Hacker News Reader

Comment by powerhour | Hacker News Reader

> Private transport represents freedom, public transit represents control.

I feel the opposite. If I need to get somewhere then private transport feels like control: I have to own and maintain a car, pay insurance, watch the road carefully, etc. Public transport, in contrast, feels like freedom. But I know this is not the common belief.

View on HN

This is the only reason I do not like riding a bicycle (or other private transport), you have to take care of it, park it and return to it. Just being able to walk and hop on public transport is a great feeling.

I guess it's something cagers just learn to live with.

So 1984 was right: "slavery is freedom". I'm too lazy to find thr exact quote, but I remember the reasoning in the book was similar: slavery is the freedom from the need of making decisions, assess risk amd bear consequences of your actions, so slaves must be freer than the free men.

With a great public transit system, it feels like you are beholden to nothing. You feel like going to a restaurant and you just start walking. In NYC you can even get to hiking trails by transit. It’s wonderful. Not to mention no DDs

I get what you're saying, however I disagree with the characterization. I don't want to be free of making all decisions, I just don't see much value in deciding mundane things like what turns to take or how fast to drive or where to park. I would rather spend my time deciding what work I will do, who I will love and befriend, what I will learn, and so on.

Whenever I meet with someone who drove to meet me, I'm struck by their need to return to their vehicle, think about parking, reflexive complaints about gas prices etc. In contrast I just choose a transportation mode is when I leave; often, I choose a slower walk, with a meandering path that actually engaged with my community for better or occasionally worse.

The characterization of this as "slavery" is beyond ridiculous.

It's the other way round: freedom is slavery. This was meant to say that a supposedly positive and worthwile feature as freedom would only be slavery in the end (for every "good" citizen), according to the totalitarian system of Oceania's society in "1984". The other two philosophies are "war is piece" and "ignorance is strength", with same intentions.

O'Brien, the main evil character in 1984, says at the end that the three dogmas can be reversed to reveal their additional meaning.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com