WHY DO THE US FEEL THE NEED FOR CARS

Couldn't help myself wrote:

35,200 deaths in 2013 alone, and they are causing global warming. If only they were as relatively harmless as guns!

To transport our 300,000,000 plus guns!

That and we don't live in an oppressive second rate $h1t hole, aka the rest of the world.

0/10. Worst analogy ever.

stryker drilling wrote:

0/10. Worst analogy ever.

You're right. Cars are so much more significant of a menace that it is ludicrous to compare guns to them.

I think we should outlaw cars and guns. And war and bombs and people being mean to each other. And cancer and hemorrhoids. And tornadoes and earthquakes and humidity. Well, not all humidity, just when it's really hot and you want to run but it's so humid that it's really unpleasant. And most sharp objects.

ALL SHARP OBJECTS, DAMNIT!!!

ok4u wrote:

I think we should outlaw cars and guns. And war and bombs and people being mean to each other. And cancer and hemorrhoids. And tornadoes and earthquakes and humidity. Well, not all humidity, just when it's really hot and you want to run but it's so humid that it's really unpleasant. And most sharp objects.

Because the US had appalling public transport that isnt even up to the level of many third world countries.

And an urban planning model based on suburban sprawl.

Couldn't help myself wrote:

stryker drilling wrote:

0/10. Worst analogy ever.

You're right. Cars are so much more significant of a menace that it is ludicrous to compare guns to them.

Come on, you're better than this.

Let me guess, you have at least one of these four:

- live in a big city

- no job

- no family

- no money for a car

Like it or not, most of the US was built up after the advent of the automobile and highways (i.e., suburban sprawl), and for most people it would be really difficult to function without a car.

Butt you should have. You really should have.

Americans have been socially conditioned to behave in ways that are profitable to the corporations. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of the automobile.

Beginning in 1922, General Motors, along with Goodyear, and some others, bought and dismantled light-rail systems throughout the country. Since then, billions have been spent on automobile infrastructure, while the notion of a more humane, enlightened transportation alternative isn't even an afterthought.

For the past hundred years, technologies for clean, abundant, reusable, free energy have been summarily suppressed, leaving Big Oil (who, as we all know, dictate energy legislature) to wreak havoc on the environment.

Forcing us into this car-centric landscape fulfills several agendas for the elites:

1. Oil revenue. This one's obvious, and with 700 trillion dollars' worth of oil still in the ground, nothing's going to change very quickly.

2. Isolation. Alone in your car, you're sealed off from your neighbors and your community. This reinforces an "every-man-for-himself" mentality which is an important aspect of the elites' "divide and conquer" strategy.

3. Dependance. Without any viable transportation alternatives, the state can continue to "service" the infrastructure problems by extracting increasing amounts of taxpayer dollars to continually build and repair roads. This type of dependance on the state perpetuates the myth that an arbitrary, hierarchical, abusive system of top-down control is even necessary to begin with.

Americans have been systematically brainwashed into believing their cars equal "freedom." If they would think this through a little more clearly,they might see tings differently. Strapped inside a loud, dangerous, polluting, death-mobile is not my idea of freedom.

I am sure you walk to the grocery store, work, school et al.

Hanging onto a railing in the aisle of a subway car crammed with other people hanging onto the same railing and needing to plan my travels around schedules someone else created is not my idea of freedom. If I had to stop travelling by car I'd pretty much stop travelling.

my other car is a bike wrote:

Americans have been systematically brainwashed into believing their cars equal "freedom." If they would think this through a little more clearly,they might see tings differently. Strapped inside a loud, dangerous, polluting, death-mobile is not my idea of freedom.

It's mine. I lived in big cities in Asia a few times and didn't drive for periods of up to two years. It's so wonderful to get back to the US, get a 44 oz coke and some chicken strips at Sonic, and hit the open road. Feels wonderfully free.

HRE wrote:

Hanging onto a railing in the aisle of a subway car crammed with other people hanging onto the same railing and needing to plan my travels around schedules someone else created is not my idea of freedom. If I had to stop travelling by car I'd pretty much stop travelling.

*LIKE*

I BET... wrote:

I am sure you walk to the grocery store, work, school et al.

I can't speak for the other guy, but...

grocery store - Walk

work - Train or motorcycle or bicycle

school - I don't go

et al. - walk/train/bicycle/motorcycle/light rail/airplane/car more or less in that order.

If I lived in an area poorly served by public transit and had a family, of course I'd own a car. But at the moment, I honestly wouldn't want one if dealerships gave them away for free.

I agree with your excellent message.

This is a matter of options. Right now the primary option is a car. The idea is not to take away cars, but to bring back and cultivate more viable options than having to drive a car all the time.

Correct, I do walk to those places, but I also bike or sometimes even run. (Public transportation here sucks).

I gave my car away a couple years ago. As I was coming to that decision, just thinking about going without it made me nervous and apprehensive. I knew, logically, that it was unnecessary to continue to drive, but I had a strong emotional attachment to driving, and everything that goes along with it. My biggest hurdle seemed to be a perceived loss of status by not owning a car. After making the decision to do away with it, it still took a good 3 months or so to finally get rid of the thing.

This has been, on many levels, one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Regarding number 2, are you implying that all the masses on the subway are not isolated in any way and are likely to seek out ways to help their fellow travelers?

You need to grow up.

Couldn't help myself wrote:

35,200 deaths in 2013 alone, and they are causing global warming. If only they were as relatively harmless as guns!

Why do the US feel the need for life? It has a 100% death rate.