I’ve always been intrigued by the major questions not
asked by reporters at press conferences, not asked by legislators at
public hearings or even the questions citizens at town meetings don’t
ask public officials. It’s not that they do not know about or could not
easily become informed enough about a given issue and ask substantive
questions. It’s just that so many taboos are packed into these
questioners’ ideological mindset, career goals or concern with what
other people over them might think. Maybe it is a culturally-rooted fear
of challenging entrenched power brokers.
Decades
ago, I noticed that press conferences, symposia and formal studies and
reports on the toll of highway traffic fatalities never mentioned the
role of motor vehicle design and construction.
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
