Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
How QC and webcomics generally relate to the real USA
bhtooefr:
It's not cost-effectiveness (well, it is when you ignore that the roads are subsidized), it's actually racial tensions.
In the US, the suburbs exist because white people were afraid of black people. Much opposition to effective mass transit is actually along "but the scary black people can come here if there's mass transit!" lines.
Oilman:
I really don't have an opinion on that, I'm sure others will so I'll leave it to them...
What I will remark, is the prevalence of railway tracks as a metaphor for, or symbol of division of various kinds in American towns. Friday Night Lights (the book, that is) contains quite a good example
hedgie:
Even in cities, there are certain lines that tend to get nicknamed the "ghetto express". It's rather insulting and racist.
Zebediah:
--- Quote from: bhtooefr on 29 Jan 2015, 03:55 ---It's not cost-effectiveness (well, it is when you ignore that the roads are subsidized), it's actually racial tensions.
In the US, the suburbs exist because white people were afraid of black people. Much opposition to effective mass transit is actually along "but the scary black people can come here if there's mass transit!" lines.
--- End quote ---
True, but in many places they've learned to disguise the racism that causes opposition to mass transit. Sometimes the alternate excuses they come up with are hilarious. When I was a teenager in Charlotte NC, there was a guy running for city council who opposed public transit on the grounds that it was "unbiblical". Though he could never point out exactly which verse in Leviticus forbade it.
jwhouk:
The nearest Amtrak railroad depot from my apartment is 125 miles/over 2 hours away.
Only one route stops there: the Empire Builder. It stops at 6:27 PM on the outbound trip to Spokane/Seattle (arriving in Seattle 40 hours later). Inbound, it stops at 11:26 AM and arrives in Chicago at 3:55 PM. The train doesn't leave from Chicago until 2:15 PM the next day.
The railroad depot is essentially a whistle stop - no real parking to speak of, just a platform without any ticketing or baggage.
Thanks, Scottie W.
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