Popecycle

on the
domination instinct

It's particularly amusing that Benedict XVI recently found the time to criticize cager habits rather brilliantly. His encyclical, Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road, highlights the unbalanced behaviour and related consequences that kills and maims a significant number of his fellow Xians very year.

Too much blood is spilt every day in an absurd competition with speed and time. That definitely rings true on my daily commute from the apartment on the far north side to the job in the loop.

25. The domination instinct, or the feeling of arrogance, impels people to seek power in order to assert themselves

Driving a car provides an easy opportunity to dominate others. Indeed, by identifying themselves with their car, drivers enormously increase their own power. This is expressed through speed and gives rise to the pleasure of driving. This makes drivers wish to experience the thrill of speed, a typical manifestation of their increased power.

The free availability of speed, being able to accelerate at will, setting out to conquer time and space, overtaking, and almost "subjugating" other drivers, turn into sources of satisfaction that derive from domination.

And Back in 1956 Pope Pius XII exhorted cagers:

Do not forget to respect other road users, be courteous and fair with other drivers and pedestrians and show them your obliging nature. Pride yourselves in being able to master an often natural impatience, in sometimes sacrificing a little of your sense of honour so that the courteousness that is a sign of true charity may prevail. Not only will you thus be able to avoid unpleasant accidents, but you will also help to make the car a more useful tool for yourselves and others that is capable of giving you a more genuine pleasure.

In any case, with the Papal request for cagers to exercise virtue, some folks here in the City of Big Shoulders have drawn up a special decalogue for them, in reference to the עשרת הדברים, or Aseret ha-Dvarîm, of my co-religionists.

I.
You shall not kill.

II.
The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

III.
Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

IV.
Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.

V.
Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

VI.
Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

VII.
Support the families of accident victims.

VIII.
Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

IX.
On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

X.
Feel responsible towards others.