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submitted 3 weeks ago by masparfad@slrpnk.net to c/fuck_cars@lemmy.ml

Hey there, i'm new here! i feel...atracted? by this topic/movement but im a completly newbie, so where are some sources or webs to read about this hate to cars (lol)? or if you want to tell more about of this, let me know in the comments Thanks for reading!

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[-] wheezy@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The real answer is that "fuck cars" is the first realization for people of the failures of the economic and political structures within society. Once you realize how ridiculous the infrastructure of transportation is (within America especially) it starts to expose to you the incentive structures and contradictions when you look to change that.

If you stop there and just enjoy hating the structures then the movement of "fuck cars" is where you remain. Within a mostly inactive and losing "movement".

The short answer is. There is no "fuck cars" movement. There is a "fuck cars" meme that either leads you further down the left wing pipeline. Or, you never actually attempted to make change within your city or neighborhood. Which is fine. You can enjoy the infrastructure or social critique of City Nerd. You can enjoy the "here is an example of good infrastructure" of NotJustBikes. That's fine. We all enjoy consuming content. But that's not a movement.

But neither of those people that make these common forms of consumption of "fuck cars" content is going to tell you to join a "fuck cars" movement. Those don't exist. The movement of leftist and socialist politics is the only means in which a fight against the fossil capital that created this car dependency to begin with.

But if you're looking for a MOVEMENT within America that is against car dependent infrastructure. You're looking to join DSA and disrupt and dismantle the control of fossil capital within our society. To take control of the natural resources and production powers. To take them away from those that privately own and control them.

Within our current structures there is no means in which to change things on the scale that need to be changed when our systems require that satisfaction of capital profits.

It's the same reason an activist like Greta Thunberg changed her focus from Climate Change to fighting against the imperial powers and structures of capital directly. It is not that climate change is not extremely important. It is not that car dependent infrastructure isn't awful. It's that, once you recognize the problem and attempt to work within the system to solve it. You quickly realize that these issues are not unique in what is preventing them from being solved.

Those of us on the left WANT to reduce car infrastructure. Those of us on the left WANT to produce renewable energy. Those of us on the left WANT universal healthcare and affordable housing.

The movement is not about "fuck cars". "Fuck cars" is about giving people the opening to a movement that can actually solve the car dependence problem.

Your "fuck cars" pipeline.

That's a good start. Soon you'll loop back around to "cars are actually ok and can be kind of cool and useful; it's just the levels of dependence and disruption to community and walk ability that I really hate. We must seize the means of production and free our society from serving fossil capital to change things comrade!" I'm being hyperbolic, but only a little.

We don't really hate cars for the individual hate of a single car. We hate what the over dependence on cars and fossil fuels has done to our society, our neighborhoods, our sidewalks, our communities. I like when I hit the pedal on a car and it goes voom voom. It's fun. I just don't think we should design our entire transportation structure around that. It would be like designing our diet and health programs around eating ice cream.

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 2 points 3 weeks ago

I was going to post that not just bikes video! That's the one that seriously got me.

OP I also highly recommend the Climate Town episode where they talk about parking lots and how utterly stupid they are.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNXFHpUhu8

[-] tunetardis@piefed.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago

I love Climate Town!

[-] wheezy@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 weeks ago

It's a great video. It's the one that gets most people. The absolute insanely dangerously bad design of strodes is something you can't unsee. They are everywhere and you're constantly reminded of it everytime you go outside.

It hits with "pro car" people because it is also a design that is as frustrating to them as it is to people trying to walk or bike.

It's my go to video for normies to understand why people hate cars.

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 4 points 3 weeks ago

Once you see how bad parking lots alone are it's pretty hard to unsee it. I hear all the time from people "but we have a lot of space", which is just crazy to hear. We constantly pave over anything that gets in our way to make another parking lot. Then the lots get so big that going to literally the next store over means it's easier to drive than walk, which then leads to even larger parking lots.

Then it's just everywhere in all conversations. If we're building a new neighborhood how much parking will there be? New bike lane? What about parking. New walkable community? Parking?

And then you see the asinine things we've built. Malls are just mimicing a true walkable community because we have killed them, and then surrounded them in islands of massive parking lots. Malls literally just solve a problem that the parking itself created.

It's.. just so fucking stupid, and now I get mad whenever I see a stupid parking lot.

this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026
31 points (100.0% liked)

Fuck Cars

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