Frazz by Jef Mallett for October 05, 2024

When it comes to making us dumb, the Internet says to cars, “hold my beer”.

If I ran the Henry Ford museum, I’d add a wing about what makes kids in this school point so much for no obvious reason. (My hypothesis, stated a week or so ago, is that they’re cartoon characters with an extra finger, and occasionally the finger just gets away from their control. I’m seeking funding to run controlled experiments.

I don’t need a car; my smart phone routinely outsmarts me…

Personal transportation made us dumb. Cheap, dirty energy made us stupid.

Did they have a Fordlandia exhibit, where you ride through on a tiny Model A while little animatronic assembly line workers move in synchronization to It’s a Ford World After All?

If I ran The Henry Ford, I’d change up the exhibits more often, some of them haven’t changed in at least 10 years, and I’d open a couple of the homes in Greenfield Village for overnight stays. I’ve been suggesting that one forever.

“I do my best thinking on the bus” – Miller

I no longer have a car. But people have cars for a reason. You may not need one, but that doesn’t mean nobody else needs one.

I don’t know about cars making us dumb, but there’s a lot of dummies driving them.

We’ve put in plenty of our own effort too.

Question. How is it cars make us dumb? If we don’t live near where we work and there is no public transport, we must walk. If so, what’s the limit on that if one is to get in a full day? If we must drive to earn, does that make us dumb?

If we are driving, we can’t see all the things we see when we walk, Does that make us dumb?

Granted, if we use cell phones while driving, no question about it . . . that’s dumb, criminally dumb.

People have always been this stupid. It’s just that it’s easier and easier to encounter each other without knowing each other and therefore being more ready to ignore it.

Cars definitely make us dumb. There are things we do that are harmless and aren’t stupid unless it’s done in a car, which magnifies the impact.

As someone who drives for a living, it’s not the driving that makes people dumb. It amazes me the worst drivers generally drive high end vehicles. Proving one doesn’t have to be smart to be wealthy and entitlement of the wealthy often creates really, really bad drivers. Of course, next in line is lifted trucks and anything with an illegally loud exhaust.

Come to think of it, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Frazz as so much as a passenger in a vehicle…

Just so we’re all straight here, we all know the Henry Ford is not about seeing old cars, right?

Frank Zappa: “It’s not getting any smarter out there. You have to come to terms with the stupid and make it work for you”

First panel: devote a section to tetraethyl lead additive to gasoline development (but that was GM).

Years ago I took my son and nephew to the Petersen Automotive Museum, then another one in Sylmar CA called the Nethercutt museum but we got there too late.

Another act of dumbness on the road: truck drivers.

There’s a good reason for them to drive in the fast line during slow traffic. But they still do it during normal traffic, thus causing slow traffic.

Henry Ford Museum is located at Dearborn,Michigan.