I often see people in the comments acting like having a fast or loud car immediately makes your dick smaller or that you have ED. And people talk about owning a car as if they’ve never gone above 40 MPH and are terrified to do so.
For context I live in a city with actually ok mass transit, don’t own a car, and prefer to bike/take the train whenever possible. Trains, trolleys, bikes, and feet are the best forms of transportation imo.
That being said, body shaming or making fun of people with physical or mental issues (that may be no fault of their own) is just shitty. It makes this community look shitty. I hate reading comments about “loud car small dick this” or “fast car ED that”. It’s unnecessary. You can shit on asshole drivers without having to stoop that low. Secondly, some women enjoy cars as well; be more creative.
Finally, don’t act like cars can’t be fun. I’m all for phasing out the automobile and revolutionizing transport by returning to the ways of olde, but cars are fun. I understand some of you are grandparents and don’t like someone revving their straight pipes mustang down your block on a Saturday morning. That’s completely reasonable. But my god does this community act like you can’t have fun in a car. I absolutely enjoy loud and fast and powerful cars, because that’s an incredible work of engineering and it simply can be fun. Going fast can be fun. Being in a car that purrs like a lion can be fun. Going offroading or drifting or racing or anything in a car can be fun.
We won’t convince people to see our side by shitting on the things they enjoy. We convince people to try and see things from our point of view by actually looking through their perspective first, and acknowledging that while cars can be fun they are not sustainable.
ETA: Some people seem to think I think public roads should still be for cars. Never did I say that. I think the appropriate place for cars is the track. I would love to convert all the roads in my city to a mixture of bike and pedestrian lanes with trolleys running down the median. But cars can be fun and a track day can absolutely be a great time.
End small-dick hatred. Body shaming isn’t okay no matter what.
For every lifted coal roller, there is a small-dicked, eco conscious bicyclist.
I mean, look, I come in here and argue with these guys all the time, but the sub ain’t called “I politely disagree with cars”.
I choose to believe that men with small dicks don’t inheritently need to over compensate. It’s possible that they are considerate and able to satisfy their partners. And it’s equally possible that men with larger penises are selfish lovers, and feel insecure, needing fast/loud cars.
Yeah this place can be a bit vitriolic tbh. The body shaming is cringe and should be addressed (thanks for addressing it). I am also of the opinion that cars are very cool and fun in the right setting as well as being fascinating from an engineering perspective. Perhaps we should call eachother out on these things more? I think more people would listen if we didn’t seem like we just hated cars for being cars
TL;DR: I agree with your point and I’m supporting it with an argument that comes at it from the other direction. You’re arguing that big/fast/fun cars aren’t worse, while I’m about to argue that small/slow/economy cars aren’t better.
The main point of this community is to spread the word about how cars ruin cities. The reason they do that is, in large part, a matter of simple geometry: it’s because they take up so much space, both on roads and especially while parked. Specifically:
- Big trucks take up one parking space each
- Fast sporty cars take up one parking space each.
- Electric cars take up one parking space each.
- Small economy cars take up – say it with me – one parking space each.
All cars take up the same amount of space, so all cars ruin cities equally. All of them contribute to traffic. All of them beget zoning with mandatory minimum parking requirements, which forces parking lots to be inserted between destinations and ruins walkability. All of them incentivize sprawl-y, low-density development, with things like drive-thrus and big-box stores. All of them insist on being catered to in terms of infrastructure and policy, contributing to drivers’ sense of entitlement and privilege.
Substituting small cars for big ones does not solve the problems cars cause. Substituting electric cars for gasoline ones does not solve most of the problems cars cause. The only thing that solves the problems cars cause is substituting them with other transport methods entirely.
Folks, you do not get ‘credit’ for driving a small car instead of a big one or a fast one. What all the people here acting holier-than-thou about the evils of big trucks specifically are actually trying to accomplish is to absolve themselves of their responsibility for the problem as drivers, by scapegoating another subset of drivers. You are not entitled to do that! If you drive, no matter what you drive, you are part of the problem. End of!
Frankly, I consider everybody in here who rails about trucks (or some other scapegoated subset) instead of all cars to be a borderline reactionary concern troll.
I happen to think there are some awesome cars for sale in an aesthetic sense as well as a practical one, the only thing I hate is the existence of the obligation to own one.
I absolutely enjoy loud and fast and powerful cars
You know, I like dinosaurs. But I wouldn’t want one roaming the streets.
“Fuck cars” is an easy statement to make in NYC.
“Fuck cars” isn’t a very serious statement to make in the middle of Oklahoma.
We all know why, which is why this is a joke sub. You can’t have zero cars. The world outside of Queens isn’t an endless sea of more buildings and bus stops, I’m sorry. Read a map.
Finally, don’t act like cars can’t be fun.
