It’s because of the prisoner’s dilemma. It is broadly agreed that everyone would be better off if everyone curbs their emissions, but for any one individual the choice is not so simple. For infividuals, a large reduction to their impact will likely hurt them economically more than it will help them environmentally. This is exactly why a lot of green legislation is driven by global agreements with countries all trying to put pressure on each other to reduce emissions.

Likewise, increasing government investment in green technologies could benefit the economy and the environment, but for any given politician the cost of turning against big oil may be a significant risk to their chances of re-election if not balanced out by a politically motivated and educated populace that is resistant to corporate propaganda. Campaign finance reform would help with this, but once again it’s a bigger risk than it’s worth to the politicians in power. Thus, we can’t simply rely on the self-interest of the wealthy to prevent collapse; we must co-operate and coordinate our efforts to solve the problem.

Just because you like indoor plumbing, it doesn’t mean you have to like wading in shit. Sure, someone’s gotta do it, but thank god it isn’t me.

It’s also the reason why dedicated bus-only lanes are so based. They let the car owners wait in the stupid traffic jam lineup with all the other car owners while the bus chads all fly past them in the bus lane 😎

Except you don’t “just get fucked” in those unexpected scenarios because taxis and ubers still exist. Most car owners pay over $1000/month in total cost of ownership, so you’d have plenty of budget for emergency taxis/ubers if you stop owning a car.

The thing is, you’re technically correct in your claim that transit time and convenience are the reasons “why people drive”. Those are the pros of driving, from the perspective of the individual making the decision to drive rather than use transit. However, in order to understand why we should de-prioritize cars in favor of other forms of transit, we must also consider the cons of driving for the individual (excessive cost, mental fatigue of focusing on driving, elevated risk of bodily harm, etc.) as well as the harms that driving causes to others (pedestrian fatalities, urban sprawl, marginalization of public transport, etc.)

After all, flying a helicopter would be even faster than driving a car, but nobody is going around implying that we should all fly helicopters everywhere just in case we need to rush to our mother’s side when she’s on her deathbed.

edit: I noticed in another comment you said that taxis don’t exist in your city and you avoid using uber out of principle due to their questionable ethics. I would hope that since you are concerned about ethics you would see that car-centric infrastructure has marginalized many people and neighbourhoods, far more than an occasional uber ride ever has. Buying a car and using it daily to avoid the ethical implications of an emergency uber ride once in a while is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Since we’re making up stories…

A man in a place with bad public transit gets the call that his mother has been in a car accident and is being rushed to the hospital at 8AM. Since it’s rush hour, he spends the next two hours stuck in gridlock traffic (bad traffic today, something about a big car accident…). He doesn’t make it in time for her last goodbyes.

In contrast:

A man in a city with a good public transport goes to work easily and there is minimal traffic. His mom doesn’t get hospitalized because there are fewer cars on the road and the streets are designed for pedestrian safety.

or

His mom gets to the hospital more quickly because there is less traffic. She survives.

or

He runs (or bikes) to the hospital within 20 minutes because he lives close to it in a dense neighborhood without endless sprawl caused by parking lots and cars.

or

He gets to the hospital quickly via an efficient transit route since there are many routes going to a hospital because… it’s a hospital!

or

He calls a taxi that arrives quickly and gets him to the hospital in 1 hour because there is less traffic.

Also, in all these scenarios everyone in the society is wealthier and healthier due to spending less money on their cars and breathing less pollution. They all get to work quicker because of less traffic congestion.

This is why people want better public transit.

Is it pink?

Also, can you tell us more about the Crap Monitor background? I am experiencing a monitor flickering issue myself and I haven’t yet found a way to consistently reproduce or fix it yet.

Well exactly! As you correctly point out, by their logic, most quiches or calzones would become another food type as soon as they’re served or a bite is taken.

I don’t agree with their theory, personally, but it can be helpful to understand their reasoning even if it has an extreme structuralist bent that makes it rather distasteful.

It is referring to only one slice of pumpkin pie and not a whole pie. A whole pumpkin pie would also be a quiche. Likewise, a single slice of key lime pie would be toast.