Originally Posted by
Dave Cutter
Wow! Then I wasted an entire career with the government... and so did my Dad... and so is my nephew. Or... I actually have decades of useful experience... devoid of hopeful, misplaced, ideals.
It isn't clear what you're implying here. Are you saying that government is intentionally counter-rational for some reason? And why would you even assume that your experiences in government represent everyone else's as well? Isn't that like saying all corporate life is the same, or all academic life?
Pragmatic is often misunderstood.... and viewed as pessimistic or corrupt. Particularly by those you are emotionally invested. I think that would mean you.
Pragmatism can mean so many different things.
I have lived car-lite for decades. I have always lived greener than most people who profess great belief in green ideologies. Although environmental or other similar movements don't appeal to me as I have traditional religious beliefs that keep me grounded.
Why don't you stop worrying about proving and/or defending your own car-liteness, greenness, or whatever and just discuss things separately from accusing or defending the people who identify with the ideas? Also, will you ever tire of accusing environmentalism of being a religion, and thus presumably arbitrary in your mind.
I am both religious and environmentalist, but they are totally resonant with each other because the essence of religion is that nature is God's work and culture ours. So how could a worshiper of God feel culture is superior to nature unless Satan was their God? We can't discuss religion here because this is not P&R, though, so why bring it up at all, as you have here?
I posted what I know to be truth... and could not care less about your ideas of "LCF infrastructure gains halted and even destroyed for a monopoly [for]..... the automotive paradigm". I have no interests or investment in any "automotive paradigm". And I do not see natural progressions and changes as either productive... or destructive.
I don't understand how you can say that you don't understand the fundamental difference between constructive and destructive actions if you are religious, but again this is P&R material so better skip it.
Bicycles, automobiles, and cities have all been around plenty long enough to be understood. I think the very few projections I've made are all very reasonable.... based on a well known history.
They are understood in different ways according to what people prioritize. Prioritizing money and jobs results in one understanding, while prioritizing non-commercial human (cultural) life results in another. Environmental considerations result in yet another way of understanding cities and transportation. I think it is fair to say that some people are better at some forms of understanding than others. And people's POVs develop along different paths, so that's why discussion facilitates progress of all POVs, even if it's just getting a clearer picture of what you're fundamentally against.