Is Yates evil or is he funny? I absolutely think he is funny, entertaining and a great wordsmith who is more than capable of turning a clever phrase (setting aside the tired Cannonball stuff for the moment). Did he enlighten us with his coverage of this debate? No, but I did like the piece. I find Rush Limbaugh entertaining and I almost never agree with him.
Neither one are evil and they got where they are because they can entertain.
Whether we aid terrorism by wasting fuel in SUV's is the question, yes. We will not find an answer here. None of us are capable of answering that question and maybe no one anywhere can fully and correctly answer that question.
There is the "possibility" that we do aid terrorism by driving SUV's. But to what degree? Is it different from setting my thermostat 2 degrees higher in the winter? Flying wastes a lot of fuel. Should I not fly? What level of guilt do I want to shoot for here?
Does the USA's high per capita oil consumption make it more guilty? Yeah, maybe, and maybe we should raise the taxes on fuel in the US (I could support that). If we did that would there be less terrorism? If SUV's improved their fuel consumption rate would we reduce terrorism?
There are so many if's and maybe's at this point that chaos theory is likely to rule any answers. What is being proposed is that we play it safe and not drive SUV's on the possibility that there may be a causal link. Well, I think that is too much.
Yes, it is a concern and, yes, I wish SUV's consumed less fuel and, yes, I will feel some guilt associated with driving a Cayenne because of all that. And perhaps Arianna is moving us all in a better direction by raising awareness of this issue (even if it is for all the wrong reasons). But the reality, at least in the US, is that fuel cost is a very small consideration in the operation of an automobile. And it is not at all clear that the cost should be higher. And it is not at all clear that any of us should feel guilty about any of this.