I've saved ~$6,000 this year in gas, parking, tolls, maintenance, insurance, registration, and depreciation, by ditching my car. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
My employer pays for my bus pas, but even if it didn't, I'd only be spending ~$1,200/year on it. I also dropped $300 on a really nice pair of noise-cancelling headphones, and $20 on a new umbrella.
But, sure, the explanation for that must be gaslighting.
By analogy, consider if I cut my legs off, how much money I'd save on shoes, all the cool kids are doing it, my anecdote applies to everyone's situation, and my employer would pay the medical insurance so I'm not sure why non-cool people are walking around with legs.
> The desire is mostly from intense gaslighting in small population areas of the country relatively speaking.
I assure you, my desire to save money did not come from gaslighting. I understand why other people make other choices, but please don't tell me why I run my life the way I do.
You insist that the reason some people are ditching cars is because of irrational gaslighting. I give a single, logical reason for why I have ditched my car. You point at my explanation, and claim that it goes to prove your point.
I'm not saying that my dad, who lives 20 miles out of town, and moved ~100 tonnes of cargo in the past two years should ditch his pickup truck. I am saying that there are good reasons for why many urbanites are ditching theirs.
No, not owning a car in the city is like not having legs. Just yesterday, somebody was laying some propaganda on me about how I could save money by getting rid of my second helicopter. Would you put out one eye, or cut off one ear?
Its unlikely the gaslighting would ever work in, for example, rural Ohio.