propaganda film. (Click to watch)]
America’s pervasive car culture is a major barrier to making bicycles a respected mode of transportation.
Many of the decision makers, planners, and traffic engineers in cities throughout the country were brought up to think that driving everywhere in a private car was an essential part of the American Dream.
A few weeks ago, at the Film Celebration of Portland Transportation, Greg Raisman shared an amazing film called, Give Yourself the Green Light.
This movie was produced by General Motors to gain public support for the Interstate Highway System. It is blatant propaganda at its finest.
The film hoped to instill fear in America’s car-loving citizens that we needed more roads and parking lots in order to fulfill, the “American Dream of freedom on wheels.”
It was surreal to watch this movie in a theater full of progressive transportation activists and planners.
Sit back and watch this movie (it’s about 27 min.) some time. You won’t know whether to laugh or cry.