Stuck in the Matrix

This article typifies the blue pill mentality. You won’t hear me say this often, but I happen to agree with the president when he says we are addicted to oil. We proved this when oil topped $3.00 a gallon. Did our consumption decrease at all? Nope. The oil companies are saying to Americans, “Look. We can set the price of gas at whatever we want. You will pay it.” They’re right.

Ms. Hart’s “Why walk when you can drive and get there faster?” attitude portrays a person not living in the present. Is it any wonder heart disease and cancer is so prevalent in a society obsessed with getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible? We only smell the roses if we can take them with us in our SUV.

I, however, am so obviously out of touch with America, for the number one item on my list of things to despise is being manipulated. Worse, when the perpetrator is big business. Especially when we have a choice.

To suggest that we should give up our cars and ride bicycles or, God forbid, walk occasionally, presents a notion so ludicrous to most Americans, that you might as well be Copernicus, suggesting the world is something other than flat. This, despite the fact that other nations thrive without such dependence on SUV’s or minivans. Canada, for example, has bicycle lanes on virtually every road, and Holland is almost completely a bicycle society.

Americans don’t care about being manipulated. We’ve allowed big business to convince us that we’re somehow less if we don’t drive a car. The state of our roads proves this, at least here in Tennessee. Crowded, narrow streets and discourteous drivers remind us that if you travel these roads in anything without a motor, you’re a nuisance. That if you don’t renew your tags once a year, have insurance, and take your car for maintenance every three months you’re not really an American.

What’s more of a nuisance to me, however, is having to do these things, and then listen to the powers that be talk about what a privilege it is to drive. At $3.00 a gallon, I was paying upwards of $200.00 a month for that “privilege.” As far as I’m concerned, they can take their privilege and shove it right up their asses.

I don’t bike purely for environmental reasons, but it’s nice to know you’re not releasing all that crap into the air. I’m by no means convinced that CO2 emissions from automobiles contribute significantly to global warming. The planet has heated and cooled many times before man, and I see no reason why it should not continue to do so. I’m more concerned about the short term effects on plant and animal life. Acid rain in the Smoky’s, and that kind of thing.

The American people could make oil obsolete, but those such as Ms. “I would drive to the bathroom if I could” Hart assure that will never happen.