OK, so I'll admit that my main reason for this blog post is to shove a certain irrational, poorly written, anti-bike intern's post off our front page, where it will hopefully become just a bad distant memory (BTW, said intern, who goes by the pseudonym Lotto Chancellor, also goes by Chris Demento and can be contacted at cdemento@gmail.com). He's a kid who's still learning how to transform a petty, ill-informed rant into legitimate commentary, but after re-reading his piece and talking to him this morning, I do want to address a serious problem raised by his perspective and the flawed points he tried to make.
As one commenter noted, bicycles are traffic, as entitled under state law and local policies to that lane as cars are. We also occasionally take entire lanes because that's what safety dictates -- it's just not safe to ride in the door zone of parked cars -- not because we're simply idiots or assholes. Our intern tells me that he's scared to ride bikes, so he doesn't understand these realities, and he's not alone. That's why so many of us feel a need to assert our rights, sometimes aggressively, because attitudes like his, and the driver impatience and aggression that flows from this attitude, threatens not only our lives, but also the attractiveness and viability of a form of transportation that -- whether or not this kid thinks we're being sanctimonious -- really is one of the most environmentally beneficial simple choices that any of us can make.
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Comments (7)
Great response. Im glad people had the chance to talk to the intern and sort his ill-formed opinions out
Posted by CL Bikefo | September 14, 2007 02:56 PM
Wow - you really are sort of a prick, aren't you.
Disclosing an intern's private e-mail? Very bad form.
Publicly criticizing the writer's abilities? Editors are supposed to provide guidance and assistance to their writers. I know the Guardian doesn't set the journalistic bar very high, but this is just horrible behavior.
The worst part of it is the disparity of power - what is an intern going to say in response to such a post from the editor of the publication where s/he is interning?
Were it me, I was say "Fuck you Mr. Jones and here's why" and then go intern somwhere else.
Posted by tde | September 14, 2007 04:04 PM
Oh, and by the way, I ride my bike into work 4 days a week.
But, unlike Steven T. Jones, that has not yet turned me into a sandy little butthole.
Posted by tde | September 14, 2007 04:13 PM
In response to TDE, my real name and e-mail address is listed with everything I write and my home phone number is listed in the book. I, and the Guardian as an institution, believe that we are accountable to the public for what we write. So I'm not applying a different standard to this intern, who tells me that he welcomes input and debate on what he wrote.
And when I had serious issues with what he wrote, I raised them publicly, in the spirit of open and honest debate, rather than seeking to remove his post. If this were a news intern, rather than a culture intern who works under a different editor, I would have given him guidance and direction before publication. Instead, once it was out there, I offered my specific and constructive responses. I don't think that makes me an asshole, sandy or otherwise, but you're welcome to your opinion.
Posted by Steven T. Jones | September 14, 2007 04:50 PM
Why don't you just run over him with your bike?
Posted by mattymatt | September 14, 2007 09:18 PM
So, Mr. Jones, are you saying it's OK for bikes to assert their legal rights by being the slowest vehicle on the road, riding through red lights, stop signs, and otherwise ignoring the very rules of the road bicyclists hope to enforce in their favor?
I'm all for aggressively asserting one's rights, but when it comes to riding like a general asshole who puts himself and others at risk, you begin to rapidly lose credibility and sympathy points.
Posted by Give me a break | September 16, 2007 01:01 PM
Give me a break--
Once again--how many people did bicyclists kill this year? Last year? Last decade? Compare with the numbers killed by motorists before you make any more statements about the credibility of others. Motorists kill. Bicyclists kinda annoy. Quite a bit of difference--even you should be able to see it. When you write about people putting others at risk, you're talking, in the main, about motorists.
By the way, did anybody notice that while Lotto Chancellor was stealing his one good line from _The Big Lebowski_, tde was stealing his ("sandy little butthole") from _South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut_? Coincidence, no doubt...
Posted by Michael Treece | September 16, 2007 11:02 PM