The Decline and Fall of Automotive Journalism
Posted by freedomforall 2 years, 2 months ago to Politics
Excerpt:
"“Mainstream” – that is, corporate – journalism died when it was bought, as by the drug cartels (Kudos, Woody Harrelson). Car journalism fell victim to the same forces, which homogenized journalists, often in the name of superficial “diversity.” Too many men, many of whom drank and smoke and – worst of all – were white and straight. The corporations said: More women! Because they were women. Not because they could write. Not because they knew cars.
So why were they being hired to write about cars?
Well, because some of them had big . . .
I mean that literally because factually. I saw it. Not meaning the . . . but the rest of it.
One of the first “diversity” hires I witnessed hired was a woman who was put into the not-driver’s seat at USA Today, back when people still read it (this was the ’90s). She had as much business writing about cars as Liberace had writing about dating. Well, women. But she did have something. Two of them. So she was given – literally – the job and the rest of us guys watched and marveled, which was foolish of us, in the manner of watching and marveling at the sight of the tide receding from the beach, the water drawing back, far out to sea."
"“Mainstream” – that is, corporate – journalism died when it was bought, as by the drug cartels (Kudos, Woody Harrelson). Car journalism fell victim to the same forces, which homogenized journalists, often in the name of superficial “diversity.” Too many men, many of whom drank and smoke and – worst of all – were white and straight. The corporations said: More women! Because they were women. Not because they could write. Not because they knew cars.
So why were they being hired to write about cars?
Well, because some of them had big . . .
I mean that literally because factually. I saw it. Not meaning the . . . but the rest of it.
One of the first “diversity” hires I witnessed hired was a woman who was put into the not-driver’s seat at USA Today, back when people still read it (this was the ’90s). She had as much business writing about cars as Liberace had writing about dating. Well, women. But she did have something. Two of them. So she was given – literally – the job and the rest of us guys watched and marveled, which was foolish of us, in the manner of watching and marveling at the sight of the tide receding from the beach, the water drawing back, far out to sea."
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the basics that you should have. Look at 95% of people taking orders and making change at
fast food restaurants for an example of not being able to do math.
Seriously, driving with a manual transmission is a world away from operating with an automatic.
The 'driver' has a lot more input and control with a manual, and someone who has not done so
and developed that expertise can't understand how that feels.
That involvement of the 'driver' is what makes 'driving' 'driving instead of just 'traveling.'
I do take one exception to this article and he implies if you don't know how to drive a stick you really don't know how to drive. I say BS on that. Saying if you only can drive an automatic and not a stick means you don't know how to drive is like saying if you only use a modern calculator and not an abacus means you don't know how to do math.