The Anti-Hypocrisy Rant

In any reasonable time, in any reasonable environment, this post would be completely unnecessary. 
However, we don't live in those times.
Assuming they ever existed.

All we're really saying here is: "Have your passion and conviction but don't be a hypocrite about it."
And yes, YES, we're shouting into the echo chamber here, but if you gotta, shout away!

There are several elements of hypocrisy and general bloody-mindedness that impact the general topics of this blog. We're going to try and bash all of them here. If we haven't gored your sacred cow yet, just wait, it's coming.
You can trust that we will make fun of every self-important tribe out there, most especially including our own.

<rant>

On the general premise of "Tell them to do what they're going to do anyway" we offer the following advise:

Read this until something offends you or makes you the least bit uncomfortable, then switch away. Shut down your computer/tablet and never come back here again. Obviously these are not 'Your People" and every thought and idea coming therefrom should be completely and consistently ignored.

Still here?  Onward to the Goring!:

The First key thought is the idea that this whole Electric Vehicle, EV thing is necessary at all.
   "We're doing just fine here and there's no pollution in my backyard and I don'trust dem gummint numbers nohow."
Yes, it's political football time. The really big key driver here is (as usual) self-interest.
     “It is difficult to get a man to understand something,
      when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
        ― Upton Sinclair, ca. 1935
If your livelihood or social/political position depends on a status-quo, it's going to be really difficult to move you off that position until things get really dire. And maybe not even then. Imagine that your town or your family or parishioners or your political contributors or your job depends, even indirectly on oil revenue. What'ya gonna do?
     One of owners of a local car dealer actually drives an EV but doesn't -really- want them to catch on.
About 50% of the dealership's profits depend on repair/maintenance visits that happen MUCH less frequently with EVs. No fluids need changing, no regular maintenance,  and fewer parts to break.
     The other side of the 'Not necessary at all' folks is the "We should all ride public transportation and/or Bicycles!" contingent. Now granted there are a few areas of the county where this makes good sense and we should totally support that. But then, at least in terms of land area (if not population density) there's the other 80% of the country. Since, in any realistic scenario, cars are going to be a major factor, we do need to have viable solutions there. EVs are maybe just the most do-able option.

The Second set of cows in desperate need of serious adjustment are the Virtue Signaling crowd.

"Real Democrats don't drive big pickups!"
"Real Republicans don't drive EVs!"
"Obama said nice things about EVs, therefor EVs are bad."
"Biden said nice things about GM EVs, so GM's EVs are bad."
"Trump did a commercial for Tesla right out in front of the Whitehouse, so Teslas must be bad."
"I can't buy a car from %&$#@# company because I hate the politics of one person there."

Ok, so obviously in any rational (ie: not rationalizing) conversation, all the above is ridiculous.
But let's face it. A LOT of people think that way.
It works the other way too. Movie stars that show up in an EV or Toyota Prius to show how Eco-Friendly they are.

A lot of that "can't buy a car from" point comes down to arguments about Tesla and/or Elon.
A neighbor wanted a Tesla, but,      
     "I just can't buy a car from that man!"
Uh, what about the other 140,000 people at that company?
     "Nope, just can't do it."
How about a used one? That way you're not buying it from him?
     "No, I just wouldn't feel comfortable. I'm going to get a Volvo EV, those are nice."
I thought you didn't want a Chinese car?
     "Volvo is a from Sweden."
Uh, no, Volvo is owned by Geely Holdings, a giant Chinese conglomerate. Their upper management is reported to be seriously misogynist and racist. Volvo EVs are built in China.
     "Oh, well then maybe a Hyundai."
The upper management at Hyundai/Kia reportedly have the same problems as Geely.
    "Ugh, you're making this so difficult. I can't be seen in a Ford and Rivian is too expensive.
      Maybe I'll just call the whole thing off."
So, seriously, you are going to pay more for a car that's less reliable, less safe and less capable all because you don't like one guy?
     "Yes! My Eco/Political-cred with my friends and neighbors is MUCH more important than any facts/results."

Sure this is a simplification of several much longer conversations. The basic point about it all being a hypocritical sop to their fragile ego/personal vanity and "What will the neighbors think" becomes the key point and all the larger concerns about ecology or the state of the world are lip service on the way to bigger more important goals like "MY feelings are valid!"

And hey, if you decide that the politics or personal statements of one, or a few people at a company you might buy something from are the most important gating item on the way to making a purchase, then GO FOR IT. It's your money, it's your decision.
But to avoid feeling like a hypocrite later, put some effort into investigating those things you just stated as being 'most important.'
     "But I don't want to go to all that effort, and besides, I might feel bad about myself."
Well, then at the very least, acknowledge to yourself how shallow you are.
Oops, violates the 'feel bad' provisions. Sorry.

The Third set of sacred cows is the privileged "Everyone should be like me!" folks.
Ya know, people living and commuting from out in suburbia every day, the "My community should spend a billion dollars on public transport because I've chosen to live too far away from my job, and I don't want to change" crew. Uh, because living in the city is icky and the schools are awful. Oops, oh yeah that all commuting causes pollution. What to do?

    "No problem we'll all just get EVs and plug in at home!:

It's not that having those folks get EVs instead of giant gas guzzling SUVs won't help. It will, but it's a rather small part of anything that looks like a solution to the overarching problems. Their preferred alternative, where 'the public' spends billions of dollars to provide fast efficient public transport right to their neighborhood, has it's own set of problems.
The big issue here is that it ignores the needs of lower income neighborhoods and apartment dwellers. Which make up BTW about half the population. Obviously a 'solution' that excludes the lower half of the population is almost no solution at all. Not to mention the 1/4th that's diehard Republican.

</rant>

"OK, so you've identified a bunch of problems. What about solutions?"
Hey, this was supposed to be a rant. Rants aren't supposed to provide solutions. Duh!

Besides which, with the amount of damage currently going on, we don't see any immediately viable path forward. Even assuming a return to a divided congress in a year, and a switch in presidents in three years, even the best case scenarios don't have us getting back to where we were last year until 2031 or later.    The 'not so best case' scenarios have the current administration losing popularity and then feel like they need to start a war (think Margret Thatcher in the '80's) in order to "Get the population behind us."
Granted much of the rest of the world is doing considerably better. At least in terms of EVs.

Still, doesn't mean we won't still be out there fighting for what's right though.