Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

No innocent bystanders in America

The next time you’re feeling “free,” see how far you can walk without being legally compelled to stop…and let cars can drive past. The light turns red and viola: you are no longer free to continue walking because in America, the car culture rules. This essentially invisible totalitarian salvo was recently complicated when a big white SUV crept up into the crosswalk, making it virtually hopeless for yours truly to cross the damn street even when the light changed to green. I fixed my gaze on the mechanized monster before me and I immediately saw all that is wrong with America.

No, I’m not just talking about how the gas guzzling properties of that SUV directly result in military interventions, human rights violations, global poverty, rampant war crimes, and everything else on that lurid laundry list. This is not just another screed about the myriad highways that crisscross America, draining tax dollars, shattering communities, and devastating eco-systems. No, this is all about finally blaming those who deserve blame: each and every one of us.

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