I think that USians live in a state of constant, subconscious anxiety due to how incredibly atomized they are. There will need to be major cultural shifts before we’ll ever have the wherewithal to build needed public transportation infrastructure.
Things will have to get a lot worse before they get better. I am hoping that gas prices will rise enough to provoke some changes; the next six months will be telling.
I’m convinced that cars are a huge contributing factor towards that atomization of society. Cars turn everything that involves them into an isolated solo activity. They remove every possible opportunity for social interaction while at the same time raising the stakes of any single persons mistake.
Take walking in a crowd vs driving in traffic. Let’s say I let my attention wander and I bump into someone. I say “oops sorry my b” and continue on with my day. I do the same thing in traffic and I’ve potentially caused hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of damage, possibly injured myself and others, and generally caused a huge pain in the ass for everyone involved. And even if I didn’t hit someone I’ve contributed to the oppressive feeling of paranoia that accompanies driving and the fear of damaging the vehicle you’ve spent a ridiculous amount of money on.
Even something as inherently communal as waiting in line is reduced to a solo experience. When you’re standing in a line you can see the people immediately ahead and behind you, you can commiserate about the wait time with them, strike up a conversation, you generally see the people in the same boat as you and relate because you’re all going through the same thing. Waiting in line in a car you have no way of communicating even with the people directly next to you, everyone else is reduced to “traffic”, you don’t see a human just an ugly, smelly, loud monstrosity of metal and plastic.
Cars promise to expand your horizons but all they do is shrink your world
I think it’s a self-reinforcing cycle - isolation leads to anxiety, which leads to further isolation. The anxiety that drives people into cars is the same one that dries them to live in the suburbs: the idea that no one can be trusted, and that the unknown masses of humanity are dangerous. From that perspective, public transit is risky, and a car is a fortress. That anxiety may be even further heightened if you already feel at risk for one reason or another (like being a racialized or sexualized individual).
Higher gas prices in my area will just cause more homelessness. There are no alternatives to driving, people will lose their homes before they live without a car.
Like I said, things will get worse before they get better. There will have to be the political will to build the needed infrastructure, and that won’t come about without immense suffering. I never claimed it would be an easy or even peaceful transition.
I think that USians live in a state of constant, subconscious anxiety due to how incredibly atomized they are. There will need to be major cultural shifts before we’ll ever have the wherewithal to build needed public transportation infrastructure.
Things will have to get a lot worse before they get better. I am hoping that gas prices will rise enough to provoke some changes; the next six months will be telling.
I’m convinced that cars are a huge contributing factor towards that atomization of society. Cars turn everything that involves them into an isolated solo activity. They remove every possible opportunity for social interaction while at the same time raising the stakes of any single persons mistake.
Take walking in a crowd vs driving in traffic. Let’s say I let my attention wander and I bump into someone. I say “oops sorry my b” and continue on with my day. I do the same thing in traffic and I’ve potentially caused hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of damage, possibly injured myself and others, and generally caused a huge pain in the ass for everyone involved. And even if I didn’t hit someone I’ve contributed to the oppressive feeling of paranoia that accompanies driving and the fear of damaging the vehicle you’ve spent a ridiculous amount of money on.
Even something as inherently communal as waiting in line is reduced to a solo experience. When you’re standing in a line you can see the people immediately ahead and behind you, you can commiserate about the wait time with them, strike up a conversation, you generally see the people in the same boat as you and relate because you’re all going through the same thing. Waiting in line in a car you have no way of communicating even with the people directly next to you, everyone else is reduced to “traffic”, you don’t see a human just an ugly, smelly, loud monstrosity of metal and plastic.
Cars promise to expand your horizons but all they do is shrink your world
I think it’s a self-reinforcing cycle - isolation leads to anxiety, which leads to further isolation. The anxiety that drives people into cars is the same one that dries them to live in the suburbs: the idea that no one can be trusted, and that the unknown masses of humanity are dangerous. From that perspective, public transit is risky, and a car is a fortress. That anxiety may be even further heightened if you already feel at risk for one reason or another (like being a racialized or sexualized individual).
Higher gas prices in my area will just cause more homelessness. There are no alternatives to driving, people will lose their homes before they live without a car.
Like I said, things will get worse before they get better. There will have to be the political will to build the needed infrastructure, and that won’t come about without immense suffering. I never claimed it would be an easy or even peaceful transition.