Similar to what Pat said; I think any challenge to the status quo makes many people uncomfortable. Suggesting giving up automobiles, mega stores, TV, fast food, whatever it is that people do just because everyone else does and it's easy - that's going to cause some cognitive dissonance in anyone who knows that what they're doing really isn't good for them/the environment/the economy/etc. I often think my boss is a good example of (what perhaps many non-Americans see as) the typical fat, lazy, stupid American. She thinks she's smarter than she is, she doesn't see anything wrong with anything she does, so there's no reason for her to change anything. (Her kids are perfect, anyone she doesn't like is an idiot, etc etc - she's just obnoxiously egotistical.) It's an affront to a person's self-esteem to be told that someone else is in some way better than them; it's a reflex defensive action to label that person as "different", "weird", "dangerous" - to try to bring them back down to or below one's own perceived level.
Originally Posted by Dahon.Steve
...20% of the population is employed in either manufacturing, sales, marketing, and maintanence of automobiles.
Steve, can you point us to some data to support this?