If you've ever wondered what the anti-Streetfilm would look like, wonder no more.
Prager University ("[we are] not a university and we do not offer degrees") is a non-profit founded by conservative talk show host Dennis Prager, whose mission is to spread "Americanism."
PragerU, as it's known, releases five-minute videos on a range of topics, featuring titles like, "If There Is No God, Murder Isn't Wrong," "There Is No Gender Wage Gap," "Income Inequality Is Good," "Just Say Merry Christmas," "Was the Civil War About Slavery?," "Build the Wall," and "Where Are the Moderate Muslims?"
Its latest video, released this week, is about another fundamental American value: driving big, gas-guzzling cars and not using other modes of transportation, because freedom.
The video is presented by Lauren Fix, a New York-based "car coach" who also hosts an automotive segment on Newsmax, the right-wing outlet.
In case you're not aware that cars are private vehicles used for point-to-point transportation, Fix lays it out for you. "They allow us to go wherever we want, whenever we want, with whomever we want," she says. "When you get behind the wheel, you are in control. You are free."
Got that, car drivers? You have now been informed that you are free. Yes, free... to get stuck in traffic, or circle endlessly for a parking space, or make large monthly payments until you're on the verge of bankruptcy. This is pure American freedom.
Fix also has a message for everyone who can't afford a car, or is physically unable to drive, or just prefers to live life without being tethered to a big, expensive metal box whose value rapidly depreciates. The message is: Wake up! Don't you realize you've been brainwashed by regulators?
“The very reason people love cars -- personal freedom -- is also why regulators can’t stand them. Government at all levels craves control. And when it comes to your car, they want you off the road. So do the environmentalists, with whom they’ve made common cause," she says. “Urban planners are adding bike lanes, reducing parking spots, and pouring billions into more public transportation.” And they're putting up subliminal ads everywhere that say "Obey."
For a video that purportedly extols freedom from regulation, PragerU left out a lot of stuff.
Fix says nothing about the ubiquitous government mandates that force developers to spend billions on parking, or the massive public subsidies that sustain auto sprawl, or the pervasive regulatory apparatus that's supposed to protect us from the danger of cars, but still can't prevent 40,000 traffic deaths in the U.S. each year.
Apparently, only a government bureaucrat would harp on this government excess, or something. "There's been a concerted push by government bureaucrats and environmentalists to transform car ownership from a source a pride to a source of guilt," she says. "America’s car culture isn’t dead -- yet. So as long as Americans want to live in the land of the free, America’s car culture will never die."
God bless you, Veronica Moss -- I mean, Lauren Fix and PragerU. And God bless Americanism.
