I saw a comment on things I own

Context
Slashdot had an article today on rumored toxic fumes emanating from Mac Pro computers. In the comments following the story, one person states that it's the smell of smugness and another adds that the smell would be particularly bad if an Apple got anywhere near a Prius. I own both an Apple and a Prius.

I found an online definition of "smugness" that said it was the state of being self-satisfied, but my print dictionary says it's being "offensively self-satisfied."

Commentary
Ever since my husband and I drove our Prius off the lot, I have heard comments like this from people I know: "you must be feeling pretty smart knowing how much less you're paying for gas than the rest of us." Actually, I'm not paying significantly less as I drive more than most of the people I know, but that's neither here nor there. These comments hurt my feelings because, probably without meaning to, the people in question are saying that when I have an advantage over someone my first instinct is to lord it over him/her. Smugly.

What's even more distressing is when someone I don't even know asserts the same thing. I was driving down Westheimer Road in Houston a few weeks ago and someone in a pickup truck yelled rude things at me because I was driving a Prius. He was actually objecting to my gas mileage, as if I was somehow using a hybrid engine with the express intent of showing him up.

These reactions confuse me. My assumption is that people make rational decisions about what to drive (and blog on) based on their personal situation: what they can afford, what's important to them (nobody ever seems to comment on the low emissions from my Prius, which was the main reason I bought it), what fits in with the rest of their lives. The funny thing is, people seem to be saying that they'd like to make the decision I did, they just don't feel able to. If that's the case, I sympathize with their frustration. Or does that sound smug?

What did you see today?