• zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    9 months ago

    The Car is the hill westerners really are going to die on. As the rising cost of energy crimps our access to treats, the ability to just do donuts in a parking lot for hours on end will become the gold standard for American success. Westerners fucking worship the damned things. Wouldn't be surprised if the car becomes a religious icon in the near future.

    • FlakesBongler [they/them]
      ·
      9 months ago

      It's absolutely fucking weird to me because I hate driving

      My car? An absolutely irritating piece of junk that costs me money just to own

      If I drive it, it costs me gas and maintenance

      If I don't drive it, I still have to maintain it because they break from not being driven too

      And best of all, I still have to pay excise tax, registration fees and safety inspections every fuckin' year!

      I miss being able to walk and take the bus sadness-abysmal

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        9 months ago

        I know more than a few people who dump tons of money into their vehicles precisely because they know they're doing multi-hour commutes.

        And the reputation of public transit in the US has always been trash, in large part because we have heavily invested in segregating our populations and taking sadistic glee in making the lives of the lesser halves miserable.

        I miss being able to walk and take the bus

        I love taking trips up to the East Coast, because I do get a taste of functional public transit. But NYC leadership absolutely hates its subway-using population. They make it abundantly clear every time they make entering the subways a bit harder and using them a bit less pleasant by degree every time I visit.

        • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
          ·
          9 months ago

          If you really wanna angry up your blood, read about National City Lines, a GM front company that bought and dismantled streetcars nationwide.

      • Neon_Dystopia [any]
        hexagon
        ·
        9 months ago

        Sorry sweaty public transport had to be cut for more auto and oil profits. Don't you know driving is FREEDOM?? maybe-later-kiddo

    • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Same in the UK. There's a shop maybe a minute's walk from my work, and last week I walked there while someone else from the same building drove. They might have made it back a few seconds before me if their parking spot hadn't been taken, causing them to spend just as long as their total trip to the shop and back looking for a new parking spot.

      I tried pointing out the irony but they completely missed it.

    • Neon_Dystopia [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      9 months ago

      Pretty sure car and gun are already US religious doctrine.

    • smokeppb [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Wouldn't be surprised if the car becomes a religious icon in the near future.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnQXRxW9VcQ

      It's been that way for a minute. I believe car commercials marrying jingoism/freedumb with car ownership is where a lot of opposition to safety from car policies come from.

    • sicklemode [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      The Car is the hill westerners really are going to die on. As the rising cost of energy crimps our access to treats, the ability to just do donuts in a parking lot for hours on end will become the gold standard for American success. Westerners fucking worship the damned things.

      Well, that and fireworks. China has moved onto drone light shows and displays to curb unnecessary emissions and pollution, but I can't see grillman parting with their damn "patriotic" explosives/explosions.

      • Adkml [he/him]
        ·
        9 months ago

        "If we don't give all the combat vets ptsd for 3 weeks straight every summer the terrorists won"