A politician who serves as a city council member in North Vancouver, Canada, triggered outrage on social media after he posted a picture of a large pickup truck on Twitter and captioned it, “The glorification of violence and domination. #unnecessary trucks #petromasculinity.”
The glorification of violence and domination. #unnecessarytrucks #petromasculinity pic.twitter.com/gb6Dxqq9hN
— Mathew Bond (@mrmathewbond) January 17, 2021
The truck, which had a large plate attached to the front reading “Global Warmer,” catalyzed Mathew Bond to slam it for its dismissive attitude toward global warming. After blowback ensued from his tweet, Bond launched a Twitter thread addressing the issue in which he accused some of his critics of mocking him as unmanly, while he speculated that some of the owners of similar trucks were trying to prove their masculinity.
The District of North Vancouver website explains that the Council “establishes administrative policy, adopts bylaws governing matters delegated to local government, and levies taxes for these purposes. Council is also empowered to manage, acquire, and dispose of the District’s assets.”
Bond started his thread by writing, “A lot of the replies to this tweet (which Twitter has graciously ran through the quality filter) are reinforcing the point I made. Wow, never expected to have so many people on this website thinking about my penis (especially dudes). Weird, but thanks? Trucks are necessary in many rural areas. Designing or modifying them to be more dangerous to others than they already are is unnecessary.”
“Glorifying global warming, when millions around the world are suffering from its impacts, is sad, harmful and disgusting,” he continued. “Since everyone seems to be enjoying this pile-on, here’s a few more things you might enjoy as you head into the week. The fact is that trucks (all vehicles in fact) are being designed larger and more powerful than they have in the past. Pick your favourite light or mid duty model and compare today’s version to that of your parents (or grandparents if you’re young).”
“The design, specifically the size and height of the front of the truck, is more dangerous and can cause more harm to others on the road than it used to,” he commented. “Lift it up 6″ inches plus, put a big bull bar on front, and the affect is amplified.”
Bond speculated, “From the replies Twitter has shown me, it seems a lot of people haven’t thought about this. Or they have thought about it and don’t care about the impact on other people using the road. Or they’ve thought about it and decided that having a bigger, more powerful truck with modifications that are going to be more harmful to others in a crash is somehow more ‘manly.’”
He turned to accusing his critics of misogyny: “And that a man that has thought about the impact of the size and mods on these trucks, or who cares about the harm that global warming is having on people around the world is a sissy, a p*ssy and a girl (as if being a woman is an insult). The misogyny is pretty disgusting.”
He concluded: “The mental leap from ‘the message on the truck is harmful, glorifying global warming is violent and the size/mods on this truck make it more dangerous for others on the road’ to ‘Mathew is a d***less, ball-less, spineless, soy latte drinking, city living p*ssy who’s never done a day of ‘real’ work in his life, sits down to pee, hates all trucks, the hard working people that drive them and wants to control our lives’ actually illustrates the toxicity I was mentioning in the hashtags better than anything I could have done myself.”
Wow, never expected to have so many people on this website thinking about my penis (especially dudes). Weird, but thanks?
— Mathew Bond (@mrmathewbond) January 17, 2021
Glorifying global warming, when millions around the world are suffering from its impacts, is sad, harmful and disgusting.
— Mathew Bond (@mrmathewbond) January 17, 2021
The fact is that trucks (all vehicles in fact) are being designed larger and more powerful than they have in the past. Pick your favourite light or mid duty model and compare today's version to that of your parents (or grandparents if you're young).
— Mathew Bond (@mrmathewbond) January 18, 2021
From the replies Twitter has shown me, it seems a lot of people haven't thought about this.
Or they have thought about it and don't care about the impact on other people using the road.
— Mathew Bond (@mrmathewbond) January 18, 2021
And that a man that has thought about the impact of the size and mods on these trucks, or who cares about the harm that global warming is having on people around the world is a sissy, a pussy and a girl (as if being a woman is an insult). The misogyny is pretty disgusting.
— Mathew Bond (@mrmathewbond) January 18, 2021
. . . who's never done a day of "real" work in his life, sits down to pee, hates all trucks, the hard working people that drive them and wants to control our lives" actually illustrates the toxicity I was mentioning in the hashtags better than anything I could have done myself.
— Mathew Bond (@mrmathewbond) January 18, 2021