Human rights pale beside the rights of machines. In more and more cities, especially in the great metropolises of the South, people have been banned. Automobiles usurp human space, poison the air, and frequently murder the interlopers who invade their conquered territory -and no one lifts a finger to stop them. Is there a difference between violence that kills by car and that which kills by knife or bullet?" (p.231)
Interpretation
The quote critiques the prioritization of machines and vehicles over human rights and safety.
Eduardo Galeano's quote highlights the disturbing reality that, as cities grow and technology advances, the rights and well-being of individuals are often overlooked in favor of machines, particularly automobiles. He draws a parallel between different forms of violence, suggesting that the consequences of these technologies—pollution, danger, and urban design favoring cars—are as significant and lethal as more overt forms of violence, such as that inflicted by weapons.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about urban planning and the importance of prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists over cars.
Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I may walk, I'll never reach it. So what's the point of utopia? The point is this: to keep walking.
It is highly improbable that the bureaucrat will put his life on the line. It is absolutely impossible that he'll put his job on the line.
We live in a world that treats the dead better than the living. We, the living are askers of questions and givers of answers, and we have other grave defects unpardonable by a system that believes death, like money, improves people.
History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.'
The more freedom is extended to business, the more prisons have to be built for those who suffer from that business.
Utopia lies at the horizon. When I draw nearer by two steps, it retreats two steps. If I proceed ten steps forward, it swiftly slips ten steps ahead. No matter how far I go, I can never reach it. What, then, is the purpose of utopia? It is to cause us to advance.
A person never knows their own true face. Everybody thinks that the phoney, posed social mask they wear is their real face.
Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass, provided they be fitting for us.
Society has arisen out of the works of peace; the essence of society is peacemaking.
Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry. They had no quarrel with "big government" when it served their needs.
Let him who wants a true church cling to the Word by which everything is upheld.
There are many, many nouns for the act of looking - a glance, a glimpse, a peep - but there's no noun for the act of listening. In general, we don't think primarily about sound. So I have a different perspective on the world; I can construct soundscapes that have an effect on people, but they don't know why. It's a sort of subterfuge.
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