Quote:
Originally Posted by Cambridgite
If we are to bash sprawl, our reasons for bashing it must be based on facts about it's harmful effects, such as environmental degradation, car-dependency, etc. RTH is right that sprawl is bad and there's a lot of factual information to back that up. There's no question about that.
What ISN'T productive is people judging the character of people who are ideologically attracted to the suburban environment. When you let your ideological hatred for suburbs get in the way of the real issues of sprawl, it makes your argument seem a lot less credible. Look at James Kunstler for instance. He once stated that because America builds spaces that people don't care about (monotonous and privatized suburbia), Americans don't have a nation worth defending.
The comment I was responding to was coalminecanary scoffing at someone because they "find life across from Future Shop so fulfilling". It struck me as the typical kind of arrogant comment that gets spouted off by urban elitists. Because y'know, we suburbanites are all the same. We are all drones who drive SUVs, vote conservative, shop at Walmart, and spend the rest of our time sitting in drive-thru line-ups at Tim Hortons  . It's like me saying that all urbanites do is sit around and drink lattes all day. I said what I said for illustrative purposes. The downtown Hamiltonians who turn their nose up at Waterdown aren't really too different from the Waterdowners who turn their nose up at downtown Hamilton. |
I can live with that. I do my best to not make it personal, although I do believe that many people have been duped into 'liking that lifestyle'. They've been told to escape the crime, pollution and congestion of the city for cleaner, greener pastures.
Problem is, the crime, pollution and congestion is just as bad, in some cases worse, in the burbs.
Kunstler is a lot deeper than you're giving him credit for.
Most American's wouldn't dare put their life on the line to preserve an area of bland suburban-ness. Do you really think that they are passionate and willing to sacrifice life and limb the same way someone from Paris or Budapest or Rome would be for their cities?? We're literally witnessing a breakdown of society.
People never interact, so they don't care about each other or about the physical surroundings. Again, this is proven over and over in research.
Ultimately, I don't really have a problem with what coalmine said. In fact, I think it's quite eye-opening. People are about to make the largest single purchase of their entire lives. They have all kinds of options and choices. And they choose to buy next to a freeway or Future Shop parking lot? It is rather perplexing when you stop and think about it.