[Roritharr]

I find this focus on identity politics so toxic it's starting to make life miserable.

I'm currently driving a VW SUV company car in a german suburb and the amount of hate I receive because of it is ramping up daily. Even from people driving similar polluting cars, like high-powered station wagons.

The other day my wife was breastfeeding our child in our car while I was quickly grabbing something from a store when it was 36°C/96.8°F outside, so I naturally left the car running so the AC would keep them cool. I was barely a minute out of the car when a woman came knocking on the window, gesturing my wife to turn off the car, giving her the finger etc.

I can't imagine similar things happening even 5 years ago.

[maest]

I wonder if it is fair to discount those people by calling what they're doing "identity politics".

Perhaps there's a move in the Overton window: as environmental issues are brought to the forefront of people's minds, the average person is becoming more hostile to what is perceived as being non-eco behaviour - not because of "identity politics", but because they're more aware of negative externalities coming from such behaviour.

That woman sounds like an outlier based on our experience so far, but perhaps that indicates that the window is moving and what is and isn't acceptable in our society is changing.

I mean, not long ago, slavery was widely accepted in our society and it took some violent societal transitions (at least in some parts of the world), to move to a world where slavery is highly frowned upon.

[wutbrodo]

Interesting, I often hear this described as a peculiarly (or at least mostly) American phenomenon, but that's well beyond the type of thing I'd imagine happening in even the hyper-sensitive US city I live in. I know I'm being a little reductive here, but your story is a pretty substantial outlier relative to what I'm used to.

[nickik]

I know in Switzerland there was a story about some of the young left party going around putting stickers on SUV saying "I also am a tank" and they got a lot of flack for this 'property destruction'.

[belltaco]

I think it's because large SUVs are much rarer in the Europe compared to the US.

[wutbrodo]

Hm, that makes some sense, but taking SUVs out of the picture, I can't think of any analogue that would happen here.

[belltaco]

Interesting, on the other side of the coin, there has been outright vandalism against eco friendly cars.

15 hybrid cars' tires slashed including a Smart car.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Vandal-Targets-Priu...

Similar story in California. https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080908-vandal...

Also in Seattle.

Things are decidedly weird.

[blondin]

omg wow, didn't know people would go to such extent...

[pjc50]

That's not based on identity, that's based on action. Running a stationary car is basically a form of littering.

[all2]

That's like saying "cooling a stationary house is littering". Operating a device for the comfort of the user is precisely why we make things like AC, whether it's in a car, a boat, or a house.

[_ph_]

No, there is a huge difference. In a house, the AC is powered efficiently by electric power from the grid or even your solar cells. With the car, you keep a combustion engine , that could output 100kW or more running purely to power a 1kW AC unit. This is one of many advantages of electric or hybrid cars, that you can keep AC running.

[googlryas]

In a house, you are cooling the entire volume of space enclosed so that wherever a human happens to go, they are comfortable. It is still littering, regardless of the scale.

[all2]

Do you use AC? Or any mode of transportation other than walking? Or any convenience that relies on fossil fuels or grid electricity? Do you use any manufactured products? Eat any food that has been shipped a distance farther than your garden?

I assume (perhaps I should not) that by "littering" you are referring to the production of greenhouse gases. If this is so, I'd like to point out that if you are breathing, by your definition, you are littering with every breath.

[googlryas]

Yes, I do all of that. I was only continuing the parent's claim that idling a car for AC is littering. I don't actually believe it is - merely stating in that worldview that airconditioning a house is littering too.

[rmrfrmrf]

I'm guessing it's the VW part people are against since they cheat on their emissions tests.

[googlryas]

Would the woman been treated the same way if she was in a Skoda or Audi?