RapierFugue
Posts: 4740
Joined: 3/16/2006
From: London, England
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quote:
ORIGINAL: LadyConstanze
Well, you know what they say about opinions, they're like ****, everybody has one, you're certainly entitled to yours, maybe if people would walk around the block once in a while they wouldn't have a less problems with obesity, and despite it being a "small problem" it is a problem, but I guess there will always be the odd idiot who's too grand to use public transportation arguing his right to pollute the air as he needs to drive to get cigarettes... Have a nice day.
Nice reply. You managed to, once again, complete miss the point of my and other's posts, while being insulting and labelling people selfish when they're not actually the problem. The person driving a well-designed, modern vehicle, regardless of size, isn't "polluting the air" to any significant degree. Indeed, in more polluted areas of the world the air coming out the back of the vehicle is cleaner than the stuff going in the front.
In terms of global warming, modern private vehicles are not a significant contributor, even if you do buy the theory that the current climatic temperature changes are wholly man-made (and that’s not a given, despite what some “experts” would have you believe). So what it comes down to isn’t people being “selfish”, it’s that people are not doing what you want them to. Those are your issues, not theirs, and it’s unfair of you to project your personal policies onto them.
Successive governments in European nations have been happy to jump on board the “bash the motorist” bandwagon because it’s a rich source of funding through taxation, and thus gives them pots of money to prop up their fiscal incompetence. The propaganda and bullshit surrounding this multi-billion dollar/pound/euro lie has now reached the point where millions of sheep blithely accept “truths” that are anything but, and (as I previously stated) anyone who dares swim against the tide of lies by (for example) demanding that industry does its bit first and foremost is labelled “selfish”. Congratulations; you are now officially a slave of the propaganda machine.
As one other item of thought on the topic of your ill-informed and ill-researched rant against “4x4” owners, consider the following; in your world, vehicles like 4x4s would be outlawed for any but the uses you deem “correct”, and vehicles like hybrids would be promoted as “good”, but in actual fact the direct environmental impact of such vehicles, when you take into account the materials used in their construction, the distances those materials have to be moved around the world in order to convert them to useful items, the appalling environmental impact of converting those materials into useful batteries, their capacity to be themselves recycled (abysmal for anything that contains electric motors and batteries BTW), their cost of maintenance (significantly worse than more simple, conventional designs, as can be seen by considering the fact that the “hybrid” parts of the drive-train often have a significantly lower warranty life than the rest of the vehicle, and that no-one has yet designed a hybrid power-train capable of reliable use beyond the 100,000 mile mark) and their lifespan when measured against their cost of construction, is worse than for a well-designed “conventional” vehicle with a well designed, petrol or diesel engine. The fact that hybrids are becoming more fashionable, and that the numbers of them being produced is increasing, is testament not so much to their environmental impact, but more to the numbers of people blithely accepting the erroneous propaganda being spouted by those with a vested interest.
As to “public transport”, it’s largely a joke outside of major conurbations; there was an excellent piece on the comparative costs and timings of rural public transport vs. personal transport a while back (by one of the broadsheets, IIRC), and it concluded that, for the majority of people, public transport in rural areas was slower, much less convenient and comfortable, and (despite being effectively subsidised by taxes raised on private vehicles) more expensive for anyone not at either end of a designated, single-journey, route – in other words, almost everyone.
You don't like 4x4s. That's fine. I can’t say I'm much of a fan myself either, although for different reasons. But please don't try to pretend that your objection to them is anything other than personal prejudice, because to label their users “selfish”, in global environmental terms, is wholly incorrect.
As for your patronising “have a nice day” whine, I’ll have whatever sort of day I choose to, thanks all the same.
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RE: UK: WINTER MAY BE COLDEST IN 1000 YEARS... - 
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