We don’t own cars anymore; they own us – ownership defined as being in control of a thing. Well, our cars more and more and more control what we’re allowed to do. So, who owns whom?
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Hi Eric,
Here’s another one from the article that will resonate with you.
“Still, something even worse has happened to automobiles than their new-found disposition to whine and bitch. They have become boring and abstruse-rounded about with lumpy bumpers and Targa bars, and, under the hood, resembling the back of an Atari game. For those readers too young to remember, a car used to be a simple piece of machinery, something like a very fast rider-mower but better because you couldn’t mow the lawn with it. You started this up, drove off at pretty much any speed you desired, and then exercised a variety of constitutionally guaranteed liberties usually by having sex and accidents. No more. Nowadays if a car cannot survive a drop from the Gateway Arch or it emits any vapors more noxious than Evening in Paris, the federal government won’t let you own it, and what it will let you own you can’t really drive because 55 mph is the speed at which a spirited person parallel parks.”
Cheers
Hey Eric,
Have you ever read PJ O’Rourkes “Safety Nazis”? http://www.unz.com/print/Inquiry-1982mar15-00007/
He was outraged in 1982!
Some choice quotes:
“I was depressed the other week and did not know why. My finances were in no more than normal disarray. The girlfriend and I weren’t getting along any worse than usual. I was not under indictment for any felony I could think of. Still, I was blue. Days passed before I realized what was the matter: My car was nagging me. I don’t like seatbelts. They make me feel like an eighteenth-century sea captain. If the car is going to have a
wreck, that’s its business. I will not be compelled to stay aboard. Yet each time I demur at fastening this contrivance the car lets out a horrid electronic scold…”
“The forces of safety are afoot in the land. I, for one, believe it is a conspiracy – a conspiracy of Safety Nazis shouting “Sieg Health” and seeking to trammel freedom, liberty, and large noisy parties. The Safety Nazis advocate gun control, vigorous exercise, and health foods. The result can only be a disarmed, exhausted, and half-starved population ready to acquiesce to dictatorship of some kind.”
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Yes, of course!
PJ is a great writer; the only problem with him is that he is a Republican.