595, Jason Slaughter, Creator of Not Just Bikes, part 1: Ending Car Dependency
Watch Jason’s Not Just Bikes videos. I’ve watched them all. They’re informative, engaging, funny, researched, provocative, and keep you coming back, but not like Netflix stuff designed to addict.
After you watch a few, listen to our conversation. In our conversation he shares more depth than his videos of his motivations, how he makes the videos, interacts with his audience, feels frustration from some, learns from others, and more. He shares how life could be versus how it is. In this conversation he shares more about his wife and children, which drive his passion and choices probably most of all.
We also bond on how our searches for a better life revealed huge cultural myths that, if we never try living differently, we never think to question or consider alternatives could exist. If, before trying to live differently, anyone asked, we both would have figured anything different than how mainstream North America taught us must be worse. Beyond worse, incomparably worse, even life-threateningly worse.
The when we tried, we found it better. The myths fell apart. Yet one frustration arose and grew: nobody believes us. Words can’t convey what Beethoven’s ninth sounds like live, how a ripe fruit in season tastes, or how freedom from oil dependence feels.
But at least in this conversation, I believe we understood each other, so you can hear what freedom and connection sound like and mean in ways no addict can understand. I think you’ll enjoy what we share, even if we’re both frustrated at how misunderstood we feel by most people, even (especially) when we’re inviting them to open themselves to something they’ll enjoy more than their blissful ignorance.