Cars, cars everywhere. For everyone. Several per family,
per person and for all occasiosns. It's the uninterupted rat-
race. They are everywhere. They invade the towns, you see
them on the tele, postered up on walls, in magazines and in
the papers. Everyone talks about them, some fanatically.
Such people would kill if you took away their toys. It's an
irrefutable symbol of power, independance, social well-
being.
The car is relevatory of the feebleness of a society that puts
consumption and appearance on a pedestal. A car can have
a working life of some 20 years, of course. However, you
'have to' get a new one every five years, the offers of state
aid rain down. Why? In order to keep consumption riding
high. They could be solar powered to cut down pollution
and usage of primary resources. But, there you go, the
whole idea undermines the very basis of society. Today, not
only do you have to have a car in order to affirm some
social value but you also have to change it regularly in order
to affirm your economic status.
Most criticisms are levelled at an ecological level, or relate
to accidents: all the same it would appear that there are
many more reasons to question the car in society.
Today, since ecology is so fashionable great efforts are
being made to varnish over the polluting image of these
expensive lumps of metal. It seems that there are lead
pollutants... quick... get in there with lead free petrol and
catalyctic converters which will prove the final solution (I
didn't say anything) to the pollution problem.. If only when
we discovered solar energy we had put some effort into
attaching it to 'the four wheels' the lead problem - not to
mention carbon monoxide (poisonous) and dioxide (bad for
the ozone layer) other gases (acid rain), the depletion of
certain non-renewable primary resources (oil)- we'd have
solved a simple problem. It's quite unbelievable to see
however, that in the middle of the summer, pollution is at a
critical level (people are dying, children and elderly folk are
having respiratory problems) nobody will give up their car,
and, equally revealing, won't cut down on usage (don't
expect anything from the powers that be). So all the cities
are locked in a cloud of pollution - which has made it a
miserable summer and it's unlikely that lead free petrol will
save the situation. If there was anything we should try to do
it would be to try to use non-poluting renewable energy
sources. But, well, it's harder to buy and sell sunlight than
oil. You only have to look at the oil trade (it's pretty oil
slicks, burning oil wells, its great and heroic Gulf War), the
taxes on petrol (quite exhorbitant in France) to understand
the choice that has been made and the one that has been
abandoned.
The economic considerations don't end there because to
manufacture and run cars you needs loads of stuff (various
metals, rubber, oil, highly polluting batteries) which after
usage are dumped on nature or put in boxes (very pretty
from an aesthetic point of view). Nothing, or nearly nothing,
is recycled.
The second problem normally refered to is that of accidents
and the ensuing slaughter. Once again, the destructive power
of the car (or at least the person behind the steering wheel)
that is to say the death of humans and non-humans (ah! a
specist infiltrator!) is not the issue. What they are all worried
about is that we are talking about some pretty impressive
figures such as more than 3000 corpses a year (France) and
the years are compared to see which one was the best killer.
They are pleased to announce that this year on the weekend
15th August there were 1.2% less deaths than the previous
year, only 500 deaths (an example, the figures are of course
false but the principle is the same). Hey! we should be
shocked at _one_ death. All the measures taken are trivial
and simply serve to bring the statistics down. Well there's
unlikely to be a crisis of conscience or indeed any solution
based on the system. Indeed for as long as peeople don't
realise the danger of simply driving - without drink and at
normal speed - the only consolation is a fall of 1.2%.
A third aspect I find of interest is the social role of the car.
In fact this object is one of a group that lend themselves to
social valorisation. You are not looked upon in the same
light if you have a car that is either old or new, cheap or
expensive. And if you haven't got one it's not even worth
talking about. At no time is it looked upon as a useful object
with longevity or as a means to cover great distances
without taking two weeks over it.
No what matters are the aesthetics, the price (my bank
acount is bigger than my neighbours) comfort and
competition. Some young people push this to the extreme
because it gives them self-esteem, provides the link between
child/adolescent and a free and respectable adult. FREE. As
if a ton of metal could liberate us in some way. We are free
to give more money to the state via petrol, road tax, driver's
permit, fines (optional), insurance (private). Free to pollute
more, kill more or more commit suicide (not incompatible).
All is but appearance and consumption. The car can make
our daily lives easier but for sure it won't liberate us as long
as it is a vehicle (no pun intended) for a rotten value system.
Another aspect of this whole question it seems to me is
individualism. In effect everyone must have a car. Every
morning and evening there are miles of traffic jams each car
driven and occupied by one person. A desire to collectivise
is non existant (you only have to do a bit of hitching to
realise). However, it's less of a pain in the neck to be five to
a vehicle in a jam than alone (but if there were 5 there would
be no more jams!!??). After that everyone is surprised that
everyone is so stressed, tired and apathetic. However,
independance and individual freedom are the key words in
this farce.
Only a few of the terrible aspects of the car have been
touched on in this article, it is obvious that there are many
more (above all for motorways and the national network,
the organisation of towns around the car) my choice is
subjective. What's important is starting to think about the
real significance of the car in our society. I think it important
to fight the values it represents. You can at very different
levels. Fight for free public transport, against pollutants and
for alternative energy, to exclude cars from towns and
encourage bicycle, rollers, skates or foot usage, boycott
motorways.
And even if you have a car ( it's not a flaw) it should be
considered for it's use value whilst remembering that it is
dangerous and harmful
Jose'paldir
FREEDOM PRESS
http://www.lglobal.com/TAO/Freedom