Fewer Auto Deaths: How About Some Credit Where it is Due for Ralph Nader?
Where is the institutional memory of the media? A truly good news story has come out about how last year we had fewer automobile accident deaths since the 1960s. There are many reasons for this, with the story focusing on high gas prices last year for reducing the miles driven. Increased seat belt use is also mentioned, amazingly without crediting my pal Ralph Nader who has spent most of his adult life promoting auto safety. From the story:
Several states have pushed tougher seat belt laws that allow law enforcement officers to stop motorists whose sole offense was failing to buckle up...The report should also mention air bags, which are now taken for granted, but for which Ralph fought years to require as an auto safety feature.
Seat belt use in 2008 climbed to 83 percent, a record. Fourteen states and the nation's capital had rates of 90 percent or better. Michigan had the highest seat belt use rate with 97.2 percent, followed by Hawaii with 97 percent and Washington state at 96.5 percent. Massachusetts had the lowest rate, 66.8 percent, while it was under 70 percent in New Hampshire and Wyoming.
Many states have tried to improve their enforcement of driving laws and public outreach. In South Dakota, for example, state troopers are required to devote several hours a year to give presentations discouraging drunken driving or promoting seat belt use.
None of this would likely have happened, at least not when it did--but for a young attorney taking on General Motors in the early 1960s with the book Unsafe at Any Speed, and in the acrimonious afterwards in which GM tried to pound this piqsqueak upstart into the dirt--only to be the one to receive the big black eye.
Ralph Nader is one of the great humanitarians of the 20th Century who has been disdained and forgotten in the media due to their pique over the 2000 election. But to see why RN was known as "St. Ralph," the person of last resort for many suffering profound injustice, see the documentary An Unreasonable Man, which vividly depicts why he was my hero during my teenage years long before I ever met him.
There should be editorials in our remaining newspapers tomorrow thanking Ralph for the part he played in all of this. But don't hold your breath. So I'll say it: Thanks so much, Ralph, for helping save so many lives and preventing so many devastating injuries.
Labels: Ralph Nader. Media Failings.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 11:18 AM
11 Comments
11 Comments:
THANK YOU RALPH NADER!!!
He's always been a hero of mine, and I've never even been a liberal. I've noticed his absence from media reports these last years, and I only wish he'd been elected President.
THANK YOU RALPH NADER!!!!!
Unfortunately, the media HATES Ralph Nader because of the 2000 election and isn't getting over it any time soon. But, thanks for pointing out his accomplishments, Wesley! We need more prominent independents like Nader to bring some sense to the partisanism that dominates political discourse and prevents us from finding solutions to problems.
I abhor NewAgeSpeak, but it does look like karma is catching up with the newspaper sector of the media, anyway...and if somebody doesn't do something about what's going on as the result of this last election, the government will swallow up the rest of the media. I kept wishing that Ralph Nader had run this last time. People turned to Obama because there was no Nader running. That's like buying a paper cheeseburger and there was no excuse for such stupidity, but apparently they were hungry.
Big jump in the numbers by the flags here again today. The bullhorn in the picture on the next blog section here should be saying, "Come back Ralph! Come back! They need you!"
Oh, Lord, with what's on the network news (I think ABC) tonight, we really do. Now scientists "working with rats" (as if the rats had applied for the job and sent in resumes) have injected stuff in the rats' brains that made the rats forget that they had learned via "mild shocks" (the coverage was careful to say "mild") to their feet to avoid a certain area. Swiftly, briefly, in passing, the story mentioned "ethical considerations." Well that's plenty of salary for "bioethicists" whose determinations we already know what they will be. As if we don't already know where this is headed. I remember reading, when doing editing work on textbooks at Plenum Press in 1981, about the possibilities for controlling large masses of people via music and pharmaceuticals. We've already got that in society. Next step, wipe out their memories and whatever else is "unacceptable" and "inappropriate" in their minds. Next story, fluff to distract from the implications of the preceding, people are buying more sweets during the economic downturn Obama has gone out of his way to nurture with talk of crisis. Distraction via the topic of distraction, with a reminder of the downturn (wouldn't anyone want to forget about that?) slipped in to boot; neatly done. As if we hadn't had to hear enough about how chocolate makes people feel better during the protracted period of publicity over that "discovery." WHERE ARE YOU RALPH NADER? COME BACK! WE NEED YOU!!!
