I rode my bike instead of driving today. It took twice as long, and the hills kicked my ass, but I felt amazing afterwards. Evem hours later I am still riding the endorphin high. Hearing traffic used to give me anxiety, but I used noise cancelling earbuds so I could listen to an audio book and that made a huge difference

Mind you, living in the Europ I’m pretty happy that at this point in time the impression that people here have of America is pretty low, so people don’t have as much the “I want to be like an American” effect that would otherwise push “American practices” (what people think they are from what they see on TV) here.

For now. Right wing politicians are working tirelessly to make Europe like the US and every election they win will slowly ratchet Europe close to becoming a brain washed consumerist society

Get snow tires. It makes a HUGE difference. There have been so many times that a large pickup was spinning out on a hill of ice while my tiny compact car went past them.

Farmers owning a truck makes sense (although I hate how blocky and dangerous the hoods are), but what about all the tech bros and finance bros who drive giant pickups? I swear half of the men who work white collar jobs and live in the suburbs drive giant pickups and SUVs these days

There are many reasons: marketing propaganda, sexism, insecurity, politics, and selfishness. Americans are seemingly very susceptible to propaganda and marketing has convinced people that the type of products and brands we consume define who we are.

Sexusm. They have tricked us into believing that small cars are feminine and that huge trucks are for manly, rugged, outdoorsy types.

Insecurity. Even if someone realizes that judging people based on what vehicle they drive is stupid, lots of people are very insecure and are worried other people will judge them for driving a small car.

Politics. Leftists advocated for smaller cars because they care about urbanism, pedestrian fatalities, and the environment. In response, conservatives have turned large tank sized vehicles in a conservative political statement.

Selfishness. Engineering can only do so much to cheap physics so bigger / heavier vehicles are a little safer for the passengers of the larger vehicle when crashing into smaller cars but at the cost of the safety of the smaller car. It is far from a 1 to 1 exchange, large vehicles greatly increase the traffic fatality rates, but large pickup owners don’t give a shit about the safety of others. They have no love for their fellow countrymen which means they have no love for their country.

Are you factoring in the opportunity cost of the wasted (poor optimized) space? Of all the extra fuel people have to burn to get around said wasted space? What about the long term environmental impacts? What is the value of a person’s life (time) and what value do we put on the time that is taken from us because of wasteful sprawl?

Wasting land is only cheaper because the real costs get put on the rest of society and future generations.

Are you factoring in the opportunity cost of the wasted (poor optimized) space? Of all the extra fuel people have to burn to get around said wasted space? What about the long term environmental impacts?

Wasting land is only cheaper because the real costs get put on the rest of society and future generations.

Yes! Switching to vegan doesn’t have to be a binary, black or white, all or nothing, thing. The best way to go vegan, imo, is gradually. Start by trying different vegan foods until you find stuff you like and crave. Learn to cook tasty vegan stuff then slowly eat more and more vegan stuff you like.

One of my favorite vegan meals is freshly baked sourdough dipped in olive oil and bsalmic vinegar.

I am somehow extremely disappointed that people who support this obviously corrupt and evil little man also have talents like art, and music, and probably others.

Oh man, everytime I see a GPrime85 comic I am sad because the guy is legitimately talented and it hard to believe that a guy who is so talented could also have such stupid and contradictory takes: https://x.com/GPrime85/media

Paying for early access == paying to be a stress tester.

Considering how the US’s CIA will infiltrate leftist groups to undermine and break those groups up, would that make the US an authoritarian state? And if someone passively enables authoritarianism through complacency then does that not make them authoritarians by default?

Read up on Operation Gladio if you want a peak at how deeply fascist / authoritarian the US truly is: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio

Couldn’t that be said of any and all groups? A few bad posters has soured me on the lemm.ee instance, but would it be logical or fair or me to assume that a few bad experiences reflects an entire group?

I am not from ML nor do I have a Hexbear alt of any sort, but I defend Hexbear’s right to be different. They seem to be a younger group of anti-capitalists so I find their perspectives interesting.

Edit: I am still somewhat new to Lemmy, so maybe there is some history with Hexbear that I am ignorant of, but until I see it for myself, I enjoy their content and will continue to support Hexbear.

Fallon is a muppet. Wait, no, muppets have more personality then he has.

The entire fast food industry is arguably a pro-eatingdisorder group. Over-eating or eating garbage is every bit as harmful as undereating. One could argue that beef hamburgers and obesity are actually far worse than skipping meals when you factor in the environmental impacts

What is your opinion on right-wing streamers like Tim Pool accepting millions from Russia to push Russian propaganda? I think drama like that is good to know about because it highlights the fact that the Maga movement is largely a Russian psy-op.

Also, the data needs to include how many people are accidentally shot by guns through improper usage and storage.

From the numbers I have seen, far more children are killed accidentally by good-guy-guns then they are saved by those very same guns

Cars not only kill the planet, but they are erode society so they are far worse than cruise ships imo.

True, but if you are a politician and you pay a ghost writer then political groups can bulk purchase your book as a way of laundering bribe money

Maybe, but I am boycotting all capitalist entities the best I can. If I need something I try to buy used or from worker co-ops or to check it out from a library or pirate it.