[WS:] I noticed that long time ago (without reading the book) and I consider it a very bad thing. It alienates people from their environment (both human and natural) and confines them to an artificially created bubble in which the main stimuli amidst the utmost boredom of constant staring into the roadway are the talk show radio, roadside billboards and other cars interfering with your right of way. I would not go as far as claiming that this artificial bubble is the main factor explaining the level of alienation, individualism, bigotry, and brainwashing of the US public, but it certainly is a factor.
I also understand that for the populist left anything popular is by definition good and this extends to car culture - hence the infatuation with descriptions how people use the car space. I am not debating the accuracy of these descriptions, I just view them with horror.
PS. Many years ago my car broke down on my way back home from the Yosemite National Park and I had to take a bus. This was the first time I experienced this country from a pov different than from inside a car. It was a very liberating experience, which I remember to this day.
-- Wojtek
"Modern conservatism is just a neoliberal gloss on medieval domination."