I was recently held up in absolute dead stop traffic. We were sitting on the tarmac with no movement for well over an hour, in the 80 degree sun, before I felt obliged to leave my car and go see if it was because of roadwork or an accident or what.
I joined a small crowd of onlookers after reaching the head, spectating a row of sit-in protesters. One driver had tried to get around but a few protesters moved tactically so that he couldn’t go any further without injuring somebody.
I didn’t wait around, although there were people phoning the police and some tempers beginning to flare. So I head back to my car. The dairy groceries that I picked up on the way back from work had begun to spoil.
I was late home by nearly three hours, so no time to unwind. Just enough to pack away some old leftovers before heading off to sleep and restart cycle all over, -1 hour or so of sleep.
Previously, I had no opinion whatsoever on whether cars=good or cars=bad. But after being held up in traffic, wasting money, wasting gas, losing sleep and perhaps a bit of my sanity I am now totally on board with the Fuck Cars movement. I couldn’t imagine a more convincing strategy to bring people over to your perspective. Excellent thinking. Good job.
So some jerks made a traffic jam and your takeaway is to blame cars?
You know they’d be doing the same to busses/light rail if it gave them the same 15 minutes of fame.
The sarcasm isn’t conveyed well, but it is an attempt to highlight to *checks notes anti-car protesters just how poor their strategy is. For example, I’m probably not the only person to have been moved from a neutral position to a strongly opposing position by their antics.
But maybe their goal was never to sway people to their side, like you say? Maybe it is literally being done exclusively for the thrill of the spotlight. Or they’re actually pro-car activists, who are subtly portraying their opposition deliberately poorly in order to sabotage anti-car sentiment?
Lame take. Not smart. My uncle got held up by the local gay pride parade and he blamed gay people as a community.
Funny thing is, you can get off of a bus or train and walk past protesting people pretty easily. You wouldn’t be held hostage by the $30,000 toilet that is preventing you from abandoning it and the situation.
Edit: Ehhhh the whole thing is sarcasm and you changed your post’s meaning. I ain’t spending energy to hit a moving target like this. Sheesh.
I think you’re missing both the point of what I said and protest. Pride started out as a riot. No protest, no parade. Maybe you can protest protesters, and one day, there will be a chud pride parade. Dream big.
There are inherently more solutions in place to situations like that with public transit. They’re already in place, too. You just get off the train and hop on a bus. That’s not exactly a novel concept.
People will reflexively reject new and different possibilities when advocates are too radical or aggressive in their approach. That’s why it’s important that we try to win people over using reason and logic, rather than protests. The fact is, cars are an expensive and inefficient means of transporting people and things. That doesn’t mean cars don’t have their use cases. They certainly do, and that’s why I don’t think cars and small trucks will or should go away completely, but in an ideal (ie maximally cost effective and efficient) scenario, cars would represent a relatively small percentage of total conveyance methods.
Sorry about your bad day. Hope you have good sleep and feel refreshed in the morning 🖖
Waah they should hold the protests where they affect nobody so everyone can just ignore them waah my spoiled milk
You’re right, I couldn’t ignore it. And it did affect me.
Like I mention in OP, I was previously somebody with no opinion either way on the issue who is now today firmly in favor of the value and dominance of vehicles as America’s #1 choice of transportation.
I have since bought stock in some road surface producers and major auto manufacturers, regardless how they end up performing. If the protestor’s goals were to turn people away from your movement’s ideals, then they’ve succeeded spectacularly here.
I bet you also eat 2 steaks instead of one because a vegan annoyed you that one time.
Wow you surely showed them who’s boss huh
your 3 stocks surely will make a difference I’m sure
(Imagine being this butthurt)
Well, let’s analyze things. Another comment from your wonderful community:
Right? If it’s years in prison either way, they’re about to find out what real eco terrorism looks like when protestors are ready to go all in.
Advocating violence … because cars exist. Who exactly do they plan on maiming/killing? Indiscriminate driver’s license holders? Surely there must be a better way to get your message across.
If by butthurt you mean remaining grounded in reality, then sure.
