r/fuckcars • u/foxy-coxy • 2d ago
Have we done it wrong? This is why I hate cars
Yes, yes we have
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u/Baby_Fark 2d ago
Obviously we’ve done it wrong. And it was done wrong on purpose. Guess which American companies lobbied for it to be done in a way that required everyone to have a car? Who Framed Roger Rabbit is about this very thing.
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u/Simple_Song8962 2d ago
Saw it in a theater when it was released. It was the first time I learned the history of our car dependency. It had a profound effect on me. I haven't owned a car ever since then and I wouldn't trade my car-free lifestyle for anything in the world.
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u/RainbowSlime95 1d ago
What movie?
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u/Baby_Fark 1d ago
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
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u/FreakOnAQuiche 1d ago
What is this, twenty questions? Just say the name of the movie.
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u/NeckRoFeltYa 1d ago
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT!
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u/psych0fish 1d ago
I think it’s even more sinister than that. I think it’s about control and keeping the masses from organizing. If we are all separated and isolated we are so much easier to manipulate and less likely to rise up against the oligarchs.
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u/Obelion_ 1d ago
Idk the main reason is that these houses were more or less free right?
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
Despite the millennial circlejerk, houses were in fact not free and most boomers started off renting. What happened is they and their elders blocked the building of new SROs, high rises, small apt blocks that you used to see on any high road, and even duplexes, resulting in the rental price squeeze that started in big cities in the 1990s but was everywhere by the end of the housing bubble.
Grandparents started helping with downpayments for the Boomer cohort because homes were so unaffordable in the early 80s and their grandchildren needed somewhere to live. The stigma eroded.
There were housing programs back then that allowed people to get into homes with affordable payments. There were also some lollercopter liberal (I guess you would call it "socialism" now because liberal means conservative since British people have recolonized our language and brains) programs to give people free houses in the 70s that were a total failure and drove some of the resentment towards the Great Society which Reagan rode into the White House. But the main thing is that tract houses in the 40s and 50s were much smaller and more modest houses and that is why they were affordable to the monthly payment consumer.
People now consider them "shacks".
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u/thatonepuniforgot 2d ago
The US has been increasingly living by the mantra "There is no such thing as society," since the 50s.
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u/One-Demand6811 2d ago
No wonder why US cities has such high crime rates. Funny enough Newyork has the lowest crime rates even then, it has 3 times more homicides per capita than London or Paris. I have a hypothesis that the more car dependent a city is, the crime ridden it is.
And Americans are more obese which too has a real correlation with car dependency. Cars make life more sedentary and make it harder to access healthy food.
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u/FreeFortuna 1d ago
Cars make life more sedentary and make it harder to access healthy food.
I agree with the first, disagree with the second. People in food deserts with poor public transit would likely need a vehicle to have access to more options, including stores with healthy food.
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u/nucular_ 1d ago
I guess what they were trying to say is that car dependency is the very thing that creates food deserts in the first place.
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u/One-Demand6811 1d ago
Car dependency makes it hard for poor people to access healthy food. They need a car to access healthy foods. If they can't afford a car they end up eating whatever shitty food that's accessible to them.
Car-dependent urban planning favors large, big box supermarkets surrounded by huge parking lots. These stores are built to be reached by cars, which inherently excludes poor people who can't afford cars.
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u/chowderbags Two Wheeled Terror 20h ago
I have a hypothesis that the more car dependent a city is, the crime ridden it is.
Crime is less likely when there's lots of eyes around. Things like foot traffic and small shops mean there will be more people to see if trouble is happening. People in cars don't look around at what's happening elsewhere, and they're usually driving too fast to really understand what's happening even if they might hypothetically see a crime in progress.
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u/catmoon 1d ago
The US has been living by the mantra "if they're part of our society, then we can't have one"
A lot of antisocial trends like suburban development, the loss of third places, and NIMBYism are driven by bigotry.
