More like “I hate my job, but social safety nets are nonexistent and I need to eat food. On top of that I’m forced to spend my precious income on a machine that requires fossil fuels which are destroying the environment” but yes
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
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Fuck Cars
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Yeah but that doesn't let you blame the people for having a car
Public transportation is non existent in a lot of the US and the cost of taking a cab is higher than a car payment. We have sprawling cities where if you don't want to work a commute that would be 3+ hours each way you are precluded from most jobs and you better have 3-6 months of money saved to job search in your area at that point.
Millions of people are stuck in places where if you don't have a car you're going not going to finding much work or working a living wage.
Don't forget that if you do want to move closer to your job so you can walk you need a ton of money to find a rental or buy something.
Yes, I am aware and am in full agreement. I was referring to the more circlejerky aspect of this community sometimes where they ignore/cannot comprehend that so they act like anyone who has a car for any reason is evil and the problem and bad.
And I'm only exaggerating a tiny bit.
Are you under the impression that "carbrain" means "anyone who owns a car"?
Rent: am I a joke to you?
I live inna shit hole and renting saps people likely 50% of the median income
Ive paid as much as 90% of my rent on rent+utils
Edit: fuck i think if income as 'rent'.
Absolutely. A $5k 1998 Toyota Corolla will be bulletproof for another twenty years yet. Fuel and oil every now and then is all it will ask for, and as long as you don't need to compensate for your lack of manhood, there's no reason that won't take you anywhere you need to go. I don't understand why Americans feels the need to take a loan out on a six figure "truck". Sure as shit it's not to "haul" the milk and cookies home from the grocery store.
However, you do have to compensate for the lack of a roof over your head, and that will take a lot more of your income on a monthly basis.
$5000 for a 27 year old car is a lot of money though. Though being a Toyota you are probably not losing much if you ever need to sell it.
I‘m sure there is a „Metric“ song about this…
Found it. Handshakes by Metric:
Buy this car to drive to work Drive to work to pay for this car Bah bah bah-da la
Say you wanna get in And you're gonna get out But you won't 'Cause it's a trap
Also the Over the Hedge version of Rockin' the Suburbs by Ben Folds Five:
We drive our cars every day
To and from work both ways
So we make just enough to pay
To drive our cars to work each day
Hey hey
At least he’s carpooling
Eat to work/work to eat
Eat just to shit. Shit just to eat. What is this life
Imagine being forced to spend 20% of your income on a depreciating asset
FuckJapaneseHomes apparently also needs to be a community.
I'm the person in the bottom right of this comic.
I absolutely hate it but I don’t have a choice which is why I find the cheapest car that I can pay for in cash. I have some cash saved up and found a new car for the equivalent of $15300 which is 25% of my income, but wish I didn’t have to buy it.
It is freedom. Freedom to go where you went, when you want. Freedom to explore, freedom to experience things you couldn't otherwise.
I buy all of my cars outright, but have never been forced. Owning cars, driving cars, working on cars, and selling cars are all joys to be had.
If you don't like driving, then don't. Take a bus, a train, or bike. But just because you cannot afford it, or because driving is scary for you, don't presume that the majority is going to agree.
If you don’t like driving, then don’t. Take a bus, a train, or bike
That's exactly the problem: I can't, my city has shitty bus routes with 1 hour frequency, trains are non existent, bike infrastructure only on dreams. That's the freedom we want, but with car centric infrastructure, we don't have the freedom to choose how to move and function on this society
I'm lucky to live walking distance to work. 99.995% of my city doesn't have that option and must rely on a car. My city spends almost nothing in public transit but spends a lot on roads and other car subsidies.
It's freedom to go where you want so long as you
- register with the government
- insure it
- get a license
- maintain it (likely by paying someone else to do it, since it's a complicated skill set )
- figure out fuel and oil sources
- probably other stuff I'm forgetting
persoally, I think being able to walk or bike somewhere is more free. Public transit that's just always there, running every couple minutes, is also good.
As to "take a bus", part of the problem, and part of why communities like "fuck cars" gain traction, is that most places are car-first, and thus taking a bus isn't a viable option. These modes of transit aren't equal. Where my parents live in the suburbs it would be a long dangerous walk to a bus stop, and then the buses don't run often, or go many places.
People aren't mad at cars out of spite. They're mad because car-first culture is bad ecologically, socially, and economically.
I buy all of my cars outright, but have never been forced. Owning cars, driving cars, working on cars, and selling cars are all joys to be had.
You're a person after my own heart. Cars deserve better than to be used for commuting.
The more people we can get to not use cars for things the better cars will be. They wouldn't design ugly drab eggs in three colors if cars weren't treated like appliances.
I think the opposite is true. If cars weren't treated like they are a necessary part of the personality and instead just like a thing, the owners may stop valueing them less than other people's lives. Like 'I am in a hurry, I will just overtake that cyclist in front of me with an inch if distance, because I am so much more important.'
Plenty of people who don’t actually like cars do that not because the car is part of their personality but because they see the cyclist as “in their way.”
If someone truly loved their car they wouldn’t want a cyclist putting scratches all over it.
I'd love to walk, bike, or take the bus, but there are no busses where I live, sparse sidewalks, and no bike lanes. You do the math.
Have you tried taking public transport yourself to commute to work? In most cities in the US, it’s unreliable, inefficient, or straight up not even there. For many commuters, driving is the only option.