cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/26368144
Anons argue in comments
this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
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Fuck Cars
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To create a pedestrian first world I think we need to legitimately understand what advantages a car has. A car is a true source of empowerment.
Sure, I can ride a bike, but I could never ride a bike 300 miles for a weekend trip to any arbitrary destination. I can take a bus but not at any moment, and not the middle of the night. I can take public transit, but not to the place I need to go.
A car is a portable personal space. I can eat lunch in my car, I can take a nap.
A car is a space protected from the elements - I'm not getting rained on. Protection from wind, snow, sun.
Its locked doors are a barrier between me and potential (and sometimes imagined) threats.
I don't need to list out for this community all the negative things associated with cars. I just list these pros to highlight it's a challenging task to displace cars. It's a list of benefits to replicate.
A car is a way of seizing power from those who cannot afford a car, have a disability that prevents driving, etc.
How is it seizing power?
There's definitely an opportunity cost. If you build a road or a parking garage that's taking space and funds that could go to something else. The same could be said of a park or firehouse or factory. And I'd agree that in many cases something better could have been done than car centric infrastructure.
But an individual owning a car isn't taking something from someone who doesn't own a car.
Besides, my point is that cars should not be prioritized over pedestrians, cyclists and public transit. Just that to displace cars we should try to understand what people see in them, contra the last line of the OP image
One individual, no. But collectively, you take so much, you just don't understand. Everything is so much harder for me because everyone with means has to be able to drive EVERYWHERE door to door. You are empowered? I am disempowered.