this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026
663 points (98.8% liked)
Leopards Ate My Face
9784 readers
809 users here now
Rules:
- The mods are fallible; if you've been banned or had a post/comment removed, please appeal.
- Off-topic posts will be removed. If you don't know what "Leopards ate my Face" is, try reading this post.
- If the reason your post meets Rule 1 isn't in the source, you must add a source in the post body (not the comments) to explain this. If the reason is in the source but is tedious to find (e.g. in a lengthy video), you must add an explanation for where it is.
- Posts should use high-quality sources (for a rough idea, check out this list), and posts should retain the title (if one exists) from works like news articles, videos, etc. You may (but need not) edit your post if the source changes the title. Other types of posts should have a title which accurately, relatively neutrally describes their contents.
- For accessibility reasons, an image of text must either have alt text or a transcription in the post body.
- Reposts within 1 year or the Top 100 of all time are subject to removal. Within moderator discretion, this doesn't just include reposts of the exact same media but also includes e.g. a secondary source telling basically the exact same story as another that was already posted.
- This is not exclusively a US politics community. You're encouraged to post stories about anyone from any place in the world at any point in history as long as you meet the other rules.
- All Lemmy.World Terms of Service apply.
Also feel free to check out:
Icon credit C. Brück on Wikimedia Commons.
_portrait.jpg){kind=link}
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Gas and taxes. They'll happily accept massive price increases on everything else, pay hundreds of dollars extra a month for health insurance, rather than pay a small percentage more in taxes or on gas.
Gas prices are symbolic of much more than just the price of gas. It's the one item that people have to buy multiple times a week, so they automatically keep track of the price, since it is such an integral part of their life. The price is also displayed on big lighted signs all along every roadway. What other consumer item has that much broad public awareness? With that much awareness, gas prices begin to become symbolic for prices in general. When gas prices go up, people instinctually feel like EVERYTHING is going up.
Multiple times a week? What the fuck is going in the US? Are you people drinking that shit? Does that explain the obesity? Are you for real "multiple times per week" you fill up your cars? What a sorry ass failed nation.
I talked to my dad about the gas prices. He said he's only filled up the tank on his car once this year so far and it's still half full. Me, I don't even own a car because it's a dumb waste of money.
America is a BIG place, with a lot of miles between cities. Most people in America don't live near any kind of a decent mass transit system, so they have to own a car to get to work every day. Because we are so spread out, many people have long daily work commutes of an hour or more. 2 income households are extremely common, so each one would need their own vehicle to get to work, and there might even be more cars in a home if they have older teenagers who need a car to get to work or school. A household with multiple cars might burn up a few hundreds miles every day, just going to and from work.
However, over the last couple of years, cars have become very expensive, both to buy and maintain, and many people are turning to more affordable alternative modes of travel like e-bikes and motorized scooters. Many states and municipalities are wrestling with new restrictions (age, registration, traffic laws) for these new types of transportation. Now that gas prices are exploding, there will be even more of a demand for personal electronic travel devices. Those are good for light travel, like getting to work, but they aren't very good for serious travel, like long distances, or carrying cargo.