[lbo-talk] the petro-thusians have their moment

Jon Johanning jjohanning at igc.org
Thu Sep 23 21:28:41 PDT 2004


On Sep 23, 2004, at 1:57 PM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:


> This is
> not an isolated case - most middle Americans hate cities, public
> places and
> public transit - hence their cocoon seeking behavior.

That's certainly true around Philly. Having lived in both the city and the Main Line suburbs, I have to smile at the suburbanites who are proud of spending their whole lives without going into the city, and are actually scared feces-less when they do dare to venture in and see the first graffiti-decorated building. I think racism certainly has a lot to do with it, but I don't know exactly what else is involved.

Partly, it's the ideal picture of American life most people have in their minds, with the mini-mansion, the castle that the man of the house is supposed to be lord of, surrounded by a huge lawn (which is hugely expensive and a lot of bother to keep up, resulting in a lot of business for suburban landscaping companies who drive around in the spring, summer, and fall with their big trailers toting lawn-mowers, etc., tying up traffic). Boy, am I glad I'm not living out there any more!

I think the lawn is basically a historical derivative not only of the European estates' hunting grounds, but also the castle moat, keeping the world at arm's length.

Of course, the economic factors Michael mentions play a role, but I can't see why rehabbing the wasted areas of a city like Philly would be more expensive than building more and more suburbs further and further from the city center. But economics was never my strong subject.

On Justin's point about the schools, that also has something to be said for it, but it's not completely true. I'm sure he is by no means racist, but a lot of the "white flight," certainly in the Philly area, is racism pure and simple. As I said, a lot of suburbanites wet their pants just thinking about coming into the city (especially from what they see on the 11 o'clock news, which is full of pictures of fires and African-Americans gunning each other down over drug deals -- a ridiculously distorted picture of the city, of course). And there are schools in the city just as good as the average suburban school, if not better in many respects. There aren't more because the whites won't move into or stay in the city and contribute to the tax base, and because hell would freeze over before any sort of unified tax district including both the city and the suburbs, as there are in other parts of the country, could be created.

On Sep 23, 2004, at 3:09 PM, Carl Remick wrote:


> It seems to me that computer-assisted driving, satellite-navigation,
> guidance magnets embedded in pavement, etc. will make existing issues
> of private cars vs. mass transportation and high vs. low population
> density obsolete. Automatic navigation will make it possible for even
> infirm drivers to drive safely. It will also lead to cars being much
> cheaper -- smaller and more energy efficient -- because collisions
> would be virtually eliminated and there would be no safety-based
> rationale for large vehicles.

Great -- that's all we need: more private cars!

On the contrary, what is needed is more car sharing schemes, such as we have in Philly. Most cars sit idle most of the time, in driveways or parking garages and lots, and when they are used only carry one or two people. What the country needs is more cooperative activity -- people helping each other, not walling off their lives from each other.

Socialism starts with people learning to cooperate with each other in their daily lives. That's what I'm coming to think more and more.

Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A sympathetic Scot summed it all up very neatly in the remark, 'You should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest and folk-dancing.' -- Sir Arnold Bax



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