Here, this is starting drama in urbanist circles, I am bored take it and do what you will
I posted something similar in the comments, but I'm rbing with the reply and more elaboration:
Jason Slaughter owns the channel 'Not Just Bikes', which gained popularity because it raised awareness about bad infrastructure and urban planning in North America, which was often compared to the better infrastructure in the Netherlands.
He's also an immature douchecanoe in so many of the comments he's made on youtube/reddit. In the above tweet, he's also seriously oversimplifying how easy it is to move. He's privileged af- he makes good money, he's a cishet white dude, he's employable, he has a wife who is literally a dutch citizen so he already has an easier time getting in, etc etc etc. In a lot of his videos, he also deeply mocks people who are super ignorant about car dependence, comparing em to cavemen and making funny voices to impersonate them. It's a lot and it's super mean spirited. His early videos were fun to watch, but he's totally lost his mcfcking mind, one of his newer videos actually has the spongebob meme as a thumbnail (seriously) and I've just seen him do way too much shitty stuff at this point.
Contrary to his tweet claims, his channel also never broadcasted itself as being 'only/mainly for people who can move'. From the start, his channel was seen as a 'things in the Netherlands are like this, and this is why I like it in the Netherlands better'. He always compared infrastructure between North America and the Netherlands, never urged people to move, and never said that the content is primarily for people who move. I definitely never saw him 'send people to strong towns etc' in his videos. He just referenced em.
In fact, I remember someone actually posting on a strong towns video asking if they could work with other people besides NJB, and Jason literally replied 'lol'. I literally just went digging for it because I had to add it lmfao, it's here, see for yourself!
So what is this whole thing about 'sending people to ST'? He laughs when people ask about hearing from other creators.
So the obvious privilege and lack of transparency is why Jason's first tweet was seen as a slap in the face. He basically appealed to a lot of people who are most affected by car dependence in North America- the people who can't (or can barely) afford their cars, and who dislike the infrastructure in NA because it's inaccessible to them and people with disabilities, etc, then he turned around and pulled the rug out saying, 'actually, this is not about/for you'. Then he tells this same demographic to 'give up on North America' ie move. His second tweet doesn't check out given the history of his videos. His third tweet is just a bad case of doomerism like, 'well, it won't be fixed within YOUR lifetime, why even start enacting any change at all'.
But five generations from now, they'll be asking 'why the f didn't they start way back THEN?'
The guy is a twat.
Yeah, this is my feelings on the matter too. This is dense but really goes into the stupid double standard being held and why all of this is incredibly annoying and dismissive of people’s problems
