"Americans will accept the fact that a person can be an alcoholic or a dope fiend, but if a man doesn't drive, they think there must be something wrong with him." -Attributed to Art Buchwald
Well driving is an american tradition. Like listening to Rock and Roll, owning a house in the suburbs and watching a lot of TV. Not wanting to do those things makes you odd. It's like you question the value of cultural norms and traditions. Why would you want to do that? :P
you would not believe the amount of trouble I have getting places to accept my passport as ID. "You mean you don't have a driver's licence? You look older than 16, so how is that possible?"
(duh... I'm also not an American, which anyone I am speaking to can tell from my outrageous accent. I do actually have a driving licence, but until recently Britain issued stupid driving licences with no photo on them, so a fat lot of use that is)
Yeah, I had the same trouble when I was travelling once without my drivers' license. I understand that it's probably because most cashiers have never even seen a passport and so they don't know how to spot forgeries - but really, it is much, much easier to fake a DL than a passport, so liquor stores would do well to train their employees better.
The most amusing thing, to me, is that I have a drivers' license despite having no actual skill at driving; I passed the test at 18, just barely, after being harangued by my parents for a year and a half, and I haven't been behind the wheel of a car since. So in a sense, my drivers' license is *only* good as an ID card - as far as its ostensible main purpose goes, it's completely counterfactual, and nobody cares!
Possibly true, but it's not about whether or not something is wrong with a person. Not driving/having a car makes life extremely inconvenient. Not to say that it can't be done, but most places in this country are not set up for non-drivers. Everything is built around the fact that most people drive. And, if you plan to do things like have kids, having to lug around kids + baby paraphernalia (you know what I'm talking about, the duffel-bag full of bottles and diapers and such) on buses will become undoable, not to mention trying to bus it to their various basketball practices and violin lessons. At the stage of life that I and most of my friends are in, it's not a big deal. But I can't imagine moving on to the next stage of home ownership and family raising in this country without driving. And I do understand that some people don't want that in their lives, but ... we tend to think that there's something wrong with people who don't want home ownership, marriage, and kids, too. There are probably a lot of things we just expect everybody to want and do.
we tend to think that there's something wrong with people who don't want home ownership, marriage, and kids, too. There are probably a lot of things we just expect everybody to want and do.
Oh, you're right, these expectations are strong in many people; I just happen to think they're silly. I mean, I'm not one of these "Fight The Man" nonconformists or anything - to the extent that the trappings of "the normal American life" will make me happy, I intend to pursue them - but these trappings don't make everybody happy. And I do get classified as somewhat of an oddball for not driving (among other things). It doesn't really bother me that much - I am kind of used to being the oddball ;) - but I do think it's stupid to take a tool (a mode of transportation) and turn it into an end of its own (a status symbol, an emblem of normality and adulthood). We Americans tend to forget how wealthy we are, and build so much of our lives into maintaining luxuries we think we need to survive. It does take effort to live otherwise, I grant you that, and I'm not saying I'd choose to move into a house with no plumbing. But I can live just fine without a car or cable TV or a cell phone; and it sort of does bother me, on a level that's got nothing to do with being thought an oddball, that people rack up gobs of credit card debt, piling misery on themselves all the while, for the seeming reason that they've forgotten how. Once we forget the difference between need and luxury, we become the tools. It's disturbing how much effort it takes not to forget.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-17 04:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-17 04:41 pm (UTC)(duh... I'm also not an American, which anyone I am speaking to can tell from my outrageous accent. I do actually have a driving licence, but until recently Britain issued stupid driving licences with no photo on them, so a fat lot of use that is)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-18 10:13 am (UTC)The most amusing thing, to me, is that I have a drivers' license despite having no actual skill at driving; I passed the test at 18, just barely, after being harangued by my parents for a year and a half, and I haven't been behind the wheel of a car since. So in a sense, my drivers' license is *only* good as an ID card - as far as its ostensible main purpose goes, it's completely counterfactual, and nobody cares!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-18 01:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-20 09:06 am (UTC)Oh, you're right, these expectations are strong in many people; I just happen to think they're silly. I mean, I'm not one of these "Fight The Man" nonconformists or anything - to the extent that the trappings of "the normal American life" will make me happy, I intend to pursue them - but these trappings don't make everybody happy. And I do get classified as somewhat of an oddball for not driving (among other things). It doesn't really bother me that much - I am kind of used to being the oddball ;) - but I do think it's stupid to take a tool (a mode of transportation) and turn it into an end of its own (a status symbol, an emblem of normality and adulthood). We Americans tend to forget how wealthy we are, and build so much of our lives into maintaining luxuries we think we need to survive. It does take effort to live otherwise, I grant you that, and I'm not saying I'd choose to move into a house with no plumbing. But I can live just fine without a car or cable TV or a cell phone; and it sort of does bother me, on a level that's got nothing to do with being thought an oddball, that people rack up gobs of credit card debt, piling misery on themselves all the while, for the seeming reason that they've forgotten how. Once we forget the difference between need and luxury, we become the tools. It's disturbing how much effort it takes not to forget.