I mean we already disagree on stuff, that’s just reality. I will explain the parts I agree with though. I agree that personal consumptive action is not only minimally effective but also not really possible. I am advocating for collective political action to remove the irrational ways our economy demands ever expanding growth and emmissions just to satisfy a shrinking minority of shareholders.
I think the messages in these images that imply you as a driver are to blame are wrong in that respect. The ones telling you what’s wrong with cars are pretty good. I think the general attitude of the fuckcars community is that we need systemic change. A better message than the personal ones might be, “our city forces us to drive”, or “traffic jams are expensive”, both highlighting the burden that car-centric infrastructure imposes on you.
If you want to see people power working to create something, look at the Zapatistas or Rojava where they’ve displaced their states and rely on horizontalist power to do everything. Even within a capitalist state you can achieve this - look at the Cooperation movement. There are places like Cooperation Jackson or Cooperation Tulsa in the US.
I mentioned zoning restrictions because car-centric suburbs are basically mandated in huge parts of the US, where it sounds like you’re from. In fact if you really like the suburbs, then making low-rise high-density urban environments that are walkable with good public transit and a minimal accommodation for car traffic will draw a lot of people out of the suburbs and make them quieter and reduce traffic. The suburbs, and driving in them, would get better - this is a win-win.
Also though if you saw how nice walkable urban environments could be, you might change your mind over time. Not Just Bikes on youtube does a great job laying this out.
This is a good place to start that makes the case that better options for non-car travel makes car travel better: https://youtu.be/d8RRE2rDw4k
Now, I don’t know if I can address your conviction that a “free market” - a contradiction in terms imo - will work, except to ask you when a free market has ever existed and done what you say it will, in your opinion. I don’t like state domination of our lives, but it is possible to collectively plan society without any overarching ruler telling us what to do, and without resorting to markets. In fact, I’d say it’s necessary, because both of those things flatten the incomprehensible complexity of society down to numbers that ignore real human needs.
I have some nice stuff, sure, but the market didn’t supply those things. It gatekept them and keeps everyone in a constant state of vigilance lest they slip and lose their tenuous hold on the imaginary tokens that decide who eats and who doesn’t. I’d rather have less personal property and more communal security. I also would rather all of the things I consume to not be blood-drenched. Like if I could trade having a mobile phone for all of the children that are forced to mine coltan being free and cared for properly, then I’d do it in a second. I don’t have that choice though, because consumer power barely exists. If you wouldn’t make that trade then that’s a matter between you and your god.
Edit: Also about the pipeline thing, the solution is to remove our dependence on fossil fuels, not build more infrastructure to enable it. Our society has an addiction to fossil fuels. The withdrawals will hurt but the alternative is a slow, painful death.
I mean we already disagree on stuff, that’s just reality. I will explain the parts I agree with though. I agree that personal consumptive action is not only minimally effective but also not really possible. I am advocating for collective political action to remove the irrational ways our economy demands ever expanding growth and emmissions just to satisfy a shrinking minority of shareholders.
I think the messages in these images that imply you as a driver are to blame are wrong in that respect. The ones telling you what’s wrong with cars are pretty good. I think the general attitude of the fuckcars community is that we need systemic change. A better message than the personal ones might be, “our city forces us to drive”, or “traffic jams are expensive”, both highlighting the burden that car-centric infrastructure imposes on you.
If you want to see people power working to create something, look at the Zapatistas or Rojava where they’ve displaced their states and rely on horizontalist power to do everything. Even within a capitalist state you can achieve this - look at the Cooperation movement. There are places like Cooperation Jackson or Cooperation Tulsa in the US.
I mentioned zoning restrictions because car-centric suburbs are basically mandated in huge parts of the US, where it sounds like you’re from. In fact if you really like the suburbs, then making low-rise high-density urban environments that are walkable with good public transit and a minimal accommodation for car traffic will draw a lot of people out of the suburbs and make them quieter and reduce traffic. The suburbs, and driving in them, would get better - this is a win-win.
Also though if you saw how nice walkable urban environments could be, you might change your mind over time. Not Just Bikes on youtube does a great job laying this out.
This is a good place to start that makes the case that better options for non-car travel makes car travel better: https://youtu.be/d8RRE2rDw4k
This one talks about how to make suburbs that don’t suck: https://youtu.be/MWsGBRdK2N0
Now, I don’t know if I can address your conviction that a “free market” - a contradiction in terms imo - will work, except to ask you when a free market has ever existed and done what you say it will, in your opinion. I don’t like state domination of our lives, but it is possible to collectively plan society without any overarching ruler telling us what to do, and without resorting to markets. In fact, I’d say it’s necessary, because both of those things flatten the incomprehensible complexity of society down to numbers that ignore real human needs.
I have some nice stuff, sure, but the market didn’t supply those things. It gatekept them and keeps everyone in a constant state of vigilance lest they slip and lose their tenuous hold on the imaginary tokens that decide who eats and who doesn’t. I’d rather have less personal property and more communal security. I also would rather all of the things I consume to not be blood-drenched. Like if I could trade having a mobile phone for all of the children that are forced to mine coltan being free and cared for properly, then I’d do it in a second. I don’t have that choice though, because consumer power barely exists. If you wouldn’t make that trade then that’s a matter between you and your god.
Edit: Also about the pipeline thing, the solution is to remove our dependence on fossil fuels, not build more infrastructure to enable it. Our society has an addiction to fossil fuels. The withdrawals will hurt but the alternative is a slow, painful death.