Just like the Auto Industry

The Hummer is sold by GM, an excellent example of them being out of touch with what is needed in the real, climate changing, CO2 challenged world. I took this photo when at a auto show a few years ago. It was the ONLY photo I took of a US made car (they were mostly fuel guzzlers and boring), and that was because the Hummer was so obviously egregiously out of touch. And now they want billions while I watch Michigan fall apart because of their inept actions. Shame on them for doing this to the state, for being the role model that brought a state down. Their executives are still paid millions to bring down millions of people.

Cultural geography is fascinating, and students of the subject find constant joy and frustration at how we learn. We learn by looking at the world around us and imitating. When we are children, we have our parents as role models. It is difficult to break that pattern. The pattern is now having to be broken around Michigan because most of those who thought they too would work in the auto industry find there will be no room for them, and in fact, there may be no auto industry.

To digress for a moment about cultural imitation. I once had the good luck to teach in a prison. While there I gained the confidence and stories of many of my students, all convicted felons. I really liked them, and they found they liked me. So we traded stories about our lives. What I found fascinating about many of them (mostly Blacks and Hispanics) was that they were only doing what they saw every day in their ordinary lives. Gangs and drugs. They did not have good role models.

So, now I found myself in Michigan, a long way from California and find that the culture of Michigan is caught up in the same rut that those prisoners were in. We have the auto companies, corrupt officials, and the greedy unions as our role models. Is it any wonder that the problems at EMU are what they are?

Yes, I am having a very bad day dealing with incompetency, greed, and lack of clear thinking, much as the auto industry has demonstrated so well for our state. If we want to get things done, then we have to decide to do it, and not rely on useless and outdated regulations and rules that are meant to slow down the wheels of moving into the twenty-first century. We have become complacent in the success of 1950 and we do not live there any more, and nothing is going to bring it back. Change by definition is not keeping things as they have been. It is not done by being conservative. It is done by conservation. Ummm same word, entirely different ways of thinking. One out of the past (conservative) one out of the now (conservation).

We need to have better role models, a more stimulating cultural geography to influence and build our lives. And for me, surprise, surprise, it is creating a sustainable economy. One that creates role models that are accountable, conserve energy, and treat all with respect.