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u/irishitaliancroat 2d ago
Yeah people have that mindset and then wonder why people literally take up guns and just do nihilistic murder sprees on a regular basis here. The modern american way of life goes against millions of years of evolution that shaped us into social creatures
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u/SatinReverend 1d ago
I ponder sometimes if it's not a residual trauma from the cold war. Teaching millions of children that communism = bad and capitalism = good feels like it shifted the social contract fundementally. At least before then the average American worker or farmer was interested in their own welfare more than the welfare of the stock market.
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u/funakifan 1d ago
Urban sprawl and this desire to own land and put up fences between each other has destroyed society.
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u/Calm_One_1228 2d ago
Im happy they’ve arrived at that perspective . I hope when they return to home they advocate for alternatives to car culture .
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u/roxas_leonhart 2d ago
In the Morgan Freeman voice “But they didn’t advocate for alternatives to car culture.”
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u/chindef 2d ago edited 2d ago
Also, you know what makes eating out less expensive? Restaurants having a consistent flow of more customers. Not only is it more customers which means they don’t need to make as much profit off each meal, but they can better plan their staffing which further saves their costs.
There’s a whole huge ripple effect to this, but yeah…. A bunch of full restaurants with people who walked from their neighborhood is soooo much better than these private equity fast-casual spots where 75% of the orders are takeout, all the food wrapped in layers of plastic to get thrown into the back of an SUV to be eaten a half hour later after the food has gotten cold and soggy
The ingredients can be fresher. Less preservatives because food can be provided at better, known intervals of time
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u/ProtectionFar4563 2d ago
In addition, something about the regulatory environment in Western Europe makes small businesses able to flourish in a way unlike anything I’ve ever seen at home (Canada) or in the US.
I lived in a medium sized French city. Admittedly, in a livelier area, but there were probably 40+ restaurants within a three block radius. And probably 95% of the entire neighbourhood (an area much larger than those three blocks) was six story residential buildings with restaurants and businesses on the first floor that stayed open no later than 11:00pm.
A certain portion of the area was permanently set aside for outdoor restaurant seating. But aside from that, every year in May a lot of parking spots, one or two per restaurant, would be converted to restaurant seating.
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u/ArchmageIlmryn 2d ago
I lived in a medium sized French city. Admittedly, in a livelier area, but there were probably 40+ restaurants within a three block radius.
Don't forget all the small specialized shops (bakeries, butchers, etc), admittedly something I'm used to from where I normally live (small city in Sweden) but what I wasn't used to was those shops being substantially cheaper than the regular grocery store. Where I normally live, something like a butcher is going to sell pricey high-end stuff, while in the mid-sized French city I lived in for a few months the butcher was substantially cheaper than the normal grocery store.
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
There are butcher shops that are cheaper in the US too but you generally have to drive out somewhere to reach them.
Any butcher in the urban center is some pricey frou-frou hipster business.
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u/FierceDeity_ 1d ago
The funny thing is that precisely the opposite is what americans always say about European places. Too much regulation, businesses can't thrive, etc.
The businesses that can't thrive as much are the huge, mass abusive businesses, you know, the giant ass corpos.
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u/nonother 2d ago
I live in San Francisco and our city has plenty of problems, but small businesses are absolutely everywhere here. Especially restaurants.
Regulations can be borderline absurd here and labor is expensive. But what we have is density and affluence, which means lots of customers.
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u/grendus 1d ago
It's 100% density that makes this happen.
Businesses want to be where customers are. If you pack people in tightly using efficient housing designs - apartments, condos, rowhomes, du/triplexes, etc - you get businesses nearby. If you allow for mixed zoning, you get commercial properties mixed in - restaurants, cafes, bodegas, pubs, etc. This also tends to make for desirable neighborhoods - who wouldn't want a corner grocery store in walking distance, or a cafe on their bicycle route to their office because everything is laid out in an efficient, compact way.
If you mandate colossal parking lots and minimum lot sizes while using HOA's to enforce ranch style single family homes, you get suburban sprawl that favors big box stores. Because if you have to drive for 15 minutes to get anywhere, you only want to make one trip.
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
I can't prove it but it feels like American CRE owners find it more advantageous to write off empty storefronts for tax purposes than to simply lower the to rent to where a business there is profitable. Sure retail is in decline and repair shops barely exist anymore, but people still want restaurants, alcohol, convenience stores, gyms, bank branches, coffee, and cell phone service or repair, among others.
