Monstrosity

Mark Walker MWalker at gensym.com
Wed Mar 31 09:40:22 EST 1999


I can't believe I'm responding to this thread, but then there you go.  I'm
one of those inane posters who are just waiting for an opportunity to hear
themselves write.  Huh?

When I first saw this, my first reaction was to ignore it.  Most of the
ideas written here I gave up when I stopped doing drugs.  Then again, after
thinking about it a little longer...

You know, most of the Interstate was engineered for travel at speeds in
excess of 100 mph.  Most of it is wide enough to support the transporting of
full battalions (that crazy dude in Libya is said to be doing the same thing
with an underground aqueduct).  It's probably a good idea, when you consider
what it might mean to national security.  Concrete arteries connecting all
of the major cities.  It's a little disturbing to think that these sorts of
decisions were being made in a covert fashion.  Still, the highway system
would work just as well for invading enemies - so I'm not so sure it's that
good of an idea.  Of course, the WWII engineers couldn't possibly have
anticipated the one real threat to the U.S. Interstate system - commuter
traffic!!  Makes it as impassable as the Grand Canyon itself.

What it all means to the butterfly is not clear.  If the original author is
suggesting that because of modern transportation, the habitats of the world
are all destined for destruction, I suppose I would have to agree.  But one
could argue that it is humankind itself (at least in it's present condition
- bent on self-will) that in it's beginnings put the machine in motion for
the destruction of the global eco-system.  The advancement of transportation
that took place early this century is only a phase - the onset of the age of
communication just another.  Paranoia is an understandable condition, given
the writing on the wall.  But I don't personally see how this sort of
warning can be taken seriously.  There is no stopping the machine, short of
the destruction of humankind itself.  No one is going to stop driving, stop
fast-fooding, or give up any of the other conveniences that the machine has
provided.  Even the most outspoken environmentalists still put on
Fruit-Of-The-Looms (and one leg at a time).  They eat cardboard noodles from
a styrofoam cup when there's not enough time, or not enough on the shelf.
They still expect their waste materials to disappear when they flush.  They
expect someone else to be held responsible when the infrastructure they
depend on starts to break down.  So it really is quite hypocritical to point
fingers when describing the ugliness of it all.  We're all guilty, and we're
not going back to the horse drawn carriage.

Sorry for the digression.  What can I say, maybe flashbacks?  Hey, man.
Pray.  Now that's a solution.

Mark Walker
Mission Viejo, CA

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Rev Chuck [SMTP:cdub at -REMOVE_THIS-erols.com]
> Sent:	Sunday, March 28, 1999 5:59 AM
> To:	leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	Re: Monstrosity
> 
> Charles Gavette wrote:
> 
> [snip]
> 
> > The U.S. Interstate System is the largest monument ever built to late
> > capitalism. This monument and its use is the leading cause of
> environmental
> > degredation, unless the challenger be a collective apathy fueled by
> greed,
> > pride and the ever-popular exploitive ego. This relentless machine is
> not
> > offering solutions to the problem it is leaving behind: "Do the work,
> > however haphazardly, get your money, and go to the next place," seems
> the
> > scenario. When was the last time anyone reading this seriously
> considered
> > some of the devastating parameters of fossil fuel use? What does it do
> to
> > the human mind?
> 
> FWIW, look carefully at U.S. interstate highway design, then look at 
> that of the pre-WWII German Autobahn.  Eerily alike, and no more 
> identical are the two systems than when the Pennsylvania Turnpike is 
> compared.  
> 
> Note how both systems convert an oversized parcel of land into a 
> superwide highway separated by a large median strip.  The German 
> military's strategy was that if an enemy dropped bombs, damage 
> would never be so severe that the road couldn't be put back into 
> operation within an hour's repair time.  
> 
> -- 
> Nothing says you're insane like prayer.  
> Rev Chuck, Alt.Atheism #203, Ordained Reverend, ULC, 17 March, 1997.
> Remove -REMOVE_THIS- from address to respond.


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