洪 民憙 (Hong Minhee) 19h ago

I don't own a car. I take public transit everywhere, and I do think personal vehicle use has real environmental costs. But I don't think driving is inherently unethical.

I live in Seoul, and the city makes transit easy for me. That's not a virtue. It's a condition I happen to benefit from. Some people live where transit barely exists, or where it doesn't get them to work, school, or care. In those places, driving is not optional.

The same is true of flying. In parts of Europe you can cross borders by train. In island nations, or in places with weak land connections, flying may be the only realistic option. “Just fly less” means very different things in those places.

A lot of what gets called my ethical choices comes from the conditions I live in. That makes me wary of turning structural failures into personal morality. If the alternative is missing or unusable, shaming people for not choosing it solves nothing.

When environmental harm gets framed as individual moral failure, attention shifts away from the structural changes that would actually matter. It's not an accident that oil companies spent decades popularizing the idea of the personal carbon footprint.

Show threadHelenaN18h ago
@hongminhee While I do agree with you in principle, I also think that certain personal choices can have a long tail of consequences that can be avoided. I find it good and necessary to make driving in places with good public transit very inconvenient. I do find it necessary to make local populations fight for more transit in more places. So it's not as simple as "countryside = driving". Why not increase living density wherever possible, so that transit and other sustainable options are possible?
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES17h ago

@helenan @hongminhee

"Why not increase living density wherever possible"

right but that's not a personal choice

the only real personal choice that matters on questions like this is voting

if we don't vote, with these issues in mind, then we're culpable for our society failing us

otherwise, our personal choices still matter on questions like this as you say, but in smaller ways. larger structural issues are the dominant factor, influenced individually and personally, by our vote

Show threadTJC-15h ago
@benroyce @helenan @hongminhee
First job is to prevent the MAGA/bad guys from stopping or stealing the vote.
Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES15h ago

@TJC_2 @helenan @hongminhee

That's an overblown fear

The states control the vote

Red states may fuck with the vote but they're already red

The primary concern with this overblown "stealing the vote" fear is premature capitulation:

"If they're going to steal the vote, why vote?"

That effect is a bigger effect than any stealing #MAGA can do

Many Americans are cowardly and spineless that way

We just need to fucking #vote

Nonvoters are just culpable as MAGA, they're lazy entitled assholes

Show threadMark Ohe15h ago

@benroyce

Word to the wise, because in fact you do seem wise, and you certainly make a lot of good points, most of which I agree with:
You will come across as more sympathetic, more people will heed you advice and your apparent goals will be achieved if you cut out the unnecessary cursing and the often berating tone.

I’m probably not the first to mention this. Ideally I would be the last.

Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES

@mark_ohe

upon deep reflection of your comment, i have arrived at a thoughtful response:

fuck you, gatekeeping asshole

i'm not trying to be funny. don't patronize me and tell me how to behave

in fact, i view "polite society" as complicit in our troubles

these are people who will look past a vile lie said serenely, and then suddenly get upset at people who say "fuck" in response to the silver tongued lie

i despise people like this, people like you

i really mean that

go fuck yourself

🖕

4:45pmWeb