114
I'm happy that oil prices are going up (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world
locked 155 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 4 points 7 months ago (6 children)

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/urban-rural-populations.html

Despite the increase in the urban population, urban areas, defined as densely developed residential, commercial, and other nonresidential areas, now account for 80.0% of the U.S. population, down from 80.7% in 2010. This small decline was largely the result of changes to the criteria for defining urban areas implemented by the Census Bureau, including raising the minimum population threshold for qualification from 2,500 to 5,000. The rural population — the population in any areas outside of those classified as urban — increased as a percentage of the national population from 19.3% in 2010 to 20.0% in 2020.

They've even tried to prop up the rural population counts by changing the definition, but it still only manages to be 20% anyway.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    You can live in a densely populated city and still need to travel long distances regularly though.. Especially if you're poor.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] -1 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    But the key is that that isn't a legitimate need because driving is the only reasonable way to solve the problem; it's an illegitimate need caused by a failure of politicians to allow correct city planning and infrastructure.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    I work in many different locations. Some of them remote. I often bring large equipment with me. More than that, my work days tend to be anywhere from 10 hours to 16 hours long, typically with a lot of manual labor included. Some of my commutes can be 2 hours one way. I've worked plenty of those 16 hour days with 4 hours of driving added on top. The thought of riding a bike or running the public transit gauntlet (which, will typically double or quadruple the commute times in my area) is repulsive.

    I think you're massively over-simplifying this issue.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -3 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Guess what: you're that special snowflake who has a legitimate need to drive. The vast majority of people are not like you.

    Just like pearl-clutching about rural people, bringing up arguments like yours to try to make excuses for why the majority "have to" drive is bad-faith whataboutism.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •