If you haven't seen this documentary (Taken for a ride), you should. I know the beginning's a little cheesy and the music's kinda swanky, but the information is so incredibly eye opening and even though it's not the newest video, the relevance to today is still very much there.
I'd always taken it for granted that the development of the automotive industry was a natural move in the ordered advancement of our society. After watching that movie in my college economics class today, I realize how incredibly wrong I was. The traffic system that now exists works decently well today because a select few individuals have decided that it would be beneficial ($$$$$) to them to make it work. When you actually think about how we get around today compared to alternatives that could have won out over cars, it's so incredibly inefficient (each person drives them self around in a +1 ton vehicle burning gallons of volatile liquid and pumping tons and tons and tons of noxious fumes into the atmosphere).
If the recent bailouts and inevitable failing of our automotive industry doesn't have you mad enough, I strongly urge you to watch this video. I'd try to go through and highlight the main points but without all of the context I feel that I would be doing you a disservice. It's terrifying how the greed and ignorance of the fat cats of industry whose lobby basically runs this country can have such profound effects on the way we live.
Here's a couple of short summaries that kinda give you an idea of what it's about:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236785/
http://www.culturechange.org/issue10/ta … a-ride.htm
I'd always taken it for granted that the development of the automotive industry was a natural move in the ordered advancement of our society. After watching that movie in my college economics class today, I realize how incredibly wrong I was. The traffic system that now exists works decently well today because a select few individuals have decided that it would be beneficial ($$$$$) to them to make it work. When you actually think about how we get around today compared to alternatives that could have won out over cars, it's so incredibly inefficient (each person drives them self around in a +1 ton vehicle burning gallons of volatile liquid and pumping tons and tons and tons of noxious fumes into the atmosphere).
If the recent bailouts and inevitable failing of our automotive industry doesn't have you mad enough, I strongly urge you to watch this video. I'd try to go through and highlight the main points but without all of the context I feel that I would be doing you a disservice. It's terrifying how the greed and ignorance of the fat cats of industry whose lobby basically runs this country can have such profound effects on the way we live.
Here's a couple of short summaries that kinda give you an idea of what it's about:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236785/
http://www.culturechange.org/issue10/ta … a-ride.htm