Critical Auto Theory? NBC Op-Ed Attacks US Autonomy with ‘Lethal’ Car ‘Dependency’ Remarks

NewsBusters ^ | 10/25/2021 | Joseph Vazquez

[JV3MRC]

Apparently, nothing is safe from the wokeness of the left. An NBC op-ed tried lecturing Americans about how bad and deadly their love of cars is.

Freelance journalist Erin Sagen screeched in her propaganda piece for NBC THINK that “Americans are in total collective denial about how lethal our car dependency is. We have to stop normalizing the suffering caused by cars.” Sagen bellowed in her lede paragraph: “Americans don’t always fear the things we should.” In her view, “when it comes to car accidents, we’ve mostly shrugged our shoulders and accepted the carnage as an unavoidable fact of life.” The article read like a fringier variant of critical race theory: “Cars put us in clear, imminent danger every day, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized.”

If that wasn’t loopy enough, Sagen blamed the tendency to blame individuals rather than “public infrastructure” for car accidents on “toxic individualism.”

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Sirius Lee]

“Your God Given Rights are toxic and selfish!”

[ealgeone]

I bet she’s a peach of a date.

[TheConservativeTejano]

NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC are all part of the "MSM" and we know exactly how they lean.

[rightwingcrazy]

“toxic individualism.”

She’s inflicting us with “toxic Marxism”. I called it “toxic”, so now everyone has to hate it, or they’re a hater. That’s how it works, right?

[BobL]

China now sells TWICE as many cars in their country as are sold in the US. What does NBC plan to do about that? If nothing, then they can shut the —— up.

[Dr. Sivana]

Putting the onus on U.S. drivers —three-quarters of whom anyway consider themselves to be safer than average— to lower fatalities and accidents by simply driving better seems like an effort in futility.

The original propaganda piece featured this incorrect quotation. The AAA study does not state that three-quarters of U.S. drivers consider themselves safer than average. They consider themselves BETTER than average. The young man who weaves at high speed on the interstate and has not yet had an accident may consider himself more skilled. The old lady who stays in whatever lane she finds herself in sticks at 45 mph regardless may also consider herself superior. "Better" without a definition is utterly subjective, and of course many of us will favor our own style of driving.

So, it is entirely possible that 3/4's of drivers think themselves better than average without deluding themselves. The author of the original anti-car piece should not have changed a key word to misrepresent the survey.

[heavy metal]

her broom must’ve broken down...

[Dr. Sivana]

Erin Sagen, the writer of the original anti-car piece, had an abortion at 25 because of “fear and self-doubt”. Why should I take advice from her?

[Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi]

Find out how this stupid person gets to and from work and sabotage it if it is not public transportation.

Or better yet, tell her she is in the wrong country and that she needs to go to to Cuba.

[adorno]

Oh, but hey, converting all cars to electric, will make all vehicles safer and we’ll have less carnage on the roads.

Liberals are a confusing bunch.

Like, GM is supposed to go all-electric by 2030 and no later than 2035. Bad deal for GM and democrats who have been selling us all on the benefits to the environment with all-electric all the time. I’m staying away from GM products, since, all-electric means that most people will be staying away from GM vehicles.

Any other maker that goes all-electric will be giving most of their business to those that continue selling ICE vehicles

BTW, I’m looking for a new SUV, and GM just made my car-hunting a bit easier.

[Pollard]

And I thought this was going to be about climate change and I have a suspicion that deep down it is. She’s just trying a different angle.

[EastTexasTraveler]

Tyrants have never liked cars. They give people too much freedom.

[Sequoyah101]

Erin Sagen

is a freelancer and former associate editor at YES! She lives in Seattle and writes about food, health, and suburban sustainability.

And just another loon with a keyboard. The world is full of them.

My guess is she neither solicits nor receives many offers for dates.

https://www.commondreams.org/author/erin-sagen

I’ve taken to looking up these loons just to know who the enemy are. Most need to be institutionalized to protect themselves and others.

Writers write, talkers talk, if nobody reads or listens they are out of work.

[ealgeone]

She ain’t nothing to write about that’s for sure.

[SunkenCiv]

If that wasn’t loopy enough, Sagen blamed the tendency to blame individuals rather than “public infrastructure” for car accidents on “toxic individualism.”

Simpleminded b****. Oops, I mean, Partisan Media Shill alert.

[Paal Gulli]

Gasoline is the fuel of democracy.

Freedom of association is one of the core principles of a democratic society (even when it's a democratic republic). Having an automobile essentially gives us freedom of movement limited only by geography. Freedom to meet with whomever we want, freedom to peaceably assemble wherever we want.

This principle was never clearer than during the Suffragette movement of the early 20th Century, only their vehicle of choice was the (then relatively recently developed) safety bicycle. Most women had neither an automobile or horse so the bicycle gave them the ability to travel over substantial distances so they could meet and discuss issues and strategy.

The Role of the Bicycle in the Suffragette Movement

The automobile also gives us the ability to "vote with our feet," to leave the demoncrat hellholes and flee to freer, safer, environs, using nothing but our privately-owned means.

[TheConservativeTejano]

She will me that she loves this country but but but.

This is how Illegals answer when you ask them "Why don't you leave the U.S. if you really don't like it.

The Illegals will say all the time "Oh, I just love this country."

This is where I tell them to go to the country that will grant you this Bravo Sierra that you want so badly. They will always come back and say "I love this country."