I know middle class Americans who, quite seriously, assert that they've not worked so hard their whole lives so that they should sit next to some foul-smelling stranger.  Someone just told me this!  Seriously, they were complaining about the cost of gas to drive to Texas.  I said: take the train.  They said: I'd rather be broke than have to spend a day sitting next to someone else's ... "body odors."  Now we can pretend mass transport smells nice, or we can be honest and admit it smells icky often and that secretly we believe ourselves too accomplished and civilized to have to tolerate it.  The very same people who want their President to be a down to earth guy you can have a beer with are elitist pigs who are afraid of cooties.  The same people who don't support the theory of evolution are confident they have evolved because they don't stink like the savages they are trying to save.  Our DL considers the pinnacle of civilization a hot shower.  DL also prefers to take a cab than a train.  I am guilty too.  I don't care if people think I'm poor.  But I don't want your weird smells all over me.  

I should do a diary on how our desire to smell civilized contributes to climate crisis (fuel, water, etc...)

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.