Nate,
I appreciate your post as a critique of America's car culture which has
produced such ecological disasters as Southern California (Cadillac Desert).
But one of the examples: "32 percent have actually given their four-wheeled
gas-guzzler a name" couldn't but remind me of the elaborate treatment that
truck drivers/owners from the U.S. border south to Tierra del Fuego give
their vehicles. Not only is the name mandatory, it is proudly emblazoned
above the cab in on the face of the overhead cargo bay: "Consuelita", "Flor
de los Andes", "Sonqo Urqopa", etc. usually illuminated with decorative
script. As to gifts for the vehicle, anyone who has ridden in one knows
that this goes WAY beyond the glowing plastic jesus on the dashboard.
Additionally trucks often receive a form of baptism officiated by a priest.
I think the same is true of taxis and buses.
To the best of my knowledge, such personalization, integration of the
vehicle into the world of the human, ceases to occur when fleets of trucks
are part of larger businesses or corporate structures. This of course makes
sense at one level although Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific (U.S. Supreme
Court 1884) has given corporations the same protections that individuals
enjoy under the 14th Ammendment.
Somehow I think the latter is a more threatening example of the excesses of
American culture.
Paul H. Dillon
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