The whole straw topic has been a minor smokescreen from serious, bigger issues anyhow. Your straws barely add much to the pollution on our planet; meanwhile, fossil fuels still lobby for government policies, control large financial institutes, control the media in its myriad forms, astroturf or top-bottom propagate misinformation on a scale never seen before, and do all kinds of other bullshit to mind control the population. Meanwhile, that guy's exhaust and our straws are close to the least of our problems. You and I shouldn't even be having this fucking discussion if our government(s) properly handled climate change >50 years ago. Instead, here we are.
You and I shouldn't even be having this fucking discussion if our government(s) properly handled climate change >50 years ago. Instead, here we are.
Governments respond to what the people want and the people don't give a shit about pollution or climate change. Especially not when they feel like they'd have to sacrifice anything.
Not even if they have to sacrifice anything. They just have to feel that other people might get more benefit out of something than they do. Like if they made transit options free which would raise ridership and lower the amount of people on the roads by car, benefiting them in air quality, pollution, faster travel times (since less cars on the road), public health. That would be bad because they themselves wouldn't use transit so other people would be getting something for free and that's unacceptable.
That would be bad because they themselves wouldn't use transit so other people would be getting something for free and that's unacceptable.
They'd be paying for something they wouldn't be using. They're not spiteful; they just believe that people should be solving their own problems. They would have no issue with other people having easier access to transport if it didn't affect them at all.
They'd be paying for something they wouldn't be using.
They themselves are paying for something they're not using right now, and other people are paying for things they are using yet that's considered acceptable. For example every tax payer no matter what is subsidizing car usage, even if they don't own a car.
They're not spiteful; they just believe that people should be solving their own problems.
But it would solve their own problems too. They just think it solves someone else's problems more.
But it would solve their own problems too. They just think it solves someone else's problems more.
It might solve their problems indirectly. You keep trying this spite angle but it's just wishful thinking. People who disagree with you aren't evil, spiteful, or petty. They're just normal people who have different opinions.
You're the one trying to bring emotional language and moral judgements like spiteful and evil. Everything I've said holds up in how people behave in reality. If you think it's spiteful and evil that's your interpretation of it. Personally I'd start with the word ignorance.
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u/Paraselene_Tao 2d ago
The whole straw topic has been a minor smokescreen from serious, bigger issues anyhow. Your straws barely add much to the pollution on our planet; meanwhile, fossil fuels still lobby for government policies, control large financial institutes, control the media in its myriad forms, astroturf or top-bottom propagate misinformation on a scale never seen before, and do all kinds of other bullshit to mind control the population. Meanwhile, that guy's exhaust and our straws are close to the least of our problems. You and I shouldn't even be having this fucking discussion if our government(s) properly handled climate change >50 years ago. Instead, here we are.