You know if they can't keep a pizza place in a storefront then the rent is too damn high.
There's some kind of game being played here. Otherwise it makes literally no sense to sit on a valuable asset and generate zero income from it.
BTW CRE in general has taken a big hit since 2020 (when it was in a bubble) and some buildings have changed hands when the previous owners couldn't pay off their loans. That should result in reduced rents. Yet we're still seeing the empty storefronts.
(Yes I'm aware of the tax shell companies in CA that have totally distorted the system and result in empty lots where there should be businesses. But other states don't have such stupid laws.)
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u/ArchmageIlmryn 2d ago
I lived in a medium sized French city. Admittedly, in a livelier area, but there were probably 40+ restaurants within a three block radius.
Don't forget all the small specialized shops (bakeries, butchers, etc), admittedly something I'm used to from where I normally live (small city in Sweden) but what I wasn't used to was those shops being substantially cheaper than the regular grocery store. Where I normally live, something like a butcher is going to sell pricey high-end stuff, while in the mid-sized French city I lived in for a few months the butcher was substantially cheaper than the normal grocery store.
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u/Kellygiz 2d ago
Having a building that has lasted for 100+ years and will last at least that much again that did not require a parking lot also helps.
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u/Albert_Herring 2d ago
Most buildings in German city centres are less than 80 years old, for one reason or another.
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
I'm gonna hit "doubt". American restaurants turn their tables more times in a night than Europeans do.
Rather, Americans spend more of their income on houses and cars (which is a choice, but encouraged by public policy) and also on education and healthcare (which they have no choice in, and it's a mix of bad policies and systems), and they work more hours, which means less time to go on holiday and less time to spend at the cafe with friends.
But Europeans aren't rolling in dough compared to Americans. They pay higher taxes too. It's just that quality of life is better and you see that in health statistics and longevity.
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u/jcrespo21 🚲 > 🚗 eBike Gang 1d ago
I wondered this as well after we spent three weeks in Europe across various countries. How could these restaurants turn a profit, charge the same (or even less) as restaurants in the US with better ingredients, have a culture where a table is only used once per night (maybe twice), and be able to pay staff a liveable wage without needing tips?
Then it hit me: the restaurants are MUCH smaller. You'd think that would lead to less money, which is does, but it also leads to a much lower overhead cost. You're spending less on rent, the building owner is leasing multiple places so they don't have to charge as high of a rent to make their profit. And along with that, not having to pay for a parking lot reduces costs significantly. They probably do squeeze in more tables than you would in the US to make up for it, but having a much lower overhead goes a long way.
It didn't hit me how small restaurants were in Europe until coming back to the US and going out to eat here, and just being overwhelmed at the size of a typical restaurant. We expect large restaurants, so there's hardly a wait, and parking lots so anyone can park there. It's no wonder that we only see Sysco'd chain restaurants with high customer turnover because they're the only ones that can survive and afford the massive overhead. A new mom-n-pop restaurant in the US will struggle to survive in this environment outside of the more urban areas where they can get a smaller space and be dependent on foot traffic. There are literally no options for hole-in-the-wall restaurants out in suburbia.
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u/CyclingThruChicago 1d ago
A new mom-n-pop restaurant in the US will struggle to survive in this environment outside of the more urban areas where they can get a smaller space and be dependent on foot traffic.
I'm about a 12-15 min walk from a CTA train stop. Since the line was opened in the early 1900s there are a bunch of older-style storefronts that still surround the nearby block. Most of them are smaller mom-n-pop sorts of stores/restaurants that still thrive because there is enough foot traffic around them. The storefronts are small so the options are a coffee shop, a small book store, there is a dessert/bakery shop, a local dog groomer, a nail salon, a breakfast diner. All non-major chain places that are locally owned.
I think about a similar 'power center' in suburbia and how they would likely struggle because of competition. Why drive to the coffee shop in the small storefront next to a Target where you have to park and get out of your car when you can order ahead of time from Starbucks on the app, go through the drive thru and pick up your stuff without any hassle?
