The car is a symbol of freedom and wealth in the US. The fun part about rising nations speed running US industrialization/wealth is that they can also skip the marketing-influenced/embellished parts. Just because US marketers were too great at selling the ideas of the "nuclear family" and suburbs designed only for lots of cars (subsequently accidentally destroying much of the urban environment), doesn't mean that's the best way to sell cars in a rising nation. Different nations, different national ideals, different ways to view wealth (and freedom). US marketing still isn't "manifest destiny" for the world's views, even though it likes to think it is (even with the US military backing it).
Basically everywhere in the world everyone who can afford it gets a car as soon as they can. The only exceptions are some of the megacities like London in which it's impractical due to congestion / on street parking being scarce.
You would know this of course if you had travelled so I can only really assume that you haven't. Drop a pin randomly on a point in Europe and it's overwhelmingly likely that you can't even get to that spot without a car.
> Drop a pin randomly on a point in Europe and it's overwhelmingly likely that you can't even get to that spot without a car.
Really makes you wonder how the Europeans coped for several millennia prior to the car.
Cutting to the chase; train, bus, bicycle, walking can get people pretty much every where in modern Europe, save those few places that require serious climbing skills.
By "can't" I obviously mean that it's impractical not literally impossible. Of course you can technically walk to anywhere that a car can go and more places besides.
The point remains. People buy cars as soon as they can unless the built environment forces most of them not to (e.g. London, NYC, Tokyo).
Even in London most people buy cars as soon as they have a family unless they're skint.
Habits can change and transport habits will very likely change in near future (course of a human lifetime).
Already, for a few decades now, more humans live in urban settings rather those that live outside city bounds - the rising trend is for more energy efficient urban transport, in non US setiings that leads to improved mass transit and cheaper rates for lighter vehicles.
> Of course you can technically walk to anywhere that a car can go and more places besides.
May I ask where you are from and where you live now? I come from one of those "rising nations" you allude to and every single friend and family I have there now own at least one car. FWIW, they all live in cities which were there even before the cars were invented.
If you think rising nations can skip cars, then I am afraid that you don't really know such societies.
This is really only true in the US, and only in the last 70 years. I can think of more than a few symbols that would be more fitting for those values than a car.
To me, a car symbolizes willful ignorance, ugly selfishness, jealousy, and insecurity. It's also a tragic reminder of our inability to organize and collaborate. It's really a disgusting thing that we're trapped in. To me, freedom is riding the train.
I recognize my heterodox perspective is uncommon, but I exhibit it here only to demonstrate that the counter-meme exists already in the wild.
