Introduction
The Atlantic.com essay which follows presents a concise yet broad summary of all the biases which favor the ever-wider adoption of private automobiles in technological consumer societies. It may feel like a biased anti-car, anti-oil company, anti-progress screed, especially to those who’ve not previously encountered some of these ideas. There probably is some of that but all key ideas are accurately presented.
In every era and across all recorded history, political policy, fashion and legal protections mostly endorse, subsidize and sanctify whatever the majority of people naturally want to do. Thus if more people came to prefer walking, bicycling and motorcycling than driving automobiles, all of the underlying political, legal and fashionable biases presented here would change accordingly.
What it means for those who prefer riding MC’s, bicycles and walking is that we must acknowledge we’re members of an elective minority and do the best we can to be honest about it. Personally, I enjoy owning and using my private automobile – both as a sensory experience and as a useful mobility tool — but wherever and whenever possible and for a plethora of reasons, I choose to walk, bicycle or motorcycle even when the circumstances are less than ideal, and even though strong biases against my preferred forms of personal mobility exist.
— Andy Goldfine, 2019
