Guest Post by Eric Peters
There is something worse than a generation gap. There is a worldview gap.
My generation – Generation X – was the last pre-computer generation and the last generation to reach adulthood before the Safety Cult had metastasized into a mainstream religion. When we were teenagers, we were expected to learn how to drive – because the cars wouldn’t do it for us.
We rose to the challenge.
Most of us learning to drive in cars with manual transmissions because back in the ’80s when we were teenagers, most of the cars within a teenager’s budget had manuals.
It was sink or swim.
Or suffer the humiliation of riding the bus with the 14 and 15-year-olds. Oh, yes. In that better, vanished time a kid was able to drive himself to school the day he turned 16 – which meant driving to school for the last two years of high school, so that by the time one graduated one had been driving for several years and was ready to deal with the adult world of driving.
The Millennials who are now rising – and “feel the Bern,” many of them – grew up strapped in, learned to be fearful and passive. They are not allowed to drive to school until they are practically out of school. They have been taught to regard cars as dangerous and despoiling things.
I met one such Millennial the other day at the coffee shop where I usually go to write these rants. It is my caffeinated version of Orwell’s (or rather Winston Smith’s) Chestnut But Tree Cafe. The waiters know me and keep my cup full without my even having to ask.
Anyhow, I’m friendly with another guy there, who is friends with this young Millennial. She proudly told me all about her new car – about how saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafe it is. Not how it drove or looked. The first thing she waxed rhapsodic about was Lane Keep Assist.
Many new cars have this, apparently because many people have difficulty keeping their car in its travel lane and require “assistance” – in the form of electric motors attached to the steering gear – that nudge the car left or right, accordingly, when the driver isn’t.
Probably because she’s texting.
We Gen X’s may have been slackers but we didn’t have cell phones. We made maybe one or two calls a day, never from a car. Only Knight Rider had a phone in his car. And – wow – we should have seen it coming – Knight Rider’s car also drove itself.
But KITT drove better than Knight Rider. The Millennials, generally, do not.
One of the great fallacies of automated driving/saaaaaaaaaaaafety tech is that it drives like KITT. Snappy, well-executed maneuvers. Instead, jerky and slow ones. Lane Keep Assist feels like there’s a Down Syndrome kid pulling on the wheel – in the direction you don’t want to go.
This assumes you’re not a Down Syndromian driver, of course. Many Millennials are – having never learned how, on purpose. When they entered their teenage years, the Safety Cult was the established state (and cultural) religion. They always buckled-up for saaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety, never rode a bicycle without a helmet.
Probably, most of them never drove a car by themselves until they were almost not-teenagers – because the Safety Cult restricts their driving privileges until they are almost adults, all-the-while hectoring them with injunctions about . . . saaaaaaaaaaaaaafety.
No wonder they’re obsessed with it.
From birth through early adulthood it’s almost their amniotic fluid. We Gen Xers didn’t buckle-up and grew up jumping into and out of cars, which made cars exciting and driving them something we lusted to do. We were not afraid of cars and the last thing on our teenaged minds was saaaaaaaaaafety. That being the concern of old maids and twits.
At least, in that better vanished time.
In today’s time, youth in what should be the flower of their exuberance are cowed, fretful and grateful for anything which promises to . . . keep them safe. I made a pointless effort to gently explain to this Millennial girl that it might be safer to learn to control the car than to rely on technology which may control the car in ways that aren’t very saaaaaaaaaafe.
Lane Keep Assist pulls the car toward the undesired direction sometimes – when the camera doesn’t see the painted lines clearly or when the lines weren’t painted accurately. Does this kid have any idea how to handle a wheel dropping off the edge of the pavement?
Probably not.
Isn’t there an “assist” for that?
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Every time I drive in heavy fog, heavy rain, think about driving in snow, or similar COMMON conditions, I think of how challenging it would be to effectively “teach” a computer to handle these things. I read an article in which some folks used a piece of tape to make the 3 on the 35mph sign look “abnormal” by extending the middle line to the left about 2″. It caused the autodriving function on a Tesla to suddenly speed up to 85. Not sure if that is true, but all of the other conditions are the kind of basic, but challenging conditions that humans can figure out, but computer-driving vehicles will have issues with. And I sure as hell don’t want to have to be around any of them when they fuck up and kill someone.
Good point. Imagine auto-drive when snow covers the yellow lines in the road.
What does a yellow line mean?
If the guy in front of you has an arm is out the window, pointing at it, you are supposed to follow.
Good point, Ruh roh. Do you mean follow the line or follow the guy?
Most kids today don’t want to bother with a car. It’s too damn expensive now. A minimum wage job and working part time just doesn’t make the effort worth it to most of them.
Kids nowadays aren’t interested in cars because, when adjusted for inflation since the early 1970’s, are 3 to 4 times more expensive when bought new, but when they are old, are too complicated to work on yourself, and likewise, shop repairs cost MUCH more than they used to.
