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This is not to be read as a defense of car companies, or an attack on Americans: Those cars are designed in other countries to be larger specifically for Ameri

This is not to be read as a defense of car companies, or an attack on Americans: Those cars are designed in other countries to be larger specifically for America taste. Americans visit Europe and chuckle at the "tiny" cars, which are in fact perfectly appropriate for three children. And those cars were designed by the same companies for European standards. To me, that reads as fetishization on a mass cultural level, and while you can point the finger anywhere you like that fact will remain at the core. There is no justification, on a planet burning faster every year, for the ridiculously oversized cars Americans choose. None.

ericmay 5y ago
When you call it a fesithization that is definitely interpreted by me as an attack/insult and I don't think it adds any value, and probably strengthens convictions of people who drive large SUVs. Are Germans fetishzing Russian natural gas? No. It's incentives and economics, and poor government choices based on poor assumptions about the state of the world (same with America, gas, and the suburbs). You're mixing up a preference based on no immediate negative repercussions with Pimp My Ride. Believe it or not, Americans are just regular people. Immigrants to the U.S. don't walk from point to point, they buy large SUVs too. If Americans are burning the planet (and we are, to be clear, with bone-headed city and urban planning decisions) than auto manufacturers from other countries absolutely share the blame, including their employees (to the same extent you'd blame an American for buying a large SUV) for selling the fuel and matches and advertising how cool the fuel and matches are, especially when used together.