I feel like we’re getting into 2A territory with comments like this.
Take your race car to the race track. But the idea that trillions of dollars of infrastructure need to be committed for the casual amusement of a few muscle car enthusiasts… It rings especially hollow after complaining about the small-dick jokes.
We won’t convince people to see our side by shitting on the things they enjoy.
Creating a wedge between a small group of clueless entitled nitwits and a large group of people with basic transportation needs is actually a great way to define the terms of debate in a manner that favors mass transit.
A hundred people smiling away on a train versus one very red-faced failson in a sports car is a winning campaign poster.
I’m not saying don’t restrict cars to the track, I’m actually all for that. I’m just saying that cars can be fun and acting like they aren’t won’t get us anywhere. I didn’t advocate for continuous car infrastructure anywhere in my post, just that people in this community act like cars are the bane of all evil and can’t be used for fun whatsoever.
I’m just saying that cars can be fun and acting like they aren’t won’t get us anywhere.
Planes can be fun, too. Yachts can be fun. A spaceship to the Moon can be fun. But demanding the government give you a bunch of money to fund your Blue Origin vanity project goes a bit beyond “having fun”.
people in this community act like cars are the bane of all evil
40k motor vehicle fatalities a year can take the blush off the rose.
Tone Policing peoples anger, in a community specifically made for them to express their rage seems like a lame thing to do.
Removing comment because I feel like I am just contributing to misinformation and I don’t want to unleash baseless speculation about a community based on a silly thought I came up with as a joke, and not a serious point.
Edit to add clarification
Yeah, I don’t care for the those kinds of jokes. However, I care for tone policing even less. Maybe the occasional comment like “ok buddy, maybe that one went a bit far” is fine, but now we’re having a entire thread about it and now I’m spending my time commenting on this instead of commenting on what is actually a Big Deal which is that cars in urban settings suck monkey balls.
(sorry monkeys!)
I’m not arguing against that last point at all. See the edit for my stance. I’m not trying to tone police — people are understandably and justifiably angry about the prevalence of cars as am I. But there seems to be a common undercurrent in this community that cars are just the pinnacle of evil and their existence must end. I’m just pushing against that because while I would love if cars weren’t used in my city, I’d still like for there to be a track to enjoy these marvels of engineering.
I support a Car Free Society, I dont want to have to drive anywhere if I dont want to, the thought of getting on a train or tram and being able to read a book or meditate fills me with Unbridled Joy. Yet at the same time, when i do drive on roadtrips, I like to have a spotter and road reports ready and tear if up going well over 100 mph on the Interstate most of the way there, I have an EV and leap frog between charging stations, and found that if i keep it over 90 I get better efficiencies ( using less Electricity ) making it even more environmentally friendly. I LOVE driving, but having to do it just to get by in modern society is a real drag…
What the fuck? The physics here don’t make any damn sense.
At those speeds it cuts travel time drastically and the regenerative braking goes into overdrive recharching the batteries if you are going slower than 90 mph you are better off keeping it below 55 mph to achieve maximum efficiencies.
Sorry man… I hate to break (brake?) it to you but there are no EVs in existence that can get the charge back into the battery as fast as you can get it out. Some systems dissipate the excess kinetic energy into heat using ‘braking resistors’, while others simply disable Regen to the usually sudden surprise of the driver (looking at you Tesla and Toyota), and kinetic energy gets lost as heat via brake pads.
Of course it doesnt that would be perpetual motion lol. When you let off the accelerator it recharges the battery, i can go whole drives without ever touching the brake pedal. And all of that energy goes back into the battery. Elon is a cunt, but he didnt build my Car, the workers at Tesla did that. Its a great machine and a pleasure to drive, but I would sell it in a heart beat if I didnt need it to survive.
You’re missing what I’m saying. Because you cannot get that energy back into the pack very fast due to thermal constraints (there is a maximum rate one can recharge any battery, depending on the pack’s particular cell chemistry), you’re dumping quite a bit of energy when braking. Less energy loss than traditional car brakes, but still a good fraction without getting capacitors into the design.
Going over 100 is absolutely stupid, drag forces increase with the square of speed. Driving that way in a car is dangerous to everyone else, and the attempt at a physics based justification is just wrong.
Well if I’m forced to drive I will continue tear it up on the freeway, sorry not sorry, but funnily enough, I am writing this comment while riding glorious light rail in a robust Metro system. If i have to drive Im gonna have fun doing it, and get to my destination as quick as physically possible.
Yep, that’s that attitude which has resulted in this community being created.
I’ve got my share of speeding tickets as we all do, but be reasonable. The energy in an impact goes up with the square of velocity… 3x faster means 9x the impact energy, and you’re driving a particularly heavy vehicle. It might not even be your fault if something goes wrong.
