DMB Digest: Vehicular Miscommunication
What statement is your car really sending?
I’ve visited this topic before. I just can’t help myself. I’m back.
I walk more often than I drive. Perhaps that influences my thinking on this matter. Perhaps it simply gives me a lot of fodder and time to process that fodder. But at some point every week I end up thinking about the sorts of messages automobile drivers advertently and inadvertently send every time they get into their cars and drive them around town. I’ve come to believe the problem isn’t the car or the driver, it’s the lack of understanding of the message the car and driver send to others who don’t know them personally (or understand their neurosis).
In a small town, or town of identically-minded clones, this wouldn’t be an issue. But in a city of 100,000 citizens (like the one I live in), this vehicular miscommunication happens countless times every day.
To begin, let’s establish the categories of miscommunication. The most obvious is perhaps the “I fixed my car by breaking it so that it makes more noise” category. Then there is the equally as obvious “I fly flags that are so big they render my vehicle a driving hazard” category. Lastly but not leastly, there is the “I need everyone to know this very important thing about me based on my vehicle choice” category. Lest we forget, there is also the “I express my superiority over you through my driving behavior rather than my vehicular choice” category.
In my experience, most vehicular miscommunication can fit into one of these four categories. For our first example, I’ll start with myself. (It seems only fair since I’m being a judgmental jerk today). I don’t always drive, but when I do, I drive a 2016 Ford C-max plug-in hybrid. (I know. Let the jokes begin.) This clearly falls into the category of needing everyone to know something very important about me: I’m a relentless Granola with a penchant for penny-pinching nerdiness.
Before you start yammering about the source of the electricity we use to charge the vehicle, we pay extra every month to ensure our energy is a mix of solar, wind, hydro and natural gas. (I live in Idaho, so it ain’t gonna be all rainbows and fart gas…but at least some of my propulsion can be.)
Here is the kicker. What does my driving a 2016 discontinued C-max plug-in hybrid actually say to my fellow citizens? I’m guessing something like, “I don’t really care about what I drive,” or “This is all I could afford,” or “Please don’t notice me.” I’m sure my granola status is completely lost in translation.
But what about the rest of the common miscommunications out there on our streets? When my neighbors drive Hondas with after market “fart cans” attached to them (so that the car backfires and pops intentionally) I’m assured by several Reddit threads these neighbors intend to communicate the sheer thrill and joy of driving. Hmmm. Why is it that every time I’m startled out of my skin by one of these “fart can” conversion kits my first thought is something like, “For the love of God! Why must you attempt to ruin everything peaceful and good in my life?”
When a big dumb truck (bdt=a vehicle originally created for work but used exclusively for show) drives past me flying as many flags as humanly possible (so many in fact I’m briefly concerned the vehicle might start sailing away in a strong wind), I’m once again assured by Reddit that these friends are seeking to express their purely motivated patriotism and relish for America (or possibly to honk people off). They are simply a first-amendment-freedom-of-speech lover! Don’t tread on me, baby! Well, that’s nice. Too bad the actual message is reduced to tribal signaling. Thing is, this signaling used to be more subtle. A secret hand shake or a tattoo. But we don’t do subtlety too well anymore. So now you gotta let your freak flags fly.
How about the driver who lays into the horn for the span of an entire city block? What is that supposed to communicate? It certainly isn’t a warning or an attempt to avoid a collision. Or how am I supposed to interpret the signaling sent by someone driving an EV Hummer? “I’m so rich I don’t even need to make sense with my consumer behavior?” “I save the earth by subjugating it?”
The saddest thing about the whole EV Hummer thing is that the first time I saw one advertised on television, I wanted one. There, I said it. The sheer brute power of an all electric engine quietly burning enough power to light up the night sky! What’s wrong with me? After further reflection, allow me to suggest a crazy exercise. Let us practice connecting with each other while NOT locked away in our homes or behind the wheel of our cars. Expose your actual person to the outside world. Maybe through our exposure to each other we’ll lessen our miscommunications.
From the Desk of DMB
I didn’t get a ton written this week, but I’ve gotten myself right up to the cusp of the climactic action of the story. I have a few last things to yank and tuck to make it all feel right—to ensure everything comes together the only way it possibly can (and to ensure the story feels that way to the reader). I’m not shooting for twisty/mindbending. I’m shooting for a “all feels right in the universe” vibe that moment the reader finishes the last word and sets the book down. Like the story fits into the truth of the universe and couldn’t possibly have played out in any other manner. But to hit that note, I have to hit every character. Each has to be true to their created and stated identities. And I have to lay all the proper bread crumbs along the way. Obvious but not boring.
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