You can eat and not pay attention with a manual transmission, I don't know why we'd pretend you can't. If you're just on the highway cruising both are just going to be in one gear all the time.

I never claimed you couldn't eat and drive a manual. I said that people who claim autos are better because they make it easier to choose to drive distracted (alternative phrasing - who choose to drive like a reckless asshole) shouldn't be on the road.

Either way, the problem is that people have to drive even if they don't want to engage. The popularity of automatic transmissions proves that (to most Americans at least) cars are an appliance and something people do because they have to. Fuck cars.

Well, yeah, that's always been the case. There are some enthusiasts sure, but for the most part a car is seen as a more convenient bus. But people riding the bus seldom choose to behave dangerously while commuting, there's something about the mentality of these people (choosing to drive distracted) that is at odds with normal, acceptable behavior