Why does it have to be a ‘white, affluent’ individual? That certainly doesn’t describe me.
It doesn’t have to be and I’m not saying it is you, but there certainly does seem to be a pattern of affluent people making outward appearances of being responsible while pooh-poohing the behavior of others. Honestly, I lump them in with the “I got mine, screw you” crowd, only it’s more like “I did my part, shame on you”, because they drive a $40,000 hybrid and recycle, all the while using 1.21 Gigawatts of power of heat/cool their McMansion. I’d call them Yuppies if that didn’t make me sound old.
I live in an area where most households can’t afford to run a car even if they want to.
I live in an area where a car is mandatory to get anywhere at all, even in the poorest neighborhoods. Not having a vehicle means you are basically trapped. There are no sidewalks, no bike lanes, no buses, lots of narrow congested roads and significant distances between everything. I’d like to move, really.
I think you are trying to use a reactionary dogwhistle, trying to undermine a point you have no real counterargument for by trying to associate it with an unfashionable cultural group.
Not at all. I happen to agree with you: The world is burning and I think we’re basically sleepwalking ourselves to global catastrophe. I just don’t like all the finger-pointing at individuals when the far larger problems are corporations and governments. Yes, everyone needs to help change things, but failing to acknowledge that there are people who really don’t have a lot of choices doesn’t help. I’m not saying you’re doing that, it’s just a sort of knee-jerk reaction with me. I also think corporations and governments love it when people view the problem as a ‘everybody fix their individual behavior and we’re good’ issue because it lets them off the hook completely.
If you cannot fit your children and a week’s shopping in a car, you need to have a serious talk with yourself.
I think this varies a lot more than you are allowing for. How many kids? Do they have child seats? Is it a week’s groceries or two (How far is the store)? Sure, larger requirements are outliers and most people could manage with a mid-size car, but just because someone was driving something larger doesn’t automatically mean they are being wasteful. I know some families that even though they live in a mostly suburban area, they live on steep, rough gravel roads. For them, anything less than a truck or SUV is not going to last a day. Across the country do people like these make up a significant fraction of the population? I have no idea. But they do exist.
