13 September

Here’s why I post about cars so much. As a social and cultural phenomenon, not just a technology thing. Cars are the most anti-social part of democracies. This brilliant idea, of town and city planning removing the dependence on cars by putting what people need within 15 minutes of where they live has been hijacked by people who are literally insane, and violent with it. There are local groups campaigning relentlessly and ruthlessly against it, all driven (as usual) by bullshit they’ve read on social media, usually from the US. Margaret Thatcher saw cars as the key tool to implement her ‘there is no such thing as society’ agenda. She openly said it all the time, it was a deliberate plan, this isn’t a conspiracy. And they’ve succeeded everywhere, everywhere cars dominate societies, societies begin to collapse, as was her wish. Because I drive so much each day I see it our on the roads, nothing makes a person more aggressively ‘me me me, get out of my way’ than driving. Cars get bigger and more like tanks, to push everybody else out of the way. Notice also that the anti-climate action people are nearly always car nuts. Not just in their opposition to EVs, but in their opposition to any sort of climate action. Burning petrol and diesel is like a totemic thing for the anti-climate crowd. It’s all part of the same anti-social movement. Even their recreation involves burning vast quantities of fuel in overseas flights and cruises, 4WDs, boats, jet skis, motorbikes etc. It’s more society is a high school, it’s a very teenage way of looking at the world, teenagers historically have been passionate about their vehicles and moving around. It was their first real freedom.