I look at the world around me and see one of coercion: direct coercion by people, indirect coercion by institutions, and compulsion by impersonal systems.
I’ve made this argument in extensive detail over and over but I’ve got to admit that this is something I feel in my bones, beyond mere data and arguments.
I am not moved by arguments that we all somehow woke up someday and all simultaneously and coincidentally chose and continue to choose this failing hell-hole world we live in. They are non-starters for me; they stretch credulity beyond its breaking point.
@HeavenlyPossum And! This state of affairs was not inevitable! We almost banned cars from urban cores in America. Jaywalking became a crime because of an intense lobbying campaign.
I’m generally skeptical of explanations that require millions and millions of people to all decide to act identically and simultaneously in spite of enormous costs, in ways that make lots of them miserable. I’m also really skeptical of explanations that assume people have political agency in ways that I’ve seen no evidence for.
And I think very few people realize how awful our rail infrastructure is-- we have LESS rail service now than we did half a century ago, back when we had half the population.
I’m not aware of anyone given a meaningful choice, except maybe during the initial period of covid isolation, when global fossil fuel usage did decrease.
@HeavenlyPossum I was thinking of the current backlash in Europe (and elsewhere) against environmental activists and depressingly moderate environmental policies, or how the extreme-right is getting elected all over the place. But also of how so few people who could do less harm don’t bother (which applies to covid too).
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