Who Killed The Electric Car?

Who did kill the electric car? The blame can't be pinned to one person and one person only. No no, it should be spread around to pretty much everyone that got in its way. Whether they were wrong or not in their reasoning, yep, they are guilty. I don't care if they were thinking of the bigger picture or not, they killed it and that makes them bad.

So it goes.

I never really understood why Kurt Vonnegut always said "so it goes" in his book Slaughter-House 5, and I still don't, but I now feel that it applies here. Yes, the electric car died, but this movie (Who Killed The Electric Car?) makes everyone out to be responsible for some horrible crime against humanity. In reality, however, they were twisting the facts to make it seem a lot worse than it was. Only until the end (and even then only for a short segment) do they even talk about the other side of the table: they actually let the accusees speak on their own behalf (amazing!).

That one guy who was in charge of CARB seemed to be smart and sensible and sure of his decision without being demeaning or snide. And I got this from his brief interview segment. Of course the editors would cut out the parts that didn't make him seem like a total loon or devil in disguise, but even without those clips he still seemed sincere as if he were actually looking out for the people he was serving (imagine that: a public service official actually doing his job).

This movie had an agenda, and after finishing it last night I got irritated. Yes, it would have been nice have the option of an electric car for the past 2 years (the last one was crushed in 2005 if I remember the movie correctly), but we should be trying to find ways to bring it back by changing policy. The major problem I saw was that big companies had a monopoly on the car business and enforced policy that would halt projects aimed at decreasing oil profits. But now there should be enough opposition to oil companies (what with oil prices rising and global warming becoming a major issue) that these policies can be changed and taken out of the control of big comopanies and put in the hands of the majority: the people of the United States.

Who Killed The Electric Car? did it's job when it comes to raising awareness of this issue and possible energy source for Americans and people world-wide. I only wish it hadn't been so coniving and blamed people that were just doing their job and looking out for the interests of the people to get there.