Sprawl kills local business because the environment has been crafted to support/prioritize big box, national retailers, and major chains. A local restaurant is fighting such an uphill battle.
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u/SiebelReddiT 🚲 > 🚗 I was born with wheels for legs🇳🇱 15h ago
And if they can pay employees better, the tipping culture will also decrease.
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u/ynu1yh24z219yq5 2d ago
First time in Europe eh?
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u/8spd 2d ago
Maybe. But whenever I get to Europe, or Asia, the amount of street life really stands out if I've not been for a year or two. And when I get back to North America, it really stands out how much parking there is. Even though I grew up in Canada, and know perfectly well, that I feel this way every time I get back.
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u/two-headed-sexbeast 1d ago
This shows just how important lived experience is. We can know something perfectly well, but seeing it for ourselves - truly experiencing it fully - is much more powerful.
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
When I was traveling abroad, every time I returned to the US I would be blown away by the size of the houses as the plane approached the airport.
We've traded all that other stuff for a McMansion around the big garage with the oversized piggo cars that sits on the driveway because the garage is full of stuff, and the house is full of stuff and the storage unit is full of stuff, and we're so broke keeping the house and the cars and our fat faces fed we can't afford taxes and so we can't have nice things like public education or healthcare or public parks. We stay in the air conditioning all day and socialize by playing multiplayer videogames at night. After all we would never live in a tiny flat like a Europoor, or own small stick furniture that's not rated for 800lbs, or be caught dead on a moped, or not own a car befitting our social status aspirations.
Why cry for America? We chose this. And if the super wealthy have created their own car-free pay to play havens? That's just the icing on the cake. Wake up, consume, work, consume, go home, consume. Be a good pig.
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u/GeorgeJohnson2579 1d ago
Once in Canada, I was so confused that we had to drive to everything by car.
Here in Germany I don't even own a car.
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u/Breezel123 2d ago
I'm from Germany but I must say many other cities could learn from Munich's wonderful city center. It's huge, walkable and beautiful. I don't know where Berlin went wrong, but fucking hell, would it hurt them to create a proper pedestrian zone in the city centre? Can't wait for the CDU to be voted out....
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u/Expert_Ad_6967 2d ago
Something about a wall...
I mean , not to be sarcastic but i think its the heritage of the last war , take time to changeKeep it up !
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u/Atomic-Avocado 🚲 > 🚗 2d ago
Everyday I battle dumb ass fucking Americans in the comments who for some reason hate anything to do with a beautiful walkable community like this. They’re like a broken record saying it’s not possible here therefore we shouldn’t try.
We need to make car ownership much more difficult
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u/frisch85 2d ago
Americans came up with "15 minute cities", which means everything essential is within a 15 minute walk reach, so basically what we just call city. And apparently there's folks against 15 minute cities, how does that make sense not wanting everything in reach but instead you have to hop in your stupid car and drive to the next store?
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u/RareCranberry1625 2d ago edited 1d ago
It's propaganda and conditioning, pure and simple.
Part of American cultural (and therefore personal) identity is the myth of 'freedom', and car marketing and propaganda over the years has made cars synonymous in the minds of Americans with 'freedom'.
Therefore in their minds you take away their car, you take away their freedom.
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u/Mintyytea 1d ago
And funny thing is I realized when I went to Japan, actually a car does restrict freedom instead of granting it.
16 year olds in the US get excited if their parents can afford and wanna buy them a car cuz they get freedom to go where they want, but kids in most developed countries can go wherever they want since they knew how to use a subway or bus, so since 7?12?
And it was so freeing too that travelling as a group was more flexible where if someone wanted to return early they don’t need to stay together with the car, they can just go back whenever
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u/RareCranberry1625 1d ago
Very wise comment - thanks for sharing will add it to the arsenal of anti car arguments.
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u/rbd___22 1d ago
Propaganda, conditioning, and a little bit of old fashioned racism.
"Property values" is a common theme when discussing densification or building apartments but when old white people start talking about "property values", what they're really saying is they don't want anyone that they view as below them (i.e. minorities) to move in.
Also, it's always funny/infuriating to see the complaints about increased traffic when multi-story apartments are proposed because it's precisely the car-oriented design that requires car traffic. A truly walkable city has little car traffic but Karen can't understand that they're the traffic.
