4 ms·

Almost everyone in the US is a prisoner of their car. Our built environment presumes that you have a car. We make it very challenging to live without one. And t

by Mz 9y ago

Almost everyone in the US is a prisoner of their car. Our built environment presumes that you have a car. We make it very challenging to live without one. And then we have to listen to Stephen Hawking be judgy about how we "choose" to not be active, which he can't understand from his wheelchair. Most Americans are confined to a wheeled chair for many hours a week. We just call it a car, but good luck getting free of it. (I have lived without a car for about a decade, so this comment is not expressing discontent with me feeling trapped. I escaped that trap and walking everywhere has helped me shed a lot of weight without intending to.)

sametmax 9y ago
Half of the problem is not the infrastructure, but peoples priorities and the public perception of the pros/cons of a car. Also the value of the car as a symbol. A couple will make 3 kids and say "I can't do without a car". But the couple never ponder the cost of making a family. The fact or having a car or not, and other matters of life style, are an after thoughs. And if you raise the issue, you are a cold robot for thinking that way instead of with your "heart".
- Mz 9y ago
  The vast majority of human babies are the result of either "Whoops! Babies happen!" or "We tried for years for this one!" The families that try for years tend to have one or two kids, not three or more. The people with many children who complain of being trapped typically have a lot of other things going on that lead to them having too little control over their lives. I am super uncomfortable with statements that suggest people just need to exercise some self control and stop cranking out babies. That position is incredibly dismissive of very complex issues, including lack of access to health care in the US. Historically, health insurance that paid for Viagra did not pay for female birth control. We have this underlying assumption that men have a right to get laid, even if they need chemical help to get it up, but women do not. Yet, most of those men are getting laid with women, not with other men. Questions of reproduction and sexual morality are incredibly complex and a very touchy subject because when two people have sex where the result may be a child, there are a great many people impacted. It isn't as simple as her rights vs his. The rights of the child are an issue, but so are the rights of the rest of society. It really isn't a discussion I care to see injected here.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  A couple will make 3 kids and say "I can't do without a car". But the couple never ponder the cost of making a family. This is simply mistaken. The cost of making a family is nearly always what people are thinking about in that situation. If you're saying that people aren't careful enough when they have sex, then yeah, that's always been a problem. But what's to be done? The kids exist now and you need to provide for them. Now what?
- watwut 9y ago
  The complain here is about practicality of car vs bicycle/walk. What does that have with cost of making a familly? They don't complain about car being expensive. And no, in many places in USA a car is just about the only way how to get kids to school. Which you have to. And yep, cycling along unsafe road when you are adult and when you are 8 is not the same. So ype, familly with children needs car more then single healthy adult. And yep, unless you want to face aging population problem later on, 3 kids should be doable. Just to get replacement level of population.
headmelted 9y ago
We switched to one family car around 7 years ago, as I quickly realized it would be a lot less hassle and expense for me to just use public transportation to get into the city. Fast-forward to now and I'm seriously contemplating buying another car (which I am utterly loath to do), solely because of how unreliable public transport is in my part of the world. Besides the above, I had a conversation with a cyclist in work earlier this week who is considering giving it up and going back to driving (also against his will) because he finds it hard to breathe with all the diesels on the road that have had the particulate filters ripped out (a law that is completely ignored here, so is commonplace). (As a side note, if you're wondering how he knows which cars have had this done, Google "coal-rolling" and you'll understand quickly.) This is far more nuanced (and ridiculous) than people understand. While it might be healthy in the US to walk and cycle rather than drive, in Europe it's borderline hazardous.
mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
I agree, culture is part of the problem - the car culture. That and people have forgotten what real food looks like.

by Mz 9y ago

sametmax 9y ago

Half of the problem is not the infrastructure, but peoples priorities and the public perception of the pros/cons of a car. Also the value of the car as a symbol. A couple will make 3 kids and say "I can't do without a car". But the couple never ponder the cost of making a family. The fact or having a car or not, and other matters of life style, are an after thoughs. And if you raise the issue, you are a cold robot for thinking that way instead of with your "heart".

Mz 9y ago
The vast majority of human babies are the result of either "Whoops! Babies happen!" or "We tried for years for this one!" The families that try for years tend to have one or two kids, not three or more. The people with many children who complain of being trapped typically have a lot of other things going on that lead to them having too little control over their lives. I am super uncomfortable with statements that suggest people just need to exercise some self control and stop cranking out babies. That position is incredibly dismissive of very complex issues, including lack of access to health care in the US. Historically, health insurance that paid for Viagra did not pay for female birth control. We have this underlying assumption that men have a right to get laid, even if they need chemical help to get it up, but women do not. Yet, most of those men are getting laid with women, not with other men. Questions of reproduction and sexual morality are incredibly complex and a very touchy subject because when two people have sex where the result may be a child, there are a great many people impacted. It isn't as simple as her rights vs his. The rights of the child are an issue, but so are the rights of the rest of society. It really isn't a discussion I care to see injected here.
sillysaurus3 9y ago
A couple will make 3 kids and say "I can't do without a car". But the couple never ponder the cost of making a family. This is simply mistaken. The cost of making a family is nearly always what people are thinking about in that situation. If you're saying that people aren't careful enough when they have sex, then yeah, that's always been a problem. But what's to be done? The kids exist now and you need to provide for them. Now what?
watwut 9y ago
The complain here is about practicality of car vs bicycle/walk. What does that have with cost of making a familly? They don't complain about car being expensive. And no, in many places in USA a car is just about the only way how to get kids to school. Which you have to. And yep, cycling along unsafe road when you are adult and when you are 8 is not the same. So ype, familly with children needs car more then single healthy adult. And yep, unless you want to face aging population problem later on, 3 kids should be doable. Just to get replacement level of population.

headmelted 9y ago

We switched to one family car around 7 years ago, as I quickly realized it would be a lot less hassle and expense for me to just use public transportation to get into the city. Fast-forward to now and I'm seriously contemplating buying another car (which I am utterly loath to do), solely because of how unreliable public transport is in my part of the world. Besides the above, I had a conversation with a cyclist in work earlier this week who is considering giving it up and going back to driving (also against his will) because he finds it hard to breathe with all the diesels on the road that have had the particulate filters ripped out (a law that is completely ignored here, so is commonplace). (As a side note, if you're wondering how he knows which cars have had this done, Google "coal-rolling" and you'll understand quickly.) This is far more nuanced (and ridiculous) than people understand. While it might be healthy in the US to walk and cycle rather than drive, in Europe it's borderline hazardous.

mrhappyunhappy 9y ago

I agree, culture is part of the problem - the car culture. That and people have forgotten what real food looks like.