4 ms·

I agree. The anti-car rhetoric in the US is simply ridiculous. The US is simply not built for any other lifestyle. Maybe Manhattan and certain very tiny parts o

by mnm1 9y ago

I agree. The anti-car rhetoric in the US is simply ridiculous. The US is simply not built for any other lifestyle. Maybe Manhattan and certain very tiny parts of other cities that are already unaffordable to the middle class, let alone the poor. We don't have public transportation and we don't have the proper legislation in place to do anything else. We don't build enough and we don't build densely enough. These problems are widely known and currently, they have no solutions in sight. Most people want to keep the status quo, but even if there was a mass movement to change this situation, I doubt the money would be allocated. The money most certainly exists, but much of it is currently wasted (defense, bailouts, tax breaks for the rich, weapons, more weapons, etc.), at least at the federal level. I don't think any state currently has the budget to even begin to make a dent in car culture. Hell, we can't even replace hundred year old critical infrastructure bridges, yet anti-car people want a whole new infrastructure (either that, or they're delusionally thinking that everyone can cram into downtown somehow). Car culture is here to stay. That's what the market dictates in the US, anyway.

PhasmaFelis 9y ago
> I agree. The anti-car rhetoric in the US is simply ridiculous. The US is simply not built for any other lifestyle. Er...yes. That's the reason there's anti-car rhetoric. But you're also overstating the problem, which I wouldn't have thought was possible. Car culture is pervasive, but plenty of major American cities have decent-ish public transit. Your whole argument is weird. It seems like you're saying "This problem is real, massive, and pervasive, therefore we need to stop trying to fix it and ignore it completely."
coding123 9y ago
This got down voted so much I could barely read it... But it has an actual argument that's not even being contested, that's a horrible way to down vote.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  I replied to the argument. mnm1 agrees that car culture is a problem, so we're on the same page there, but they conclude that the problem is impossible to fix so we should all just stop trying and embrace it, which makes no sense to me. And, living near Seattle as I currently do, the notion that we'd need to completely rebuild everything for public transit to work at all is not accurate. Plenty of major cities have decent public transit already. There may be a few cities that are beyond saving, and it wouldn't work in small towns, but that's true anywhere; no one in rural Germany is taking the bus to work, no matter how great it is in Frankfurt.

by mnm1 9y ago

PhasmaFelis 9y ago

> I agree. The anti-car rhetoric in the US is simply ridiculous. The US is simply not built for any other lifestyle. Er...yes. That's the reason there's anti-car rhetoric. But you're also overstating the problem, which I wouldn't have thought was possible. Car culture is pervasive, but plenty of major American cities have decent-ish public transit. Your whole argument is weird. It seems like you're saying "This problem is real, massive, and pervasive, therefore we need to stop trying to fix it and ignore it completely."

coding123 9y ago

This got down voted so much I could barely read it... But it has an actual argument that's not even being contested, that's a horrible way to down vote.

PhasmaFelis 9y ago
I replied to the argument. mnm1 agrees that car culture is a problem, so we're on the same page there, but they conclude that the problem is impossible to fix so we should all just stop trying and embrace it, which makes no sense to me. And, living near Seattle as I currently do, the notion that we'd need to completely rebuild everything for public transit to work at all is not accurate. Plenty of major cities have decent public transit already. There may be a few cities that are beyond saving, and it wouldn't work in small towns, but that's true anywhere; no one in rural Germany is taking the bus to work, no matter how great it is in Frankfurt.