Let's Stop This Now:
'Rolling Coal' Feeds Stereotypes
Mark Williams
PickupTrucks.com
Can we agree that this is not the right way to execute a protest? There have been several reports, including this one in the Huffington Report Green edition, about "rolling coal" protests. These articles portray turbo-diesel pickup truck owners in a light that won't do any pickup truck owners any good.
Anti-environmental "rolling coal" protestors intentionally dump unburned fuel into their truck's engine to produce a deep black smoke from the tailpipe (or smokestacks, if so equipped) — often aimed at Prius drivers — as a form of political protest or just to be a jerk. Either way, executing this type of throttle move to produce this type of smoke dump is stupid and, ultimately, bad for air quality. And it certainly doesn't help anti-environmentalists make their point.
The article implies that these pollution protests are only possible if expensive modifications are made to the trucks by pickup truck enthusiasts (seems like the author casts a pretty wide net here) who are going out of their way to fight the government's environmental agenda.
Whether this is a growing concern or just an example of a few bad apples, we can all agree this type of tailpipe exhibition and Prius targeting does not help anyone or any issue. If we allow this type of behavior to go unchecked or without consequences, it will affect all pickup truck owners, whether they drive diesels or not. We'll be the first ones to defend the right of free expression, but when a few bad apples receive the wrong type of attention for using a torque-loving turbo-diesel improperly, we need to call these guys (or women) out.
Let's stop this type of behavior before it gives other media outlets another opportunity to paint a stereotypical picture of pickup truck owners and enthusiasts.
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