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I wasn't intending to but now that you mention it... (midwest.social)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Here's how I interpret their reactions:

Conservatives tend to have much larger amygdalas, which makes sense, as their worldview is based around fear. The brain/ amygdala treats threats to personal identity with the same fear response as physical threats.

A 15-minute city means you don't need a car, and it's far less convenient to have one. But for a lot of people, especially the conservative folks, their car (or bro-dozer) is their identity, or at least a huge part of it. Their identity is fragile enough already, it can't withstand removing a big chunk of it. (How would a man know he's a man without a truck to perform masculinity in?)

Therefore, a walkable city is s threat to their vehicle, which is a threat to their identity, which is just as frightening as a physical threat, like being hunted for sport.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The brain/ amygdala treats threats to personal identity with the same fear response as physical threats.

Yeah this is the statement of a person who’s not been in physical danger before. The response to physical threat is so fucking far beyond that of a threat to personal identity.

I’m a conservative specifically because I know there is a whole different level of fear beyond social fear and the fear of work or boredom or identity confusion. I became a conservative the moment I encountered malicious violence for the first time, the first and only time I ever experienced mortal terror.

Realizing that there was an emotion I had never felt before, but that had been in reserve, ready to go when I got that close to being killed, that changed my worldview.

You know what kind of life experience makes a person’s amygdala bigger? Trauma. Having been through shit is what makes a person’s amygdala bigger.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

That's odd, I have experienced mortal terror a few times, and it somehow didn't magically turn me into a conservative. Anyway, I'll note that my comment contained no physical threats, yet still seems to have triggered a fight-or-flight response.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I wish I could find it and share the actual quote, but someone on Twitter (iirc) posted something like, "the best way to approach urbanism and biking to conservatives is to say 'I'm for traditional neighborhoods that use independent transportation methods without government overreach' or 'I want fiscally responsible transportation methods'."

To no one's surprise, these refer to walkable cities, using walking or biking, and include buses with the second quote.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This but not sarcastically. I'm politically conservative, and for the same reasons that I'm an environmental conservationist. Framing things in a way that makes sense to the listener is just good messaging.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

yeah except the problem isn't messaging to the sensibilities of individual conservative people, the 15 minute city concept is offensive to oil and automotive money. The private car industry has had a strangle on urban planning since the 1950s and they're not going to release it just because some words get swapped around. They'll only change it through destroying their power, and that's the part that politically conservative people aren't going to fathom nor support.

Also the messaging of "get anywhere you need to go through 15 minutes of walking or cycling" is already as good of messaging as it's going to get. That sounds like absolute utopia on its face. Conservatives have somehow twisted that already perfect message to mean no one would be allowed to leave a grid or that people are going to be shot in the street for thoughtcrimes. They think it means cars will be outright illegal, or I've even seem some claim the concept means parents and children will belong to different sectors and won't be allowed to see one another.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've even seem some claim the concept means parents and children will belong to different sectors and won't be allowed to see one another.

The conservative mind is a wild place galaxy-brain

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

The only halfway good argument against 15 minute cities is that kids aren't safe on their own. Which is true in terms of how cities are currently set up where kids might have to cross a six lane highway to get to school. Or they might be forced to walk across someone's yard and the house could belong to a deranged racist with a gun just waiting to start trouble with whoever walks by.

But these types of problems are remedied by having more dense urban areas to begin with. I've been to Japan and China and one of the most striking differences over there are how you'll see kids walking around unaccompanied by adults. Kids exercising more independence and autonomy at a younger age is a good thing. Not to sound too boomer, but I think it instills a sense of community and responsibility into kids if they're not always reliant on their parents driving them everywhere until the age of 16.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

As always, the way to get to them is using buzzwords

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Stormy is like a little otter. A sexy little otter 🦦

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There's a black Stormy?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

"I'm regular Stormy!"