A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
Honestly this is absurd. These death machines shouldn't be legal in europe. That thing doesn't even fit in the parking space, even though the parking lot has the biggest spaces in the whole city. The ~~Golf~~ Polo is so small in comparison, it could even hide in front of the engine hood of the truck.
EDIT: It's a Polo and not a Golf, I don't know my cars, sorry for that!
I can acknowledge people buy big cars because they don't want to die on the road. That is logical. At the same time it makes the road more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. I don't have to like that. Frankly I'm not sure why you're so desperate for the approval of a stranger on the internet. I'm not slashing your tires or forcing you to sell your car, I'm just stating a fact.
As for systematic change - I do what I can. I vote for politicians that want better forms of transport and let the council know what I think. I've donated to and volunteered for activists that want this. Myself I limit car use even when it's inconvenient. On the issue of oversized cars specifically, too many people here are emotionally dependent on their SUVs and Ford Rangers for any whisper of limiting their usage to have mainstream approval.
Wrt the climate crisis things are getting worse very quickly and these gas guzzlers are helping us accelerate on the road to hell. I and many other people are at their wit's end. But yes, I'm the bad person here for being a little resentful sometimes.
I'm not looking for any validation.
I just think the take of "you're part of the problem" is reductive and childish. And nothing you've said changes that.
Gas guzzlers contribute to man made climate change yes, but even if everyone went to an electric sedan tomorrow, it wouldn't slow climate change by more than a couple of days. The average person has no measurable effect on climate change by themselves.
And yes, you are. Because your resentment is pointed at the wrong person and is like a childish temper tantrum. The person you were speaking too isn't "attached" to the truck or suv, they actively said they would have no problem getting a different vehicle if their safety concerns were resolved. So calling them part of the problem is just lashing out.
Resent the people you're actually calling out. Not the person with a well reasoned argument and the desire to see change that would aid them the peace of mind to support your position. Snapping out at people like the previous poster puts people on the defensive and to dig in their heels, then you just alienate the people who would support you.
Fundamentally what irks me is that using an oversized car out of safety concerns becomes a zero-sum game. Yes in a crash you're more likely to be better off. The person you're crashing into - less so. It's rational behaviour to prioritize the safety of yourself and I understand why people do it. However myself as an external observer has no reason to symphasize with the person doing that over all other users of the road. I don't think I'm a bad person for being uncomfortable with that.
Perhaps "you're part of the problem" was poor wording, and better wording would have been "go ahead, but I don't like it". Either way - this is a comment I made at like 2am on the fly and I find no value in writing more paragraphs arguing about the implications of it.
Then stop.
You made your position public. That public posting opens you up to criticism. No one obligates you to write paragraphs defending it.
Your rewrite was better. As was this argument. But you're not going to convince anyone that they should subject themselves and their families to being less safe in order to be safer to others. Covid deniers proved you can't even convince people to be safer for themselves, and get the bonus of helping others. In fact you had politicians out there saying grandpa is happy to die for capitalism.
I still think your lashout was childish and I had the time and inclination to call that out. But let's be clear I never even implied you were a bad person for your position.
Goodbye.