You’re right: he could have joked about something that does not personally trigger you. But he didn’t…Those of us who aren’t triggered by baby trapping can see that he was not making a serious recommendation. And we can see this while also recognizing the moral abhorrence of baby trapping. Your sensitivity to the subject has simply made you a bad interpreter of someone’s meaning.

And for the record, the Always Sunny characters were awful people from the very beginning and none of the character development is extenuating. Yet it’s still a funny show.

Lol I can’t tell if you just don’t like the joke or if you really can’t tell that he was joking. Lots of comedy involves role playing a moral idiot who gives awful advice or does awful things. Consider Always Sunny, for example.

We’re working with different definitions then. I include transit as a part of walkability (and I don’t think I’m breaking with convention in doing so). But even without transit, I’d still put Boston ahead of NHV in terms of walkability. Each of the Boston neighborhoods you mentioned is walkable. Then there’s transit to get between neighborhoods that aren’t directly adjacent. The area around the green in NHV is hardly the size of a single Boston neighborhood. But if I had to compare the downtown NHV area to any Boston area of an equivalent radius, I’d still pick Boston. More shops to stop in along the way.

I legit can’t tell if I’m being trolled. I’m just incredulous you think New Haven is anywhere near as walkable as Boston. Have you ever lived there? It’s bigger than New Haven but it also has the T for longer distances.

Umm…Boston? Possibly also Portsmouth and Burlington, although I’m not as familiar with those two.

White people

It’s definitely doable but you’ll be next to parked or moving cars most of the way. As someone who watches Not Just Bikes, there is much to be desired.

The pizza is definitely not a “tourist trap,” insofar as that term implies low quality pizza not deserving of its reputation. You may have to wait in line, though. In that sense, it can be a tourist trap. Try the popular places and pick your favorite.

New Haven is unfortunately not very bikeable. I’m seeing more and more bike paths everyday but they tend to go nowhere and end abruptly. We’re making progress on that front, though.

Well said.

Agreed. A lot of people commenting don’t seem to be too familiar with Singer’s work. As someone who has read most of his books, I can say it’s crazy to paint him as anything other than a good old lefty, who’d like nothing more than to see the sort of political changes likely favored by the authors of this hit piece.

That’s why Singer stresses the importance of donating to particular organizations, like GiveWell.org, which measures the effectiveness of various charities and ranks them according to their impact. He has never advocated just giving to any old charity.

My guess is that Singer knows he’d alienate these billionaires if he came off as too socialist. Given his pessimism about systemic political change, he probably sees the choice as between:

(A) Billionaires donate large sums of money to aid organizations to help worst off + No systemic political change

Vs

(B) Billionaires don’t donate their money + No systemic political change.

Perhaps his pessimism is unwarranted and he should reject both (A) and (B) as the only options. But until he’s convinced of another option, (A) is obviously the better choice, and it’s the choice that Singer is making, by not being too critical of billionaires.

Totally agree. Singer is politically very much on the left. I think the authors confuse Singer’s pessimism about systemic change with a lack of desire for it.