Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)
  • Anti cycle bigotry
  • muddydwarf
    Free Member

    Just having a little tussle (yes i’m bored) online with a lady (ahem) who keeps repeating the old lies.
    I got her to admit she hates cyclists, then got all offended when i called her a bigot!

    What is it about our society that lets people make such comments about people doing quite legal things and think it is acceptable to speak about people like that?

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Being in a majority (of lazy/selfish drivers among road users)

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    But most of us are drivers (i’m not) and most of us (in society) don’t treat other people with such contempt – i don’t get what it is that causes otherwise ordinary people to be so unpleasant.
    Maybe its because i’m not a driver that i don’t get it..

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Aye it does seem more prevalent among drivers. I guess because many think they own the roads (pay road tax) read the Fail etc…

    gwj72
    Free Member

    Much more to do with the fact she posts to internet forums than she is a driver. Most drivers (i.e most of us) are fine. Most internet forum posters, as we know are dicks.

    Solved 🙂

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    Is it just a prevalent sense of self entitlement combined with the frustrations of the high costs of driving? As i don’t drive i don’t feel that pressure.

    gwj72
    Free Member

    I do drive and don’t feel that pressure. Must be something else…

    B.A.Nana
    Free Member

    Aye it does seem more prevalent among drivers. I guess because many think they own the roads (pay road tax) read the Fail etc..

    I think you’ll probably find that on average just as many cyclist think they also own the road. http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/is-it-me-discipline-on-club-runs . It’s never going to end well when you have two road users going at vastly differing speeds, with just as many dicks on bikes as driving cars.

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    Has she still got 2 functioning wing mirrors? 😀

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Maybe she needs a visit from Cyclists’ Vigilante Muddydwarf?

    B.A.Nana – problem is dicks in cars put people in hospital – dicks on bikes are just annoying.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Some people are arseholes irrespective of their chosen method of transport.

    It is, to an extent, human nature to dislike those who are not like ourselves. In modern times it’s no longer considered socially acceptable to criticise brown people or laugh at the handicapped, which really just leaves us with cyclists and fat people for the self-important to make rash generalisations about.

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    It something i find really puzzling. I have had normal, reasonable friends say to me they hate cyclists then look puzzled when i say that they have offended me with that remark.
    It’s like a blind spot for some.

    dabble
    Free Member

    My grandma told me she hates cyclists 🙄 then we had a discussion about how to pass cyclists, she asked what she should do if there was not enough room to pass and I said slow down and wait till its safe to do so. She just hmmphed and went back to cooing at the baby she was holding. I then told her to think of every cyclist she passes as ME and how would she pass ME on the road? She said “But they’re not all you, are they? And I wouldn’t be able to tell from behind if it was your or not anyway.” Some folk, eh?!

    molgrips
    Free Member

    My girlfriend shouted ‘damn cyclists, they shouldn’t be on the road!’ once when I was in the car.

    She didn’t stay my girlfriend…

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    Haha, i wonder why some people are like that? They know you are a cyclist but its like they subconsciously think you have the same prejudice as they do.

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    She didn’t stay my girlfriend…

    She had a lucky escape.

    jambourgie
    Free Member

    Is it just a prevalent sense of self entitlement combined with the frustrations of the high costs of driving

    This nails it I think. Combined with the fact that everybody is allowed to drive, even those with very low intelligence.

    I was a driver straight out of the gate at 17. I drove everywhere, wouldn’t have known what to do without a car. Unfit, stressed out, angry etc. I was never anti cyclist, (prob never knew they existed) but very anti rules: parking, speeding etc. Anyway, eventually I got a short ban. I sucked it up, got a bike and never drove again (until recently). Now, years later I’ve started driving occasionally and the difference is amazing. I drive like a nun and I’m always looking for cyclists. Ok, I’m older and wiser but there’s definitely something to be said from doing some years as a cyclist before you start driving.

    deviant
    Free Member

    What is it about our society that lets people make such comments about people doing quite legal things and think it is acceptable to speak about people like that?

    Freedom of speech?

    🙄

    agentdagnamit
    Free Member

    So OK, why is the attitude clearly more prevalent in the UK?

    mrmo
    Free Member

    i am not racist but….

    You know what follows will be racist, plenty of people in this country are VERY bigoted, they just deny it.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Quite prevalent in the US too afaik.

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    It just strikes me as odd that something as simple as riding a bicycle gains so much opprobrium.
    The person i had an argument with is a young woman, very much in the Emma Way mould i suspect. What is it about young women that they are so virulently anti cyclist.

    jambourgie
    Free Member

    Maybe it’s the old ‘riding a bike: can’t afford a car: failed at life: 2nd class citizen’ thing.

