You're absolutely correct. I'm lucky enough to live in Melbourne Australia. Until this year "world's most livable city". Public Transport is fantastic and affordable.

However, if you're unemployed and looking for a entry level job, then lets give a few examples.

Warehouse and factory work - plenty of that around. However by nature they're going to be in industrial zones quite far from residential areas and transport. You can probably rule that out without a car.

Cleaning - You might be able to get commercial cleaning, although your inability to get between jobs isn't going to look great to employers. Residential cleaning doesn't seem likely.

Labouring - No chance you can be reliable because the jobsite will constantly be changing.

By nature plenty of the low-skilled work you're immediately unable to do by not having a car, even in a city with a VERY good infrastructure.

I don't necessarily think the posters are lacking in empathy, I think I was just trying to bright side that perhaps the tone of the comments meant there was a bit more societal awareness than we had back then.