Cars, Misanthropy, & Lonely Hearts (was Re: Dennis, Alex, Bill, Stephen)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>From Doug to Jim:
>>Want an acceptable formula for 'too many people'? Try 'too many cars'.
>>That neat sublimation of your anti-mass intent will disguise the
>>misanthropic meaning, just enough to allow you to communicate your
>>hatred of working people to your fellows.
>
>Not at all. I'm militantly anti-Malthusian. I like people. I like big
>cities where lots of people are collected, which is why I live in
>one. I hate cars though. They foul the air, kill lots of people, and
>lead to the creation of hideous and atomizing expressways and malls.
>The city I live in is home to half carless households in the U.S.
>that are above the poverty line. There aren't many other places in
>the U.S. you can live without a car unless you want to walk 3 miles
>lugging your groceries.

Isn't one of the main 'non-material' reasons why private ownerships of cars
are ever so popular -- beyond the obvious material reason, which is the
lack of effective planning of spaces for work, home, & leisure and of how
to link them under capitalism -- the desire to avoid contacts with
strangers (especially strangers poorer than ourselves) beyond the bare
minimum?  Since the competitive & oppressive social relations alienate us
from other people, we want as much privacy as we like.  And then, when we
get lonely, we log onto the internet for human contacts that we feel we can
control.  How's that for contradiction in progress!

Yoshie (a non-driver in the Midwest!)