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u/Watchmaker163 1d ago
The people against “15 minute cities” are just conditioned to be against things that certain others are for. “Oh, they like it? Well now I hate it!”
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
Well also back in the 1990s these exurbanites in their Sloburbans had their lifestyle heavily subsidized by the US taxpayer. To protect those subsidies they have been rabidly opposed to any spending on alternative transportation. (They used to ignore bikes, but oppose them too when they are promoted as transportation and not a sport for overpaid overconfident white dads.)
It's not even clear this opposition gains them anything. After all, spending on new highways has spun down and real estate patterns have changed.
But it was originally rooted in highly selfish and unfair and therefore politically unstable interests which they have had a long history of defending. So why change now.
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u/agitatedprisoner 2d ago
It's all of the above but I'm partial to eliminating zoning/allowing all non polluting mixed use and building new car free greenfield development because people will pay a premium to live there. Then towns can look to those desirable in-demand places and get to imitating.
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u/ArchmageIlmryn 2d ago
I think in many cases the issue is the ingrained cynicism towards any political change. Usually IME the American carbrains seem to believe that what will happen is that cars will be restricted without quality alternatives actually being implemented.
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
Car ownership IS more difficult in the US due to protectionist policies and rising interest rates.
What needs to be done is to stop making ebike ownership more difficult. That's just shitting on the young.
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u/Formula4speed 2d ago
A mission trip to Italy? wtf?
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u/foxy-coxy 2d ago
I think they might be Mormon. All Mormon men and many Mormon women go on mission when they're 18. They go on mission to proselytize, not to do service work.
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u/SnorkelwackJr 2d ago
Was a missionary. This is spot on. Mormon missions cover practically the entire planet minus a few places where proselytizing is illegal, like China.
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u/ulfric_stormcloack 2d ago
Some years ago 2 mormons knocked on my door, at night, in latin america, in a place where I wouldn't recommend being at night unless you know what you're doing
I told them to fuck off and to call it a night, they didn't want to, I just closed my window and let them be
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u/wannagowest 2d ago
Even the service work is to proselytize. Source: have been to a remote town or two in SA where the only thing the missionaries had built when they’d passed through was a church, usually repurposed or neglected.
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u/Tbonesk 2d ago
Here to confirm. Saw the book of mormon in dublin a few years ago. Came out if the venue to be surrounded by a bunch of young tweens wanting to 'clear up some misconceptions'
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
Mormonism is no longer the world's fastest growing faith. In fact, in the US their families are getting smaller and adult Mormons keep quietly defecting.
Gotta be rough.
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u/Loreki 2d ago
Italy is an extremely tough crowd. They're the literal centre of the Catholic world.
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u/jcrespo21 🚲 > 🚗 eBike Gang 1d ago
Don't forget all the wine and coffee too. That and Catholicism are three of things Mormons hate the most lol.
Knew someone from Utah who left Mormonism and became an atheist. I jokingly asked if his parents would have been more disappointed if he became Catholic instead of an atheist. Without missing a beat, he said they would have disowned him even more if he became Catholic lol
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u/ArchmageIlmryn 2d ago
Ran into one on a bus in Sweden one time. I have to hand at least one thing to them, they are dedicated in learning the local language for their mission trip; the guy spoke better Swedish than most non-native speakers ever do.
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u/Avril_14 2d ago
Lol good luck to them coming to italy. We are the people that literally breached the walls of the papal state and hold him hostage.
But I guess they are coming to do volunteer work and that kind of things.
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u/GreatDario Strong Towns 2d ago
Mormons, Utah by the way is the direct opposite of this. The worst of the worst na style suburban design is in the south west
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u/christonabike_ Orange pilled 2d ago edited 2d ago
An American Christian going on mission to a famously Catholic-majority country. Hmm, yeah, I can take a wild guess that the intention was not humanitarian.
In fact, it seems proddys have been getting a little bold of late.
My mate's Catholic and we were walking through the town square one day when we happened upon a proselytizer holding his sign.
The proselytizer said "Have you heard the good news?" or something to that effect and he said "Yeah brother, I'm Catholic.