    Let’s forget how much modern bikes cost for a minute 🙂

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    What is it about young women that they are so virulently anti cyclist.

    I have a 14 yr old daughter. She seems to feel obliged to have incredibly “deeply held” opinions on subjects about which she’s never actually thought. She’ll then defend this with increasingly shrill bullshit rather than cave in
    Pretty bloody wearing, if I’m honest 😐

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    Good point scaredycat!

    This particular woman made several claims about cyclists causing accidents, when i demanded evidence to support these claims & put up statistical evidence to counter her claims she claimed firstly that ‘evidence is irrelevant’ and No one is interested in evidence.
    When i then called bullshit she accused me of bullying her!

    agentdagnamit
    Free Member

    The underlying problem is fairly serious I reckon, but any one single internet Troll is probably best ignored.

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    Oh yes, its the idea that these thought patterns are widespread that causes me concern – especially when they are in cars!
    The concept that someone will wilfully ignore evidence in order to keep making ever more fallacious claims does worry me.

    chip
    Free Member

    Before becoming a cyclist I would have a bit of anti cyclist banter at work if it came up, but it would be exactly that. A bit of banter. Much in the same way a might say something about the French for instance.

    But I held no genuine ill will towards cyclists and always gave them plenty of consideration on the roads and would be no more likely to deliberately endanger a cyclist on the road than I would a French man.

    Drivers who behave like angry Aholes on the road are in fact just angry Aholes in general.

    I think there should be more public advertising educating people about cycling road safety.

    devash
    Free Member

    I think the prevailing attitude towards cyclists is just indicative of the nasty, spiteful, hate-filled 3rd world country that we are.

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    Why cyclists in particular though? Or are we just sensitive to the subject?

    brooess
    Free Member

    tbh even when I’m driving I get plenty of harassment, I just don’t get so scared about it.
    A lot of people are scared about the future at the moment (globalisation, rise of China etc could mean we’re a poorer and less significant country than we used to be) and sitting protected in a metal box makes you feel safe and therefore very easy to behave like a bully to try and make yourself feel better.

    Plus the driving experience is pretty crap in the UK – congestion all the time, lots of lights, few fast straight roads… so people get stressed and then just take it out someone else.

    Cyclists are just today’s minority to take it out on.

    Interestingly all the arguments given out for hating cyclists fail to stack up against the evidence and facts:
    Road Tax
    Roads made for cars
    RLJ
    2 abreast
    Primary position etc

    which just tells you that hatred of cyclists is just an excuse to bully a minority group.

    Without invoking Godwins Law, Hitler managed to get a whole country to hate a minority group when times were hard… it’s much the same, just on a smaller scale and not quite as extreme…

    Meanwhile, I enjoyed my (nearly) hassle-free ride today by going mountain biking instead of road. It was bliss 😀

    taxi25
    Free Member

    Before becoming a cyclist I would have a bit of anti cyclist banter at work if it came up, but it would be exactly that. A bit of banter. Much in the same way a might say something about the French for instance.
    But I held no genuine ill will towards cyclists and always gave them plenty of consideration on the roads and would be no more likely to deliberately endanger a cyclist on the road than I would a French man.

    This sums it up for most drivers. They find cyclists a bit of an irritant, and yes sometimes we are, but the last thing they want is to have an accident or hurt anyone.

    jameso
    Full Member

    Why cyclists in particular though? Or are we just sensitive to the subject?

    We can read about it in the usual media noise sources so we’re aware of it. It’s the same old inane crap. Other sorts of bigotry are more subtle, more deeply-held, far worse and harder for the objects of the bigotry to see or overcome. Be thankful that for cyclists it’s just idiots sounding off, something to do with other issues they have. People try to start fights on youtube comments too, the world’s going mad )
    We just live in an overly busy, over-worked world where the roads have a risk to the unprotected and people can be very defensive (ie victim-blame), the pressure on space makes that even more of an issue I think. The perceived risk is far higher than the reality for an aware, responsible rider imo. The sad types who like to have a whinge? f- em, really. It’s their choice to carry round such messed up attitudes in life and they aren’t any happier for it.

    chamley
    Free Member

    Clearly only a small sample but I’ve driven with vocal pro and anti cyclists and in my tiny sample, the anti cyclists have been awful around bikes, in a terrified, not got a clue what to do way and the rest of their driving was pretty lacking. No anticipation, terrible spacial awareness etc. Throw in a big pinch of impatience and suddenly we’re a massive inconvenience for these people.

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    I think that’s it. This girl admitted cyclists made her nervous so it was obviously the cyclists fault and she wanted them banned. I suggested she needed to improve her driving skills and instantly I’m a bully 🙂

Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)

The topic ‘Anti cycle bigotry’ is closed to new replies.