Steph Willems (2018) has joined the “they’re coming for our performance cars!” scare campaign. Much like a recent column by Keith Crain, Willems is vague about how this imagined dystopia shows up except to say that it is “elected to oversee our affairs.” Willems, a Truth About Cars associate editor, proceeds to paint a scenario whereby this “benevolently authoritarian” world government “headquartered in Belgium” curtails consumer choices around automobiles.
In the name of air quality, climate change and shrinking global resources, the government bans “indulgent” automobiles such as the Dodge Challenger Hellcat. In addition, schoolchildren are “taught to snitch on any parent caught harboring a overly powerful motorcar, perhaps in a rural barn somewhere.”
All this is prelude to asking readers the Question of the Day: If you could pick one daily driver, what would it be? The range of choices are limited to “an electric motor working in tandem with a gasoline power plant.”
Willems fleshes out the more practical options but then muses: “But maybe performance is your way of fighting back against the state. In this scenario, the Acura NSX actually might see a few orders.”
The general snarkiness of the column suggests that Willems may believe that climate change is merely an excuse for government to exert control so “the citizenry makes the proper choices.”
Not surprisingly, like-minded commentators piled on. For example, I_like_stuff (2018) thought that another part of the plan was to “move everyone out of SFRs and into Soviet style apartment blocks. For the environment, and the children!! Never forget about the children!! (which we won’t have many of so there will be fewer of them to remember).”
This was hardly the atmosphere for a nuanced discussion about transportation and land-use policy options for reducing civilization’s carbon footprint. Lou_BC (2018) summed up the posting best: “Alex, I’ll take clickbait for 500!”
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RE:SOURCES
- I_like_stuff; 2018. Commentator in “QOTD: One Green Steed to Do It All?” The Truth About Cars. Posted July 31; accessed July 31.
- Lou_BC; 2018. Commentator in “QOTD: One Green Steed to Do It All?” The Truth About Cars. Posted July 31; accessed July 31.
- Willems, Steph; 2018. “QOTD: One Green Steed to Do It All?” The Truth About Cars. Posted July 31; accessed July 31.
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