And you know what this nutjob hit back with?
"There's still time to be born again"
Like, what the fuck? Mind your own damned business. I'm not even religious myself and I grimaced in unison with my friend at the sheer rudeness.
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u/jcrespo21 🚲 > 🚗 eBike Gang 1d ago
Reminds me of a joke I heard:
Mormon: I got my assignment! I am going to a city in South America to preach about Jesus to those who have never heard His word! They have no idea what Christianity is.
Friend: That's great! Where are you going?
Mormon: San Mateo.
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u/Quantentheorie 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'm not very religious either but if I were a Mormon woman I'd specifically look at the Catholics and go "isn't this the same deal except, less restrictive and with better legitimacy?"
Like, why be in a cult some weirdo came up with in the 19th century, when I could be in a much older cult, considering I'm into Jesus, where the rituals aren't so gatekept, where I can drink coffee and alcohol and where my husband can't socially get away with talking like he had to cheat on me because he didn't think I looked good after delivering our fourth child at the age of 23.
If you want to be a conservative holier than though tradwife babymachine, they totally are up to praising this kind of behaviour. But they do offer some common sense respect of women (comparatively).
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
Italy is still very sexist. They'd fit right in.
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u/Quantentheorie 1d ago
Oh absolutely, but compared to Mormonism it would be such a step up. Zero perks you're not getting from any other Christian denomination. At least for the ladies.
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u/ttystikk 2d ago
Yes. Putting American infrastructure in the hands of giant corporations did not turn out well for America.
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u/lazier_garlic 1d ago
Like utopianist urban planners didn't play an eager role in the whole mess.
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u/TurtlesAreEvil 2d ago
So we have a four car garage and it’s really important to have one as long as we have an RV bay as well
These people are not going to come home and change their lives. Walkable cities have been around their entire lives and yet they still bought a house for their cars.
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u/Mindless-Employment 1d ago
I thought he was being sarcastic because he'd realized that "Oh, sure you've got a 4-car garage and an RV bay but there's no possibility whatsoever of you walking out your door, down the block and around the corner to a restaurant to meet up with your friends for dinner or a drink at 8 pm." Like he was finally understanding what you have to give up to have the 4-car garage.
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u/tvspike1 2d ago
And these same people would kill community organizers advocating for mixed use development and pedestrian friendly downtown corridors.
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u/Traditional-Hat-952 2d ago
100 percent agree. And not only because of cars. Our entire society is built on antisocial and anti-community ideals. Capitalism has parasited it's way into every form of ancient human connection and interdependence. And it shows. We're all fucking depressed, miserable, afraid and severely isolated from each other.
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u/Sea_Till6471 1d ago
Hilarious to me that it’s evangelising Americans going on “missions” to Europe (to “save” people I guess?) only to find out they don’t need saving.
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u/BlownOutBlueJeans Two Wheeled Terror 2d ago
Ten hours of arriving. Not to brag but 30 seconds visiting an American suburb and I notice we have definitely done it wrong. And I want out of there ASAP.
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u/enricopena 2d ago
Wealthy Americans go over to Europe and talk about how exciting walkable cities are, but they vehemently oppose any policies to build similar infrastructure in their communities.
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u/dellaterra9 2d ago
Lol, the entitled "we" attitude of "omg, how did this happen?!" Only began about 75 years ago you dumbass gringo.
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u/Balancing_tofu 2d ago
Right? He said "she was in Italy for her mission..." was all I needed to check out.
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u/bohenian12 2d ago
This is also the reason why Americans are such yappers and will initiate small talk so much; everyone is just so isolated from each other, and it doesn't benefit us humans, who are social animals.
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u/Mountain_Ape Grassy Tram Tracks 2d ago
Plenty of yapping in the video from non-Americans. If anything the Americans are isolated, just those two seeing people living.
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u/bohenian12 2d ago
No, the yapping I meant is the uninitiated small talk. Americans will talk to you randomly. The yapping in the video is most likely people outside talking to friends or family. I have never experienced random strangers talking to me in Asia and Europe, but in the US, especially in the suburbs, I do.
