Fuck Cars

That's kind of analogous to saying we don't have a problem with zebras, but with zebra stripes. It's like that old joke, that the morons behind the wheel give the other 1% of drivers a bad reputation.

But on a serious note, even if we had some foolproof test to weed out the morons, cars are dangerous, loud, polluting, expensive, and anti-social. We have plenty of other reasons to dislike having a society built around them.

Any driver, pedestrian or cyclist/etc knows full well that there is no non-hostile way to interact with others when you're behind the wheel. It's just the psychology of operating a vehicle with enough mass and traveling at such velocities which destroy the human body. Our car culture was groomed by businessmen, and big business never cared about you and me.

So no, when I see a car or I see a highway, i dont see just a tool. I see a system which DEMANDS I give it my fealty, that I internalize it's propaganda that I oWn ThE rOaD and peer out from a tinted window tank with paranoia for all those community members that I'd otherwise meet while walking and cycling in cities made for pedestrians, rather than the hellscape of industry, of commuting from suburbs to be a drone in steel-tower-hives, of just-one-more-lane eminent domain dividing residental areas, dividing neighbors.

I dont like the word idiot. That it is common parlance isnt the defense of it's use we think it is. Eptymology reveals more than just ableism, no oppression exists in a vacuum.

I see the need for fast-transit for medical emergencies. I want an international supply chain for medicine. I see the purpose of transportation as tools.

When I say "fuck cars" I am not talking about "cars" as tools. I am talking about cars as

1. A culture

2. A system (working-class [can't retire b4 40]) americans cant opt out of

And

3. A lingering spectre; I was force fed and helpless to avoid enjoyment of it all: Hotwheels, NASCAR, Cars-the-movie and role models raising me.

Now in adulthood I have seen countless friends, and then eventually a close family member, ripped violently from this mortal coil by some selfish arrogant asshole's impatience.

From there you look to data: 35-45k Fatalities per year in the US related to Car Accidents, and manufactuers can improve odds of the operator/passengers surviving, but forget your neighbors outside the vehicle who are still struck by a massive projectile, right?

When I say fuck cars, No: It's not "Oh shucks i sure wish everyone would be patient and generous behind the wheel"

It's: "We have been boxed into a system of commuting which has alienated us from our neighbors. We must rethink fundamentally our approach to planning cities. Light rail, trains, cycling and walkable cities. I am full of Love and Hope fueled by Rage and Loss. I will make connections with my neighbors to counteract the alienation and hostility. I will do my damndest to drive like a demure grandma when i must be behind the wheel"