Ten Revelations

       1.      Automobility

I knew America was a car culture, but before taking this class I never really had a true understanding of what that actually means.  Cars became such a central feature in the American culture.  It was more than just the cars and road itself, it was about the ability and accomplishment of owning a vehicle and being on the “open road.”  Automobility was the true sign of freedom and escape for Americans.  It changed the way they viewed themselves along with how they viewed their environment.  Automobility opened up a whole new world of opportunity and travel.  “Moreover, it asserts automobility as essential to shaping the dominant meanings of “America” and “American.” (Seiler)  If you didn’t have automobility then you didn’t know the true meaning of “American.”   

       

2.      Individualism

Throughout history we have seen cars propel individualism in different ways.  Cars brought the feeling of self-reliance.  People no longer had to rely on public transportation to get around.  They could decide for themselves, who they were going to travel with, when they were going to leave, and where they were going.  The car represented the freedom of the individual and it still represents that today.  People still value the freedom to travel on their own terms, and the time they spend alone in their cars. The car is a bubble that separates everyone from the world around them.  Even when you are on a busy street surrounded by other cars you still have the feeling of being alone.  It’s your own personal cocoon.  “They like that the car provides a cozy conversation pit to share with their spouses, buddies, or children, or alternatively, they like the solitude it provides, the chance to crank up their tunes and belt them out.” (Lutz)       

3.      Racial Segregation in Automobility  

Cars were introduced as the key to freedom and the way to truly live your life, but a huge underlying factor of early automobility that I didn’t consider before the class was the exclusion of anyone that wasn’t an upper class white male.  They were advertising the road as a place without limits, a place for Americans to escape and be free, when in fact there was nothing particularly “free” about it.  In theory the road was a place without class systems of unfair hierarchies, but in truth automobility was defined by race, class, and gender.  “They simultaneously limited access to automobility through a system of discrimination and representation that positioned non-whites outside the new motor culture.”(Seiler)  There are numerous examples throughout Republic of Drivers of African American travelers facing discrimination and racial injustice.  Although the African American community was gaining more freedom related to driving, they still faced many social hindrances caused by racism.  “Blacks lived at freedoms edge” (Seiler)    

4.      Relying on Cars

It is seemingly impossible for so many people living in the United States to picture living their lives without their car.  People use it to get absolutely everywhere, work, school, the store…everywhere.  Most people have to own a car in order to have a job, and have to have a job to own a car.  Creating this vicious cycle of car dependency.  Owning a car has become so essential that some families have to sacrifice other basic needs just to keep their car running.  “The poor can’t live without the car, and the poor can’t live with it.”(Lutz)  It’s even hard for some households to consider sharing cars with their family members because it would inconvenience their schedule.  This increases the number of drivers and cars on the road. 

5.      Infrastructure, no one on the streets….   

One huge factor that contributes to American’s dependency on cars, it our poorly designed infrastructure.  “The traffic engineer is not concerned about pedestrians.  His mission is to make sure that wheeled vehicles are happy.” (Kunstler) Machines are the main focus and priority over humans, making it hard for opportunities in other forms of transportation.  There isn’t money seen in public transportation so companies are more concerned with the private realm, pushing community spaces out of the picture.  Our buildings and streets are designed to keep up with a fast pace life style, encouraging people to keep moving.  There needs to be big changes made in our infrastructure before we will see any changes in our automobility habits.  “First, the zoning laws in this part of town ordain a minimum lot size.  Your business has to occupy a lot of at least one quarter acre, whether it’s a hot dog stand or a car dealership, which makes for a lot of dead space.” (Kunstler) Our tows have become one big parking lot, making driving look even more appealing over any other form of transportation. 

6.      Media literacy

I learned a lot from our power tools and media literacy.  I can no longer look at an ad or a commercial without applying our power tools especially persuasive techniques like “big lie”, “bandwagon”, and “plain folk,” analyzing everything they are saying and showing.  It is amazing the amount of research and strategic planning that goes into each advertisement.  Media companies spend so much time and effort on carefully constructing each add specific to each individual target audience.  I also learned though our power tools that most ads appeal to our emotional brain rather than our rational brain.  Some advertisements don’t even include any facts about their product, they want the audience to strictly be driven by their emotions rather than thinking rationally about it.  This is especially true for car dealers and realtors, our class media presentations showed many examples of this occurring along with examples in our books.  “Here was a neat little sematic trick introduced by realtors as they became professionalized: the prospective buyer was encouraged to think of hid purchase as a home, with all the powerful associations.” (Lutz)

7.      Costs to own a car

When thinking about the money it takes to own a car, most people consider the initial price of the car and the amount they spend on gas.  When in reality this is only the tip of the iceberg.  Owning a car takes up a huge majority of family incomes.  People neglect to realize how much of their time and money truly goes straight into their cars for things like new tires, maintenance checks, windshield wiper fluid, brakes, and heaven forbid you get in an accident.  “While they note that we drive to work, less often do they recognize that we increasingly work to drive.”(Lutz)   People buy a car to have the freedom to travel, but they have to work longer hours in order to even afford their car, taking away from the time they can actually enjoy driving it.

8.       Health risks

“Cars affect our national and individual health in significant but invisible ways.”(Lutz)  Learning about all the different health risks caused by automobiles is one fact I almost wish I hadn’t learned.  There are so many different ways that cars are negatively affecting our health besides the obvious impact from gas emissions.  It’s terrifying that before reading Carjacked I had never been exposed to all these different health risks that contribute to our high rates of asthma, heart disease, obesity, and cancer, from using cars.  The facts about health risks like liver toxicity, birth defects, and early puberty behind the “new car smell” is absolutely alarming.  Many people believe that the air inside their car is healthier than the air outside their car, when in fact it’s the opposite.  You would hope that if people knew more about the amount of chemicals that are “exhaling” into their cars, they would be more open to walking and other modes of transportation. 

9.      Electric car

At first I was completely guilty of viewing the electric car as a cure to our oil crisis and dependency, and that’s why I really value the information and conversations we were exposed to about the electric car in our class.  I do believe electric cars are amazing and are a great step in the right direction, but they do create a false illusion for people who are not educated on the issues surrounding our car culture.  Electric cars require people to change almost nothing about their life style besides the type of car they drive, and it’s our life styles that are causing most of the problems.  Electric cars don’t put pressure on our city planners to change our current infrastructure to incorporate different forms of transportation, or to cater to people not cars.   

“Electric cars should be part of the solution — but the focus should be first on reducing use, providing real alternatives to the car, building communities that enable walking and biking, and living in ways that reduce our auto-dependence”(Watts)

10.  Corporate consolidation

“Street car companies received little government support, and the organized auto interests conspired actively to kill them off.”(Kunstler) Car companies like GM gained so much authority and political pull extremely fast that they had the wealth and power to buy up street car tracks and buses eliminating as much public transportation they could, decreasing options making people reliant on cars.  We also saw in, “Who Killed the Electric Car,” the influence the Government has in large oil and car companies making them even more powerful, which is something I hadn’t considered before.  They make decisions based on what will benefit their wallets best, even if it’s against what the general public wants.