Responding to Urbanists, Chapter 3: Bad Arguments Urbanists Use
Responding to Urbanists, Chapter 2: The best Urbanism Videos
Responding to Urbanists, Chapter 3: Bad Arguments Urbanists Use
Responding to Urbanists, Part 4: Comments Playing Devil's Advocate
As an urbanist who wants to eliminate, or at the very least minimize car dependency in cities and suburbs, and support walking, cycling and transit as alternatives to driving, there’s a lot of arguments which I think push people away from our cause.
I hate talking politics, especially social justice, but I feel like I have to do this.
“I really like your videos and have purchased all of the books by the strong towns founder. Charles Marohn. One thing that might make the videos such as this one more appealing is to not involve specific political parties or relate the problem to Racial divides. There are probably 100 million Americans who will immediately tune out when they hear that the system was built due to racism. Even if there is an element of truth to it, it is off-putting. I tried sharing this video with a friend and he responded only by saying that highways are not racist and did not want to hear anything more. You'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar.“
“I don’t think painting anything as “conservative vs liberal” is productive in America. In fact, the suburban Ponzi scheme idea largely comes from a bipartisan non-profit (Strong Towns) making a fiscally conservative argument for urbanism/walkability/density that’s meant to be appealing to blue city and red small town alike. I think many Americans, regardless of other political stances, can be persuaded that our cities & towns suck and would benefit from zoning reform, walkability, better transit, etc. (We have to hope so anyway.)“
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While I agree with everything said in this video, this is honestly a horrible way of trying to change minds. It's very polarizing and politically minded -- and again, I don't disagree with anything said here, but if I DID, I wouldn't listen. I'd hear my opinions and beliefs being attacked by a differing viewpoint trying to tell me how dumb and stupid I am for liking the things I like. Very few people will actually listen to that, and those whose minds need to be changed the most will be most likely to just shut their brain off and walk away. They'd probably say something about how "those damn liberals want to take away my rights and privacy" or whatnot -- they'd immediately turn to the defensive and ignore your arguments entirely. Saying that suburbs are bad because x y and z doesn't work because other people could always say they're great for a b and c. Instead, bring up evidence, show historical statistics, show HOW these things are bad, not simply WHY. Maybe I'm wrong, but to me, videos like this feel more like the kind of video that serves the people that agree with it already, kind of like a way for those in an echo chamber to just pat themselves on the back about how much better their way of living is.
Which, it is... I agree that these suburbs need to go -- but I already thought this way before I even watched the video. The vast majority of you probably also already agreed with it before you even clicked. Another thing that would be immensely better would be to focus on the benefits of walkable urbanized cities. When you focus so heavily on "this way of living sucks and it's terrible and it's also racist and misogynistic," like, yeah, it is those things and has roots in those things, but the people who support this way of living don't see it that way. They will not be convinced if you just throw insults towards it their way -- if anything, they'll just be pushed further away. Focus on what makes walkable cities so good. If you focus on positives, and bring forth a positive message, people are much more likely to listen to you because nobody likes feeling negative or being told negative things about that which they support.
If you focus on the positives of walkable cities, and THEN talk about why suburbs don't bring those positives, I think that's a much much better way at actually bringing about widespread change. This is why I love Not Just Bikes so much, he pretty much primarily talks about why the Netherlands does things so good and that just instinctively makes me, the viewer, think "dang, that looks awesome, we should replicate that"; and, when he does talk about why American cities suck, he doesn't do so in a way that punches down. He just talks in a very calm, collected manner, and brings statistics and numbers and compelling evidence as the foundation for his arguments, rather than just bringing arguments for arguments' sake.
- Tippa.
1. The Suburbs are racist.
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This is the very worst argument I’ve ever heard. Yeah, I don’t like Anglophone-style, car-dependent suburbs either. But calling them racist does not help your cause.
Introducing the problems with suburbs as ‘racism‘ will just turn off people from your cause.
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Go to metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a very diverse place. I grew up in Gwinnett county, a giant suburb for Atlanta.
During middle school, over half of my crushes were Indian, one was an Arab, and one was Black (I have an exotic, oriental taste. Bite me, racists). In high school, my Air Force Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps Aerospace Science Instructor (teacher) was black (and he was almost a second dad to me), and I was lead by black Officers and Sergeants.
“Gwinnett County is the most ethnically diverse county in Georgia, with significant populations of Black, Hispanic, and Asian residents. As of the 2020 Census, no ethnicity constitutes more than a third of its population.“
A few miles across the border in neighboring Dekalb county is Clarkston. My mother and her family settled in Clarkston after moving to America from Vietnam. Clarkston is an immigrant town. Trust me, I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house in Clarkston.
Gwinnett County, Georgia - 2010 Census - Wikipedia
Clarkston, Georgia - 2010 census - Wikipedia
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What REALLY Killed the American City? | True History
2. Addressing concerns about crime, and accusations of racism.
Just watch
The Origin of Black American Culture and Ebonics | Thomas Sowell.
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Thomas Sowell - Disparity Does Not Mean Discrimination
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Even Boondocks talked about problems in Black American culture, and Boondocks is a left-wing show created by Aaron McGruder, a black left-winger. This is not a left versus right issue, this is a common-sense issue.
Boondocks - Martin Luther King Jr. Speaks Out
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I’ve openly and very harshly criticized conservatives before. If conservatives were racist, I’d criticize them on that.
How Europe treats teens and children compared to America.
What I do understand and even agree with conservatives on is that some cultures can be problematic with low trust behavior, namely crime. It’s understandable that, with the culture and crime as it is now, conservatives wouldn’t want more people regularly moving near their homes, with criminals taking public transit, or criminals taking advantage of alleyways, etc.
This is not racism, but a dislike of crime, along with culturalism. I’m a culturalist myself, believing that some cultures are better than others.
If you want to be taken seriously, you’ll have to acknowledge that crime is a problem, and stop excuse-making.
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Anyways, urbanists need to at least acknowledge that low-trust behavior, such as crime, is a problem.
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When it comes to disparities, here’s some examples of disparities, mainly socio-economic disparities in regions with the same ethnic group;
. Northern And Southern Italy.
. South and North Korea.
. West and East Germany.
. Somaliland and Somalia.
. Chile and Argentina.
. Scottish people in Scotland and their Scottish-American cousins in the Appalachia.
. 108 of the world’s tallest mountains are in Asia.
Chinese people in Malaysia are systematically discriminated against, but they’re still the dominant merchant class kind’ve like Jews in Europe, and is the richest ethnic group in Malaysia.
Another 12 Lies About Reality. (29:05 to 32:23.)
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Wokeism/Social Justice/Intersectionality was likely made up to get people arguing with each other over silly culture war issues instead of going after The Powers That Be on corruption. Eliminating corruption would unite both the right and left.
Dave Smith Explains The Origin of Woke Culture
( Hoosiers For Fair Taxation: Ron Paul to unite Occupy & Tea Party)
(The above image comes from Alternative Media Censorship).
(The above image comes from the video How they bleep you, which I was able to get from using Awesome Screenshot Minus & the crop tool.)
3. Commie blocks.
This one is so low-brow that I’m not even bothering properly writing about it. For all the strawmanning and ragebaiting by Adam Something, I don’t call him a tankie, even though he calls libertarians facsists. Come on, stick to apartments in 1st world countries.
Comments:
How to fight to right, along with coalition-building:
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About Adam Something-style ragebait and preaching to the choir;