Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety has cost us a lot – and not just money.
It has sucked almost all of the fun out of driving – especially for those who were born after the Safety Cult established itself as mainstream state religion.
The Millennials, god help them. And us.
It happened during the ’90s, when strange rituals which had previously been practiced by a few neurasthenic people – fearful of everything – became state policy, enforced upon everyone.
These things are now unquestionable dogma.
For example, cossetting kids in saaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety seats for the duration of every drive.
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Every drive has thus become a time-consuming chore for the parents – no more just getting in and going – and aversion training for the kids.
It is no accident that people who grew up after the Safety Cult went mainstream – the Millennials and up – don’t much like cars or driving.
Why would they?
From their earliest memory onward, a drive was not an exciting adventure but a kind of prison bus ride. The child forcibly strapped in, by inevitably impatient hands; he struggles a bit, perhaps – at first – and is scolded. He learns it is pointless; that he is helpless.
The bindings are pulled tight, skin is pinched, clothes bunched.
It cannot be comfortable.
If there’s something in the child’s pocket, he can’t get to it now. Untied shoes remain untied. He flails, futilely.
Whatever he’s wearing, he must continue wearing, whether he is hot or cold. All he can do is yelp for help.
The child is denied even the freedom to take his own jacket off – or put it on – according to his own desire and without having to plead for an adult Authority Figure to allow him to do so.
The child isn’t permitted to do more than look around – a little.
He can’t rotate his body to look behind him – and so is denied (and will never know) the view of the world receding that was once known to every American child.
Even looking to the side is difficult because of the way the child is harnessed.
Anything of interest is out of reach.
