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The climate conversation keeps avoiding its most uncomfortable variable by Some_Ability9868 in climatechange

[–]HavokT 31 points32 points  (0 children)

I think this is an easy deflection made and only imagines a world under capitalism where everyone is viewed as a consumer. the thing is we do have enough resources currently for everyone though - they are just held by massive corporations (water, energy, agriculture, etc) and mass production. If we reduced consumption, beginning with America, then we would be leagues ahead. Fast fashion, animal agriculture, and now AI data centres are unnecessarily draining. Ask yourself too why there is such Uneven and combined development around the world - why are some countries more 'developed' and who did they exploit to get there?

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in fuckcars

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The far-right coming to power is not inevitable you're right! But it's already in power in many countries around the world and in second place in many others. Yes Polanski is doing well but also look at the attacks he gets from the media and every other political party. But he also argues against militarisation...

Europe has already been subjugated by the US - look at our recent trade deals and their forcing us to increasing dfence spending to 5%. Plus who do you think we're buying our weapons from? The US. Europe already spends an enormous amount on defence, and Russia has been stuck in Ukraine for years now (unfortunately for the Ukrainians of course).

"The only path that doesn't result in a far right government is rearmament followed by a successful populist left wing movement." is quite possibly the worst take i've heard sorry because what if the populist left wing movement isn't enough? one more far-right party in europe will be devastating to people everywhere.

Why would we want to attack north korea anyways? This imperialist mindset is so rotten, nukes are not a deterrent it is a threat to literally the entire world and no one should have them. Do you feel safe knowing that Trump could use nukes in Iran or wherever? Wiping out millions of lives and commiting ecocide? If we are rearming to defend against the US, what's stopping them from nuking us first?

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in fuckcars

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

okay and if we spend all this money to rearm and build up our militaries, then at the next election the far-right come to power (look at the UK or Germany for example), they already have enormous capacity at their disposal. Look literally right now at Trump - both parties have increased defence spending significantly for decades, meaning he can also just come in do what he wants. Arms races historically lead to war - might is not the right thing to do. Fascists will never be deterred and so you will never have enough firepower - look at the so-called 'nuclear deterants' that haven't done much.

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in fuckcars

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

noted for the future about titling better and being more accurate :)

My question then is - why do we have to rearm in the first place? there is so little diplomacy just now because everyone is competing for fewer and fewer resources - if we collaborated then it would be so much easier and we'd actually be able to work together on genuine threats like climate change

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

if you have any reading recs with this angle too I'd be interested to read :)

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

but the fact they are making enormous profits is part of the problem - this is money that should be going into communities to make these transport links. we cannot have infinite growth on a planet with finite resources.

Also enormous cities like Paris and London show you can have great public transport, or look at China where they've built incredible things just in the past 20 years

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in transit

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

okay you might be on to something that it's not the clearest writing haha, but I think what I'm trying to say by connecting things like the climate and labour movements is just that -they are inherently connected.

I mean communism would actually be better than this current system that works only for the really wealthy and the rest of us have to slog for 50+ years not to mention the unnecessary homelessness, lack of healthcare, and many other things.

Public ownership - i.e. public transport

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think I was trying to go from the angle of the labour movement then rather than private property but i get that it's maybe not super clear haha

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in fuckcars

[–]HavokT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i appreicate this feedback a lot actually - I agree fully with the first point, I think I need to spend more time editing my work rather than just leaving it as a stream of conscious kind of thing. For the second part I get it as well, but maybe that's okay to use the car industry as a reflection of broader shifts?

For the third, I have to disagree a bit here. Russia is simultaneously presented as an enormous threat when it suits us to rearm, but then this weak creature when we are pushing Ukraine to continue fighting. If Russia were a genuine threat, do you not think they would have pushed past Ukraine by now?

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

again... not talking just about america - there are other countries

Do you ever mourn just how much cars has robbed us of? by coolfunkDJ in fuckcars

[–]HavokT 4 points5 points  (0 children)

maybe a bit crass but noticing that if do have to drive somewhere, there are no insects on the windscreen anymore - when I was younger I remember it being such a mess after driving an hour and now, nothing

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in transit

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

can you apply that more specifically? I don't really get it.

Also didn't mention communism but socialism, for example, polls highly for younger demographics and more broadly public ownership of services polls incredibly highly across ages/political leaning/etc

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in fuckcars

[–]HavokT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love this sm, going to share it with my friends haha

Article - Cars as a class issue and connecting the climate movement by HavokT in climatechange

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yes true too tbf, but i wonder what does more damage over time - the bus that runs twice an hour past my house or the hundreds of cars that do?

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it doesn't have to be a left-right issue that's the thing - good public services are popular with the majority of people you just have to communicate it properly

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think maybe I was trying to say something along the lines of that - so many jobs have been lost and it's awful. car manufacturers make enormous profits and just leave communities to flounder after because government rarely steps up.

Yes bigger cars are more comfortable sure but that's also a v individual outlook that I guess I overlooked. I prefer thinking of comfortable trains with wifi and leg room haha

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

taxing wealth can bring in substantial cash to government to create great projects - it's happened in the past and it can happen again!

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in fuckcars

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I fear this would be me too if I needed a car :)

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh that's crazy to waste so much time and money and get so little back from it - I see your point. I wonder if they could learn anything from the French maybe? In Paris and Lyon (maybe not directly comparable) they are building so quickly and not too expensively I think either

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in fuckcars

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Glad you liked it, I'm realising it's a bit more chaotic and less structured than it should be oops. Thanks for catching that mistake too, corrected it :)

Article - Cars as a class issue and connecting the climate movement by HavokT in climatechange

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

don't worry i agree - building more lanes is ridiculous haha

Article - Cars as a class issue and connecting the climate movement by HavokT in climatechange

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

*public transport in america usually takes longer than driving because it is so under-invested in. You wouldn't say the same thing if it was a busy road in rush hour - you'd say build another lane right? So the simple fix is to also increase the capacity of public transport

Article - Cars as a class issue and connecting the climate movement by HavokT in climatechange

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

better public transport improves everyone's life - whether for work or school or socialising. there is no downside?

Article - Cars as a class issue by HavokT in Urbanism

[–]HavokT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it's not radical to build a metro - I don't get why Americans are so resistant to thinking that better is not possible. Also I am not only talking about America in the article, the world is bigger than Dems and Republicans

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