Dangling Conversations

Colour commentary on the world we live in

Automotive Gods

Posted 12 Nov, 2005 at 18:56 by blue in /Chatter | Permanent link

So you say you don't believe in God?

What about the god of money? The god of big business? The god of modern medicine, fast food, alcohol and television?

Is the car-god any less demanding of sacrifice than the God of Abraham? Abraham was only asked to give up a son. 42,636 people were killed in 2004 in vehicular accidents in the United States alone. Rows of temples to the god of the combustion engine rise in every two-bit town big enough to support a bypass... we call them AutoMalls as we speed by. We pray to their acolytes, "Just stay green a little longer! No no! Don't turn red yet!" (oh c'mon, tell me you haven't mentally said that prayer at least once!)

Have we really moved away from one god, only to supplant it with a host of others who clamour for our attention? Are Tony the Tiger and Trix the Rabbit just different faces of the same god?

And what of the old gods? The ones that came before. Can Hermes and the television carry the same message? We can look back and think of the ancients as foolish for their beliefs, but would they not look forward at as and think the same?

Who will you make your sacrifice to this year?

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