement.

2) The author implies that this is something that most diesel owners do. In actuality, this is a small subset of diesel owners. It is like the street racer/ricer crowd. A small subset of actual owners of imports.

3) That rolling coal is done just for grins, giggles, and spite. What the author doesn't explain is that all the epa crap that comes on the diesels actually HURTS engine efficiency. A well tuned diesel that doesn't have smog stuff on it actually rolls very little coal and gets excellent mileage for a big vehicle. Rolling coal does happen when bigger injectors are needed for more power. There is no way around smoke without ruining engine efficiency. My truck has no catalytic converter. It is straight piped into a turn down muffler. I run a power chip in my computer, rest is stock. I roll coal when under load (not as bad as some of the pictures). No biggie. I have a 10,000 lb truck that gets an average of 20 mpg. I should get a save the environment badge as I am actually burn less fuel per mile per lb of vehicle weight than most "Fuel efficient "cars.

That being said, the idiots that roll coal in people's faces, open windows, etc on purpose need to have the stuffing beaten out of them. That is just plain rude and dangerous. However, on the flip-side, The tree-huggers that want to rant and rave because I drive a big 4 door diesel that throws some smoke when under load, well, they all need a lesson in manners too. Maybe if they would quit circle jerkin each other over how "green" they are, they would treat others with kindness instead of dripping contempt.

I happen to own a " jacked up diesel truck" and yes it smokes. I do not do it every chance i get. Nor did i build the truck to do so. I built the truck to make power. I use the truck to tow large trailers, and plow a lot of snow. (I live in buffalo NY) the smoke can be fun and i personally think it looks cool. Yes i know it isnt green. But all in all hybrid cars are not as green as one might think. Since they have batteries that are made from nickle. And other things obtained from mines. Guess what they use to mine these? That's right unregulated diesels that smoke...... then after a few years that battery is no good. Then all that money you saved on gas goes into buying a new battery... starting that cycle over again. So i will keep my truck because i use it like a truck and i like it. Oh and i can't beat 28.2mpg in a 7000lb truck.

I am glad to see the hicktruck-and-coal-rolling fad getting some much-needed attention from sociologists, and Dr. Wade's analysis concerning "conspicuous pollution" as an identity statement makes a lot of sense to me. However, I question the bit where she says this is a phenomenon of "mostly white, working class, rural men." On the contrary, I propose the fad is driven by young, white, middle-class, suburban men, and signifies an affected identity I refer to as neo-redneckery. The vehicles are enormously expensive ($50-100k+ depending on factory options and customization), too much even for conspicuous consumption by the working class, and in my own observation they are far more prevalent in suburban environments. (Rural vehicles, at least here in New Mexico, seem on the whole a pretty utilitarian lot.) The neo-redneck is an affluent male of suburban extraction who consciously affects an identity that he thinks embodies the values of the rural "heartland" or the frontier: manifest destiny, nativism, American exceptionalism; a view of the environment as something to be conquered and raped; rigid gender and racial roles; and of course the symbology of self-reliance and physical aggression (guns and trucks). Insecure in his adopted identity, but endowed with ample funds and leisure time not classically associated with rural working life, this male acts out by accessorizing and exhibiting his swollen ride and using it to antagonize the deprecated social order and liberal culture of the city.