I kind of get your point here. However, remember I'm not the one who starts making these threads political along the lines I mentioned here. Others have done that. The bottom line though is it adds nothing constructive to the discussion. It also makes assumptions about one's political views.
Here's the thing-being closed minded drives me nuts. If someone says, for example, I drive because the same trip on public transit takes three times as long I get it. Or maybe they're carrying stuff which they can't on public transit. Monocrom gives perfectly sensible reasons for needing a car to get to his job. But he also never drives to Manhattan. You have said you bike, drive, or take the train, depending upon the situation. This shows you're both open-minded to using other modes if they make sense.
Unfortunately, many people in the US simply won't even consider not driving regardless of the situation. Wouldn't bother me much except for the fact their choice has hugely negative effects on everyone else, particularly when they drive in large cities. Or put more succinctly, it's a very selfish choice as bad as smoking in public. Even worse is the way quite a few of these people drive. You would probably need to be on the receiving end of this to understand it fully. It adds a constant low level of anxiety for anyone walking or cycling in the city dealing with these people. And the air pollution from these vehicles also affects quality of life.
Sure, there are some situations where we have no alternative to fossil fuels at the present. Airliners are one of them. But calling out their negatives is hardly demonization. Besides, from a purely practical point of view they're going to run out sooner rather than later. Given that, and the negatives of using them which I'm not listing yet again, it's good public policy to push alternatives. If some of the timelines being pushed by leaders seem overly ambitious, think back to how maybe parents or teachers pushed you to do stuff you thought you couldn't do but actually did. Without that push, you may never have realized that potential. On a macro level the human race sometimes needs a little push to do more than many think it can.
It's also about the decades they spend perfecting their craft after they get that degree. When people trivialize that, it drives me nuts. If you're interested, here's a good read by a person who says it way better than I can:
