Comments on: Automotive Revisionism

By: Robin Goodfellow

Robin Goodfellow — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:59:13 +0000

This is one of the existential problems of our age. Technology has wrought marvels of such efficacy and awesomeness that we no longer appreciate them. We re-zero the scale so that the wondrous boons of the automobile, refrigeration, antibiotics, electrification, etc. are expected rather than appreciated and zealously guarded.

Amongst all the inventions of mankind, the automobile has perhaps done the most to better the lot of the individual than any other, perhaps even including medicine. It has come at a cost, a cost that we still have yet to fully appreciate, but the benefits have been tremendous. Before the automobile it was by far the most common case that spouses were born less than 20 miles from each other. And that’s hardly the extent to which the automobile has changed the life of and empowered the individual.

If a technology as profoundly empowering as the automobile can be so casually vilified then our modern society is on quite shaky foundations indeed.

By: Roderick Reilly

Roderick Reilly — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:25:45 +0000

We live in one of those ages where a detachment from reality is becoming the norm among those with “education.”

Since we live in a country where beliefs such as “breeding and heterosexuality are not the normative,” can be spewed with conviction, is it any wonder that postmodern pseudo-intellectual cretins don’t get that we are the beneficiaries of a century of technological progress? True poetic justice would be to have these people die of rubella, typhus, cholera, polio, and just plain old infections brought back to modern life by reckless immigration from still pre-modern societies and hysteria about vaccinations.

By: David Foster

David Foster — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:51:33 +0000

Renminbi…academia still has the privilege of being the gatekeeper, though…indeed, the increased emphasis on educational credentials has greatly increased its power.

By: renminbi

renminbi — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:24:23 +0000

Well the internet is going to weaken MSM and the “intellectuals”,that is, those who currently make their living batting around words. The barriers to entry are much lower now and bloggers with interesting ideas are going to eat their lunch. Academia is ecoming less relevent. Face it,many of the old guard have ideas that are about as interesting and useful as those that may be found at Al Azhar university. The public is sick of these negative people.

By: Shannon Love

Shannon Love — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:39:18 +0000

We will inevitably be crippled by our pseudo-intellectual class turning on our own society. There selfish desire for power and status causes them to denigrate absolutely everything about America and Western civilization in general. China and India by contrast are overflowing with cultural positivism just like America was before the 60′s.

I fear we have entered cultural senesce just as Europe did following WWI. We will no longer be the land of innovation in business, technology or culture.

There fact that hatred of our accomplishments find expression even in an automotive review is very troubling.

By: Michael Karesh

Michael Karesh — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Great piece. There is never a shortage of critics. No matter how much you give people, there will always be some who feel they deserve more.

But some people do appreciate innovation and entrepreneurship when they see it. They know how hard it is, and can see not only where a project is but where it is going.

As you say, focus on them.