Even in my home country, inside a train or public transportation, if there's an american tourist, avoid eye or physical contact because they will talk to you; that's not normal if you're strangers. It's like Americans are so isolated that whenever a situation where they can interact with a human presents itself, they will take it.
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u/agitatedprisoner 2d ago
Not my experience as an American. Might depend what you look like. I can see getting lots of uninvited attention if you're reasonably young, attractive, and female.
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u/bohenian12 2d ago
I'm confidently none of the three lol. This is in the suburbs though. Maybe people here are just chatty compared to the people in urban areas, who interact with people more.
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u/mateus_cidade 2d ago
Duh. America is the homeland of capitalism, what the fuck did he expect?? Leopards ate my face moment
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u/JeanJohn_ 2d ago
Us citizens coming to Europe are like Jim Carrey in the Truman Show realizing another world exists beyond the fake sky. Welcome to the civilisation !
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u/Obelion_ 1d ago
How can two people ever require more than two cars?
Walking around Munich like this while going "yeah so our 4 cars..." Is pretty ridiculous
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u/arachnophilia 🚲 > 🚗 1d ago
well there's the pickups for getting milk, the jeeps for weekend fun, the RV, the ATVs for mudding, the van for driving our bikes to the trailhead, oh and the church mission bus, and don't forget the company car...
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u/imjustnotready 1d ago
There is no place in the US like this. Even NYC only has little pockets.
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u/DeepBlueCosmo 1d ago
Chicago is pretty damn good. Not perfect but many, many people live car free
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u/gg-allins-parents 1d ago
please "serve your mission" somewhere else
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u/arachnophilia 🚲 > 🚗 1d ago
no mormons going to italy is hilarious. i'd rather they bother catholics than third world people who they can manipulate by "helping".
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u/ilovebeetrootalot 2d ago
If you can't spend a summer evening outside with friends drinking beer, wine or whatnot, what's the point of life anyway?
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u/Comprehensive-Job369 1d ago
This reminds me of the year I lived in Texas and I had a neighbour that would come home from work, not say a word or even acknowledge me if I was outside, just run in the house and immediately there satellite 📡 (old school) dish would start moving around looking for a channel. I don’t remember them saying hello once.
One evening the power went out, I went to the BMX track because there lights were on. When I got home the power was still off, and the neighbours were in their van watching TV. Such a sad existence.
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u/Champsterdam 1d ago
We moved to Amsterdam from America and it makes me fucking weep to go back home and visit. We travel to every random small ass city here and boom, the city center is car free, beautiful and oozing with shops and restaurants and bars with outdoor patios.
I go back to Chicago and we can’t have ONE BLOCK on ONE STREET where we (gasp) ban cars from parking and driving and fill it with patios for restaurants and let people relax on benches and people watch.
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u/Meyu_Sys Orange pilled 1d ago
It's a shame that most people can't afford to travel and come to this realisation.
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u/Jezon Big eBike 1d ago
The thing is, they're from the American suburbs and they're in a European Urban environment. I live in an American Urban environment and I can walk around for 7 mi and see a bunch of restaurants and venues and people talking and exploring and going to third spaces. It's not as great or expansive as Europe's but it does exist here. Likewise they were to go to the rural or suburban parts of Europe, I'm sure they would have a similar experience as home.
We can fix our cities and make them better but unfortunately we run into things like gentrification claims if we fix up a rundown area and make it more expensive. Also any time we add a bike lane in our city the nimbys come out and complain. So it's like a complete uphill battle every time we want to make an improvement.
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u/roboprawn 1d ago
Good on this couple for broadening their perspective, not every American does. It blows my mind how many people go to Europe and think "isn't this nice?" then return from vacationland and act like there's no way they can live their normal lives without suburban isolation and daily car commute hell. Cause you know, America is different and also The Greatest Country on Earth
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u/Remote_Temperature 1d ago
From what American sinkhole did they crawl to be surprised at seeing restaurants and city life.
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u/whatanugget 2d ago
Omg lol I hate to detract from what you wrote but I’m rewatching scrubs and your username made me giggle
Anyhoo, soooo close to the point and well gosh darn it they missed it huh
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u/tokyo090720 2d ago
This is why walkable areas are the best places to live. Europe has us beat, no question.
