A friend from my MSU office and I went down to Detroit for the North American Auto Show a few weeks ago, for the first time since the early 1980s. The scenes it laid before my wondering eyes were quite a contrast to the Michigan haunts I commonly inhabit, the woods and fields of central lower Michigan and the wild shores and forests of Lake Superior. I had heard that the Show was conducting an amateur photo contest and so brought along my camera to see whether I could capture anything I thought worthy of entering. But, alas, I didn't succeed as I had hoped. I needed more time to study the hall and concentrate on some test shots before trying to take a few shots that might have a chance in a competition. Nonetheless, I did take a fews shots that I liked and thought skillful and expressive. Here's one, of an older concept car that had never seen a day of mass production but was still worth admiring as an historical icon of modern technology. I was back in the wild woods, way up on the Keweenaw Peninsula, within days of this foray into modern commericialization, but the experience was enlightening.
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The Auto Show causes me to wax philosophical. It brings to mind William James's seminal essay on the differing ways people see the world and value what they see. That essay, "On a Certain Blindness," offered the example of a northerner traveling past a Carolina farm and seeing a clear-cut farm field. To the man passing by, the scene is ugly and objectionable. To the farmer and his family, the scene is one of beauty, in the progress made and in the promise of sustenance or even mild prosperity to come. Some who go to the Auto Show see the smarmy realities of hawking cars, while others see the beauties of well-designed, well-made works of advanced modern technology. Some try out the Auto Show but much prefer the woods; others try out the woods but much prefer the sight of a beautifully painted and sharply polished car under bright spotlights. And so my life also reveals these contrasts and tensions, which are aspects of the Problem of Disagreement, the philosophical issue I have long been pondering and have written a book about -- an entertaining book, I might add.
It's funny that I saw that picture and thought, wow, that's a really retro-looking car. I went to an auto show here a few years ago and I was really able to enjoy it in all its tacky glory. Plus, there's a certain beauty to the cars, especially the concept cars. And on a sillier note, you can get in the cars and that reminds me of playing road trip in my grandmother's garage, which is a good memory.
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