That’s exactly the reason why cars take away freedom instead of granting it. In a place with car-centric infrastructure where cars are the only way to move around, not owning a car or not being able to drive is absolutelt detrimental. Conversely, a place with good public transport gives freedom to all people, even those who are disabled by accomodating for them as much as possible. There will still be some people who don’t have any other choice to get around than by car, but by diminishinf the amount of drivers on the road as much as possoble, their lives are made better as well.
Cars dependent people think they are free just because society has bent over backwards to provide them with the best roads possible and cheap gasoline that they can buy pretty much anywhere.
It is a similar atrachment to the one you’d get to an old message forum. For me, it is more about the people and the super niche communities than about reddit itself. It is going to take a while to rebuild on Lemmy what was already on Reddit. In that regard, I am a little sad to have let it go, but oh well.