Am I Missing Something?
So there's a lot of outrage about some people wanting to build a mosque near where the World Trade Center used to be. Why?
I get that Islamic extremists were responsible for the attack that killed so many innocent people, but Islamic extremists are a minority within the Muslim community. Or, at least, I'd like to think they are. From what I've heard, it sounds like the guy in charge of the mosque that's being built there is a moderate Muslim. You know, the kind you'd encourage all Muslims to be like.
Would there be this kind of outrage if someone wanted to build a church next to an abortion clinic that had been bombed by some nutjob who decided to kill people at an abortion clinic to prove that life is precious? Using the logic surrounding the WTC mosque hullabaloo, all Christians want to bomb abortion clinics. Since I'm a Christian and have no desire to bomb anything, I know that to be untrue.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Oh What A Feeling!...Of Unintended Acceleration
It's quite possible that I'm enjoying the current Toyota recall a bit too much. Really though, it's hard not to. Ever since Toyota killed off the MR2 and Supra, they have only built bland vehicles. Driving them is as much fun as clipping your toenails. A few years ago I would have said that all their cars have bland styling (which I suppose is still true of the Lexus brand), but that's no longer true. Now most of the Toyota- and Scion-branded cars are fugly. That's not exactly an improvement though.
Knowing that, it's hard for me to imagine how they overtook GM (who decided to take a few decades off from building quality cars) as the largest automaker in the world. Then I remembered that I'm not at all part of the target demographic for Toyota. Toyota owners simply want a car that, once they've bought it, they never have to think about. All Toyota has to do to maintain their position in the automotive world is to continue to build cars with bullet-proof reliability. That's it. Just one thing.
If you're that big of a corporation and you only have to continue to do one thing to be successful, how do you screw it up? That's why I'm enjoying watching Toyota get raked over the coals for this. They've let quality slip over the past handful of years, and now their reaping the benefits of that. Ah, I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning!
It's quite possible that I'm enjoying the current Toyota recall a bit too much. Really though, it's hard not to. Ever since Toyota killed off the MR2 and Supra, they have only built bland vehicles. Driving them is as much fun as clipping your toenails. A few years ago I would have said that all their cars have bland styling (which I suppose is still true of the Lexus brand), but that's no longer true. Now most of the Toyota- and Scion-branded cars are fugly. That's not exactly an improvement though.
Knowing that, it's hard for me to imagine how they overtook GM (who decided to take a few decades off from building quality cars) as the largest automaker in the world. Then I remembered that I'm not at all part of the target demographic for Toyota. Toyota owners simply want a car that, once they've bought it, they never have to think about. All Toyota has to do to maintain their position in the automotive world is to continue to build cars with bullet-proof reliability. That's it. Just one thing.
If you're that big of a corporation and you only have to continue to do one thing to be successful, how do you screw it up? That's why I'm enjoying watching Toyota get raked over the coals for this. They've let quality slip over the past handful of years, and now their reaping the benefits of that. Ah, I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)