I think we all had this discourse when the not just bikes guy said that america will literally never solve its transit problems and become a society based on anything other than private car ownership, so the only thing you can do if you want to live in a society with decent bike & transit infrastructure in your lifetime is move somewhere else. Pretty sure the struggle session just culminated in something like “obviously this is correct but we have to believe change is possible in the imperial core or what’s the fuckin point”

People bring up the fact you have to be privileged to move other places like this but there are other reasons too. Leaving the country you grew up in, even for another western country, is a big thing. It means you probably won’t be able to see family and friends more than once every five years. It means the cultural context you grew up in and are natively fluent in, despite being a steaming pile, is not available to you when navigating social situations. Hell, most americans with the ability & inclination won’t even leave america to go to canada, despite no real increase in travel times and an essentially identical culture except a bit less overwhelmingly right wing and with a little brother complex.