A case in point. My cousin had to have his 10 year-old F150 repaired. It had 2 tiny burned out light bulbs in the instrument panel. That cost $700. Also, the engine had a misfire that was found to be caused by a common antifreeze leak. That cost $3000.
It’s no wonder kids don’t like cars today.
And I’m sure your cousin has made a lot of money doing just one thing right. And that thing didn’t involve having any ability to even fix a leaky faucet. Though I could fix that leaky faucet for him for $2500 if he wants me to. I’ll even clean the sink afterward for $600.
Hey fucktard, my cousin was a service man for the local gas company for 37 years. He was one who always got called out at 3 A.M. to fix the gas leaks. He was the one who worked 60 hours a week every week because he never turned down a service emergency. He also rebuilt lots of car and motorcycle engines over the many years. He can do his own welding, plumbing, and electrical work and he’s certified for all of those. He didn’t work on that Ford truck because, as he said, it was too damn complicated.
Reading this article has me realize perhaps the beer virus is not such a bad thing,that diverse group of people in pic make me want to scream”Go Corona!”.
Back when The Oregon Trail was a thing in schools, my son took the option to float down the river rapids himself, where the rest of the class paid for the safe alternative.
Someone noticed and called out “He’s fording the river”, and the whole class went over to watch.
I guess not taking the safe route was that out of the ordinary, even back then.
I have a modern car that will slam the breaks on if something stops suddenly in front. Its unnerving and sometimes over-the-top when simply a quick tap to slow without stopping is all that’s needed. This judgement is now out of my hands because the car has been engineered down to a lower common denominator.
“I am the Night Riiider! Can you hear me, Toe Cutter?”
His name is written in the stars now.
“Lane Keep Assist”: talk about a white line nightmare…
Hell; my first car didn’t even HAVE seatbelts!
Why drive… and incur the expense of driving… when helicopter MOMMY will take you to and from wherever you want to go?…
California has gotten anal with SAAAAAAFFFFETY. Your “child” is just about into high school when he or she “graduates” from the booster seat!
I wonder if Millennial would be interested in cars like we had in the late 1960’s. It would be simple enough to work on yourself, have a V8 engine, and cost $14,000 to $20,000 new (1960’s prices adjusted to today’s inflation), and about half that when a few years old. If cars like that had existed with today’s modern lubricants and antifreeze with corrosion inhibitors, the longevity would be approaching 200,000 miles. Use of no Asian steel would ensure a rust-free body for many years.
Eric Peters as an autistic kid knows a lot about Down Syndrome kids. He’s one step ahead of them. Now if he could just learn to be a decent journalist.
If you’re so smart then why don’t you attack what Mr. Peters wrote about, and not the person. I’m waiting.
Coalclinker,
I’m talking about what he wrote about. What he wrote reflects the person who wrote it. Everything you say says something about yourself. He was saying something about himself here and I just pointed that out. And I’ve had enough discussions with this guy to know a lot more of what I’m talking about than you do.
SMRT..I heard what you said about yourself.
Hey, are you the resident shithead around here now?
I’m sorry, I think it’s appropriate to say that the assists on the vehicles today make driving it feel like a Down Syndrome kid is pulling on the steering wheel. And I also agree that all Millennials have Down Syndrome too. So now that I have my mind right again, am I back in your club?
These kids are the ones doing the other risky behaviors that they were taught was not risky. Like, dating someone for whom they are not what they are going to turn out to be. When you see the rich white girl dating the class clown she is not worried about her future because daddddy will take care of them because the class clown cant. This attitude moves through to the poor girl who may only have one shot at a decent life and that is to marry up.
Today they have been taught equality and everyone has the exact same opps. Bullshit. How many mathematicians are female. My point exactly. Men are just good at some things not others. Women are good at some things and others not. The things men are good at are valued more by society and pays more in many cases. So when you see a hot chicka dating the thug who wears his pants below his arse and smells like a dumpster because he refuses to bath more than weekly she is the next meth addict blaming wealthy rich white men and republicans for her problems. She sees no risk in her choices or behacior because the educational system focus brainwashed her i to believing dating the thug or the mini bill gates is the same it will have no effect on you. Or your life. So date that interracial thug or class clown. The guys have no shame. They will not shame the girl for this. They will not let her know they do Not want sloppy 32nds. and where you been does matter. Most real men do not want a woman that has such low self esteem, or is too stupid to see reality. They do not want a woman that has been treated Like a donkey on a train every weekend by thugs that carry potential disease. hence the femenazi movement. Men are avoiding more women and they do not understand why and vitriol and hate resume for white men. Because white men have standards and tend to look outward upon society and plan and want to contribute positively they are punished. Look at history. White men strive for a better tomorrow. and are willing to contribute to that cause. Others focus on what they can get or steal today screwing tomorrow.
But lets allow them to focus on safety for nail clippers and driving features. Govt sheeple….the educational system is there to make sure there remains enough have nots separated from the haves. Breaking out of this matrix and seeing it for what it is allows you a huge chance of being a “have” vs “have not”.