That’s how the 45-year-old IT professional became an inadvertent hero of the growing online anti-car movement.
The subreddit, he says, has treated him as a “goddamned messiah.”
Forums are filled with complaints about surging gasolinepricesand a re-examination of car-dependent suburban and exurban lifestyles.
The movement is small but growing quickly.
They have helped create a vocabulary for the confinement and separation associated with North America’s car-dependent culture.
Communities like r/fuckcars mourn the loss of an America many of the members are too young to have experienced.
A common theme is that cities weren’t made for cars.
Instead, they were bulldozed to accommodate automobiles.
As car usage grew, streets became congested and urban design adapted to new demands.
Advocates for reimagining urban life say social media has been key to getting the message out.
They say We cant do that.
They try new excuses.
You dont accept them either.
“The views just skyrocket on your posts,” Unterreiner said.
The industry also represents a century of vested interests and is huge employer.
More than 4 million Americans work in the auto industry, according to theUS Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Honda is monitoring anti-car forums, he said, as well as the broader global conversation.
Activism back home, he says, will accomplish little.
“These people are willfully ignorant,” Slaughter said of the suburbanites back home.
“They just come up with a bunch of excuses to keep the status quo.”
