Because You Never Asked

     As the last grains of sand on this century's hourglass get ready to fall, there can be no doubt that from a technological standpoint our species has moved ahead at a dizzying pace. It's as if some kind of evolutionary dam holding back millions of years of human experience has finally cracked under the weight of so much accumulated knowledge and given way in one colossal tidal wave of hi-tech development. With regard to the effect this has had on our day to day lives, I've always felt that two inventions in particular have had the most impact: the automobile and television.

     Our subject here is the automobile, an invention whose massive daily use has jaded us to the spectacular technology it represents.

     Imagine a Connecticut Yankee of today taking King Arthur and the boys over to the nearest Interstate to watch the smooth running vehicles effortlessly gliding by at such blinding speeds. At the beginning of the 20^th century we were all King Arthur with regard to this high-speed environment of bullet-like lasers flying by on the ribbons of tar and concrete that have become the veins and arteries of our nation. We are truly living a world of science fiction come reality and it has happened, from an evolutionary standpoint, in about the time it takes to turn a crisp double play.

     The popularity of automobile use is not hard to understand. To be able to travel long distances in the privacy of your own vehicle, without having to depend on schedules or be tossed about by the teeming masses; to be privy to such efficient transport technology based purely on your personal whims or necessities, is an advancement for the human condition only the most recalcitrant could deny.

     When it comes to going from point A to point B with comfort and convenience, the practical function of the automobile is not in doubt. This fact does not keep me from questioning its use in a society based almost purely upon the exaggerated materialism of competitive business combat. Our society's "modus operandi" has coerced and perverted the automobile to such an extent, that its negative aspects --- traffic, pollution, etc. --- are now beginning to compete with the magnificence of the invention itself.

     The inspiration for this essay came while riding in a taxi on route to the "mall" in order to buy some sneakers. I would generally use my bicycle in traversing the 3 miles in question, but it threatened rain and I needed to make the purchase right away.

     So there I was, comfortably seated in a generic Chevrolet with over 150,000 miles on it, patiently waiting for a red light to fade into history, when the glittering silver form of a late model Mercedes slid up beside me. Through some recently developed reflex of human behavior, I instinctively turned to look at my temporary vehicular neighbor. In so doing, I made brief eye contact with its driver, a meticulously groomed blond waging an all out war with the tenacious hands of time as she approached the border between youthful appeal and middle-age decay. The resplendent Mercedes seemed a logical extension of her vanity, and, contrary to its driver, was in the prime of its youthful beauty. Being that the taxi driver was a friend, I wondered out loud as to the cost of such a car, his response being somewhere around $100, 000.

     $100,000. It seemed so silly.

     The light changed, the Mercedes and its somewhat attractive pilot sped off, the familiar landscape of fast food joints, repair shops and crassly lit shopping possibilities began to slide by once again, and my Mercedes thoughts evaporated into the ecosystem.

     Two minutes later I had exited the taxi and was strolling towards the sneaker store, when who should come walking by behind a stylish disguise of trendy Vuarnets? Except for the incipient beginnings of a once flat belly now in rebellion, her long legged form was admirably poured into a pair of designer jeans. She predictably ignored me as she passed by, such rejection not keeping me from a cursory examination of her hindquarters, which could still compete with the younger examples of her species. I nebulously foresaw some surgical correction in an attempt to salvage the anterior portions of her body, noticeably succumbing to the forces of gravity.

     For some inexplicable reason, I glanced out at the parking lot and saw the motor extension of her personality sitting obediently in all its $100,000 splendor. Visions of the old Chevy plow horse that had faithfully carried me to my destination, crossed my mind. Except for some inconsequential differences caused by the beast of burden use inflicted on a taxi cab --- the faded upholstery pocked marked by the burns of cigarette butts, the sagging flabbiness of its once firm seats, the minor squawks and groans emanating from the abused suspension system --- I had completed my journey with an equal amount of comfort and convenience as our Gucci-clad diva. The sensual aspects of my transport had been virtually the same as hers in spite of the high priced extravagance of her vehicle.

     I glanced back just as the Mercedes lady disappeared behind the incessant electrical operations of the doors to the Winn-Dixie supermarket. There was a vague feeling that some kind of fraud had been perpetrated here, that the creation of the luxury car state of mind --- or even just the new car state of mind --- was not an accurate reflection of reality.

     Without being an economic expert, one could not be far off in saying that the sale of automobiles is at the core of our economic system's demands. Corroborating this fact is the avalanche of commercial propaganda produced by this industry. It is virtually impossible to sit in front of a TV screen for ten minutes without having the suggestion of a new car seriously insinuated into your consciousness. It's not hard to imagine that someone with the means to do so (or even without the means to do so) will eventually consider such purchase an integral part of his or her quest for fulfillment when subjected to the pressures of such an incessant bombardment.

     If one is rare enough to not let this deluge of suggestion subconsciously invade one's perceptions; if one does not simply accept these messages mindlessly as if they were a natural part of the environment; if one were to objectively pay attention to the tone of these advertisements, one might come to the realization that something mythical is being created here. In many cases, the purchase and use of an automobile is portrayed as an almost religious experience. The car has become God and we seek to bask in its divine glow. It will take us to new places not just geographically, but in a spiritual sense as well. It is orgasmic, blissful; we are entering into a romantic relationship with this mute object of inert, space age materials. We are supposed to fall in love with this thing. There is a particular car that is meant for you, as if it were your "significant other". In much the same way our society builds an unrealistic cathedral of spiritual devotion into our romantic-sexual expectations, so does the auto industry with regard to what we are supposed to expect from a car.

     Another prominent strategy employed in car purchase persuasion is to make the car into an object of intense amusement. Certainly, the use of an automobile should be as comfortable and pleasing an experience as its mass use can reasonably accommodate. But to turn something that is really just a functional tool of modern life, like electricity or refrigeration, into a gleefully anticipated source of recreational joy, is a use of poetic license beyond good reason. The use of an automobile is more akin to that of a hammer than it is to playing golf, or watching Michael Jordan, or listening to Pavarotti, or any of the infinite sources of diversion "Santa Monica Man" so desperately searches for. The real joy in using a car is to get you where you are going quickly and comfortably, which is really a part of its function --- be it an old car, a new car, a luxury car, or an old Chevy taxi --- and not its sensual, recreational qualities.

      Undoubtedly, this essay could be attacked as nothing more than the personal expression of the writer's particular likes or dislikes, in much the same way an opinion could be expressed about anchovies. My defense is the following: this essay, along with much that has and will be said in the body of this work, questions the rationality of our current societal mind set, which makes sales, production and material possession its motivational motor. If, as suggested in many of these essays, this mind set is to be changed (see, most recently, the twin essays "The Established Order" and "Privatizations"), our perceptions of the automobile and how we view it in our society, will change as well.