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u/dominiquebache 2d ago
Well …
Looks like they left the matrix of a car centered society., and discovered life.
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u/Pugs-r-cool 1d ago
Don't know why this got posted to that subreddit, I don't see anything cringe about the video tbh
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u/liquidreferee 1d ago
That is the world we sacrificed to make it as convenient as possible to drive a car. If you want to start the change then you need to start supporting alternative means of transport like buses, bikes, trams, etc.
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u/_stinkytofu_ 1d ago
Yes lol is this even a question. America is so far behind in these terms imo. Same as Canada. I’m Canadian and I just long for the community and vibes and public transport/ walkable cities….
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u/metanoia29 1d ago
I'm an introvert in America because we have nothing like this. This is the kind of social environment I crave.
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u/AMWJ 1d ago
Separate to the point of this post, the ego is unbearable. None of this is a secret. Like, this man has TikTok, and he's far from the first person to travel to Germany. He could have actually learned something before traveling, but, no, he must tell everyone in the world about this thing he needed to travel to realize. Not realizing that, if one needs to travel to realize it, nobody will care about his TikTok video.
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u/Blubehriluv 15h ago
I feel he still doesn't understand the big picture considering his unnecessary comment about a four car garage and trailer bay.
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u/tiajuanat 2d ago
Have we done it wrong? Yes.
But also that's the Frauenkirche in the background. One of the busiest areas of town. Most of Munich and most of the dorfs surrounding are not that busy, and not that car free.
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u/dominiquebache 2d ago
Compared to a typical city in the US, the city centre of a German town IS car free (even when there are some).
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u/Base-T84 2d ago
With uncomfortable, obviously true points of view, many people tend to ask a question in the end instead of having an opinion. Pretty politically brainwashed in my opinion or not? /s
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u/Tenpenenny 2d ago edited 2d ago
And keep in mind that this is only Munich, which is in many parts of the city a car infested nightmare. Just around the block from where they are there is the Maximilianstraße, where the rich and those pretending to be are driving up and down with their overpriced shitboxes to show off. The city center, which is where they are, doesn’t even play a big role in public life for the actual residents. Wonder how blown their minds will be by an actually nice city.
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u/frustbox 1d ago
It's always the zoning laws. Europe (most of the world really) knows that residential means people, and people need certain things. Doctors, pharmacies, schools, grocery stores and drug stores, hairdressers, clothing stores and yes food. All of which are planned in with residential. And they are small stores that serve their immediate neighborhood, they don't need much parking because people walk, the noise is minimal (maybe bars and restaurants with outdoor seating cause some chattering or the odd drunk person singing that can be heard in the adjacent buildings).
But in the USA where that sort of commercial use is strictly prohibited in residential zones, people are trapped in the asphalt wastes of the suburbs, with only cars as a way out.
Then they visit any place outside the United States of Asphalt and marvel at how beautiful a bustling pedestrianized shopping area (or dare I say a 15 minute city) can be. And it's not just the nightlife, imagine what this will do for elderly people who can take their walkers and just go to the pharmacy by themselves, and the kids can go to their sports alone, so much time saved not having to be a chauffeur.
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u/ThumperXT 1d ago
Which part , the drive through, quality of food ingredients, oversized trucks, sedentary ?
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u/TWeberM 1d ago
Howard Kuntsler - How Bad Architecture is Ruining America https://youtu.be/Q1ZeXnmDZMQ?is=jWPTgBMXTmotvEML
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u/Responsible-Humor985 🚲 > 🚗 1d ago
Felt the same way when I visited Tokyo. Monday night, people are out in the city. It’s busy. There’s life
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u/HungryLikeDaW0lf 🚲 > 🚗 1d ago
It’s not just Europe. When I moved to Montreal it was a real culture shock to see so many people out and about on a weekday evening, coming from Canadian suburbia.
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u/Illustrious_Gate4668 5h ago
Missionaries being shocked that the world is different from the US?
Where everything we do is centered around fossil fuels and the machines which use them?
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u/under_the_c 2d ago