Originally Posted by khuon
For me, riding was always just because it was fun and something I wanted to do. It's not about hating cars or drivers. I still don't get this attitude that one must hate something in order to love another. The issues and questions I face in my life are not true/false... most of the time they're not even multiple choice. Often they occur in essay form.
I wouldn't day that I hate cars or driver, more "car use". How can I not hat car-use in urban centres?
We have no money for arts, transit, education, or social services, but the biggest budget items are road maintenance and construction.
We have people made sick, even dying, because of smog, yet people still drive
even on smog warning days when we are asked not to by the authorities.
We have shortages, or impending shortages, or energy and natural resources, yet people still use a grossly inefficient mode of local transportation.
Etc., etc.
Every time I see a car on the road, I see someone blowing pollution in my face, while closing down a city library, and taking food away from starving kids - all at once. I can not see car use as something morally neutral, or "just a lifestyle choice". It is inherently harmful to others and thus anti-social. That's why I don't have much patience for people telling me they "need" cars. I know it is possible to build your life without owning a car, and yes, I even know families with kids who do so. I'm not naive, we have roughly 60 years of car culture to undo, it won't happen easily or quickly. It may not happen at all, I think its entirely possible that we go extinct in the next 100 years or so. Meanwhile, however, I will keep looking for ways to change the tide.