Hollywood and the Prius: So what?

When I saw the AutoWeek headline, Starring Role: Hollywood's love affair with Toyota's Prius continues, I thought why are the autorags so against hybrids? I'm pretty confident that every time a hybrid has been the lead story on AutoWeek's home page, it has always included a negative headline, yet some gas-guzzler can always take the cover guilt free.

So what if some members of Hollywood promote the Toyota Prius hybrid car - it's an awesome car if you believe in ending foreign oil dependency. It's an awesome vehicle if you are trying to help the environment. Yet, what percentage of automobile spots in Hollywood productions are reserved for the Prius, or any hybrid cars, for that matter? Not many.

Fortunately, the article wasn't really negative and I guess it is about the most positive press that can be expected from AutoWeek, whose editors seem to hate hybrids.

Sports cars and big gas-guzzling vehicles are the normal Hollywood prop, and what message do they send? That Americans are above the rest of the world? That America doesn't have to worry about the environment? That America is so great we can act stupid just to show the rest of the world how omnipotent America is?

Well America's materialistic greed has had consequences and it will continue to have consequences. Actions cannot continue to be judged only by how cool one looks, or at least how cool one thinks they look, but by the consequences of their actions.

Oil put America in Saudi Arabia and Bin Laden attacked because of it. Oil put America in Iraq and thousands of Americans have died because of it. Oil has made America Enemy Number 1 in the eyes of much of the world.

Hybrids, such as the Prius, the Toyota Highlander hybrid, or the Ford Escape hybrid might not be cost-effective for the average American yet. Still, somehow, they seem more cost effective than risking GM and Ford bankruptcy, energy shortages, oil wars, funding terrorism and the war on terror.

A recent study claimed that America could save as much as a trillion dollars by ending foreign oil dependency. So are hybrids really that expensive? Yet the government puts limits on hybrid vehicle tax deductions as it gives billions of tax payer dollars to the oil industry.

Ultimately, buying a hybrid means you are willing to fund a change and that's a statement that should cause pride. What kind of a statement does buying a Hummer or gas guzzler really make?