Hi, I'm still laid off.
Why exactly is everyone so mad about 2000? In the first place, if Ralph Nader wasn't a good candidate, he wouldn't have generated as much support as he did. And it's pretty darn obvious the Democratic Party needs a serious overhaul, which Nader could have provided. Face it, it's not HIS fault that the bloody system is a mess! I have no respect for anybody who complains about Nader having been in the presidential race in 2000. What ticks me off is that more people didn't look at the situation and say, "Hey, this means that we have enough people wanting change that we can get away from the traditional two-party system and look for ways to improve ourselves!" No, they kevetched because Bush won and the Democrats were split on issues. Idiotic. How dumb, how deranged. We see evidence that there's a problem needing to be fixed and we *complain* about the evidence showing up! Pfft.
Ianthe -
Yeah, see, that falls outside my idea of ethical animal research. Teaching doctors how to remove a cancerous tumor from a dog that's suffering, before they try it on humans - Good. Shocking animals and screwing with their wiring - Not Good. Reminds me of this one horrid experiment where they put a baby spider monkey in a cage with two "mothers," one a fake monkey covered with carpeting or artificial fur, and the other a wire fake monkey with no fur but with a bottle of milk, so the baby could nurse. The baby clung to the cuddle "mother" for comfort and drank from the wire "mother." I just about had a cat right there.
Tabs: I am sorry you are still laid off. I hope that changes soon.
People who loathe President Bush blame Ralph because he received enough votes in 2000, they say, to take the state out of the Gore column. Of course, Gore didn't carry his own state, and people don't seem to be upset that Patrick Buchanan cost Bush votes, but that's politics.
I think people blame Ralph Nader because he has more guts than they do or any of the other candidates did. If it's Ralph Nader's fault that Al Gore lost, Gore should thank him for bringing out the best in Gore -- his concession speech.
Tabs: I'm sorry you're still laid off too. I think something better will manifest that would not have been in your path if this hadn't happened. Especially if, as you hinted yesterday, I think, you're a Bull, and even if you're not. As for the experiments, that should only be the worst of it. I'll spare you other examples right now. Take care of yourself.
Hi, Tabs-I sympathize, as I can't find a job, either!
I actually know very little about Nader. Thanks for this article. I'll be looking into him more.
Nader pointed out the obvious defects in the Chevrolet Corvair. Fine, but back in 1963 or thereabouts, as I recall, both GM ("What's good for General Motors is good for the U.S.A.") and the Republican party were scandalized.
One might ask what Nader has done for us lately (i.e. in the last 45 years or so) that makes him worthy of recognition? Helping George W. Bush get elected?
What has he done for us lately? What an attitude. But he did more than your weak depiction. He revolutionized the auto industry. His work has probably saved--and continues to save--millions of lives. With the $500 K he received from GM when he sued it for invasion of privacy, he established the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and the entire field of civic advocacy. If you get bumped from an airplane you must be compensated because that happened to Nader and he took the airline industry to the Supreme Court. His efforts to stop lawsuit abuses by the corporte lawyers--an issue the subject of NO CONTEST that we wrote together--has kept some fairness in the legal system. His watchdog work, and the inspiration he gave, continues to provide a necessary check and balance to government power.
Gore lost 2000 for himself, couldn't even carry his own state. But tantrum throwing over that election, which seems to be the Left's constant mode these days, does not diminish one iota what he has done for humanity and freedom. Ignorance is no excuse for a history writer.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home