CAR BAD?

Here I am, riding along on my professional quest for ambulances, and listening to the radio. Suddenly, I hear a commercial. It is one apparently paid for by VRE, which stands for Virginia Railway Express [or something similar]. It is a male voice. He seems to be attempting a "hip" style of persuasion. I thought he sounded altogether "jive-turkey."

His pitch was that commuters who drove to the Washington Metro area for work from such relatively distant points as Fredericksburg, VA, would be wise to use the VRE service. He assures them that they could "read a newspaper," check their email, read a book, ogle the shapely chick just across the way, snooze, plan the day, or week, or year, or vacation, and so forth. He seems to be "pitching" quality time. The implication is that the commuters' travel would be quick and carefree, as opposed to the crawling torture of I95.

One never hears anything about "strangers on a train," nor insane bands of mujahideen running amok in the train, nor anything about "train jumps track" and crashes, nor anything about one's train being "rear-ended" by another train, nor, indeed, someone "puking" on you while you are trying to enjoy quality time. Emphasize the positive! That's the selling point.

The commercial ends with the pitchman saying: Car bad; VRE good.

Is this truth in packaging? I don't think so. It does indicate that politicians are working hard to end the era of the car. What comes next, after communal commuting? Kibbutz?