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retiredhobo t1_is2kyct wrote

paved roads are a sign of prosperity

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Substantial_City4618 t1_is317xx wrote

No they aren’t.

Train lines and bus routes are.

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mohandasan t1_is35tr3 wrote

Ah, you’re not American? Paved roads, new cars, and drunk driving are our religion.

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Substantial_City4618 t1_is3it85 wrote

I am American. Cars are a poison that divides our society by class.

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NegotiationTall4300 t1_is3jsol wrote

Seriously fuck cars

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mohandasan t1_is7oow0 wrote

I don't think cars are an inflection point on the road to class division. To me, the larger concern is inefficiency, greater costs to the individual, and sustainability concerns.

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Substantial_City4618 t1_is7rw9k wrote

It all exists on a spectrum.

Car dominated infrastructure means we are saddled with sprawl, spiraling debt obligations, traffic, and worse city services because cars are inherently inefficient compared to other forms of transportation.

Well designed cities encourage walking and mass transit. They can be used by everybody. It’s inexpensive, efficient and profitable.

Cars are expensive, and only a certain portion of society can really afford them. There is no alternative in many areas in the country. It creates pockets of poor who can’t afford a vehicle, or working poor who scrape by with no savings or safety net. The barrier to entry of a vehicle is thousands, but a bus or train ticket is a couple dollars.

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mohandasan t1_is80tks wrote

I agree with everything you have said. I just like to be careful phrasing the way we address issues. I feel it helps bring everyone on board more smoothly if you get my idea.

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Substantial_City4618 t1_is86cci wrote

Obviously my original comment is dramatic, it has to be because most people have a small attention span and complex issues have to be compressed until they lose all nuance.

Working within the system doesn’t change the system when there are so many monied interests in the status quo, IMO.

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mehwars t1_isbnxnm wrote

The most organized, efficient, sustainable living environments are open floor box buildings, with an office to the side for the person running it. Why we continue on the reckless path of private domiciles propagates further division and is doomed to end in failure.

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mehwars t1_is3jrgu wrote

Did you type that on cell phone, computer, or tablet? If so, what brand?

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Substantial_City4618 t1_is3m3k4 wrote

If your point is that I’m wealthy enough to have electronic device so I can post on Reddit, yeah I do. It doesn’t really change the calculus of the situation as I’m just one guy. I’m talking about society.

Our society is geared towards fucking the poor, pretending most people have a chance or a choice keeps this stupid shit running.

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mehwars t1_is3ob8v wrote

Easy there, Thanos.

In all seriousness, I wish you and whatever your true hopes and dreams are well. Life is how you perceive it and what you do with it is what you make it. I’ve known miserable posh idiots and underdogs that took the world by storm

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mehwars t1_isbo4fi wrote

Whatever the immediate underlying causes are for something like this to happen need to be fixed

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comicnerdjoe t1_is3ni3l wrote

Did you just do the meme?

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mehwars t1_is3nn3q wrote

What meme?

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comicnerdjoe t1_is3pvov wrote

https://thenib.com/mister-gotcha/ this one

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mehwars t1_is3reyh wrote

If that’s how you want to see it.

My point was that people in all societies all throughout history, from hunter gathers to communists and democratic capitalists have divided themselves on bogus reasons. We live in a time and place where you can make your world the best for you. Trite and simple. Maybe. It’s whatever you want to make it

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Orlando1701 t1_is3xu4v wrote

Know why China has 34,000 miles of high speed rail and the US has none? China didn’t spend 20-years and $5 trillion fucking around in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US made its choices and it was to spend tax dollars blowing stuff up overseas rather than fixing things at home.

That and China doesn’t have Elon Musk.

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angrybirdseller t1_is49npl wrote

Rather be in USA anyday of the week before China. China is judge dred state there is no personal freedoms.

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Downtown_Skill t1_is4v97m wrote

I agree with you one hundred percent on picking USA over china, but as someone who has recently met a lot of Americans who lived in china to teach English it was both surprising and not surprising to hear about how little government overreach affected the day to day lives before covid. Obviously china's current system works better than what they had before with Mao and before that was the century of humiliation so their system wasn't great then either. Can't really fault the Chinese for loving the government that at least brought them to the status of second most powerful country in the world and one with some of the highest living standards outside the US and western Europe. But again ideologically I would pick freedom and Liberty over safety and security any day and it seems china has sacrificed a lot of freedoms and liberties for that safety and security. Plus racism and marginalized communities still exist in china and that safety and security part doesn't apply to them.

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AnselmFox t1_is4b6oo wrote

China’s rail system is a $3 trillion dollar time bomb that is about to cripple their economy… I’m all for high speed rail in the us and massive federal scale mass transit, but China is literally the worst example you could have provided for a model here..

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