breezy1985 wrote: » But we have also ( I hate all the terms I am about to use) been sucked into the "culture wars" and despite any of our personal politics are all targeted as "woke lefty liberals" who all vote green. And if you think we have it bad youde want to see some of the things they say and threaten to do to Greta Thornburg who is just a child at the end of the day.
magicbastarder wrote: » i suspect it's got something to do with the fact that the department of transport has zero say over the running of the park.
breezy1985 wrote: » Some of it is due to a massive increase in car ownership for instance my estate in 30 yes has gone from less that 1 car per house to about 2 per house and seeing cars at the school gate was very rare in the early 90s ( this is just me judging by eye not stats). But we have also ( I hate all the terms I am about to use) been sucked into the "culture wars" and despite any of our personal politics are all targeted as "woke lefty liberals" who all vote green. And if you think we have it bad youde want to see some of the things they say and threaten to do to Greta Thornburg who is just a child at the end of the day. Similar to what the poster was saying about how you used to cycle to work but are now seen as a "cyclist" with an agenda I have heard a fair few interviews with long term foreigners in Ireland who say they experience much more racism now than in the 80s 90s as it has been so heavily politicised
magicbastarder wrote: » he doesn't drive, FWIW, so if any bias does exist, it's not based on that.
magicbastarder wrote: » someone declared a war against cyclists and neglected to inform them.
magicbastarder wrote: » yeah, when people refer to his anti-cycling bias, that's the only article i can see which is ever cited. he doesn't drive, FWIW, so if any bias does exist, it's not based on that.
Thelonious Monk wrote: » It's funny yeah, on Twitter the anti cyclists are often anti-mask, anti-immigration, anti-greens etc. Maybe they're just anti-everything.
swarlb wrote: » I was born in the 50's... God be with the days when no one gave a damn about cyclists, they just 'cycled', either to work and back, or if they raced, went for spins up the Dublin or Wicklow mountains or whatever hill was nearby, and no one batted an eyelid. Somewhere along the way the whole scene got muddled and cyclists somehow became 'the hated ones'.... I often wonder where this hatred came from, and who caused it....
magicbastarder wrote: » i do like the joke (and it's a joke, no more than that) that if you want to know what it's like to be a woman, head out on a bike. if you come a cropper, people will blame *you* for your misfortune, ask what you were wearing as if it was a factor, etc. etc.
breezy1985 wrote: » There is also the 3rd more insidious bicycle hater who is linking it to other as they call it "lefty snowflake politics" and some I have encountered don't even drive they just see us in with the vegans and the trans people in some stupid culture war.
Tombo2001 wrote: » I guess cycling is a middle class thing
Harrybelafonte wrote: » Walk away from the papers, the radio, social media, let those people bark at each other. The attitude towards you may not change, but you'll not have to carry the weight of those comments with you, you might feel better for it.
Thelonious Monk wrote: » Not really, so many low paid foreign workers cycle to work, or cycle as part of their job. I live in a council estate and my neighbour cycles to work in the city, as do others on the road. Lots of people can't afford cars.
Harrybelafonte wrote: » I don't mean to be dismissive of all the comments here
Harrybelafonte wrote: » I don't mean to be dismissive of all the comments here, but there are repeated cases in this thread of people going to see what the reactions of the rest of the public are... you know what they'll be, maybe you go in the hope that this time things will change, but they don't. No-one will change these people's mind, you can't debate them, you can't get them to live a day in your shoes. There's no "need to see what they other side says". Every time you listen to those shows, or read those awful comments sections you do nothing but add to the audience these morons have and put money in the spreaders of all this tosh. Walk away from the papers, the radio, social media, let those people bark at each other. The attitude towards you may not change, but you'll not have to carry the weight of those comments with you, you might feel better for it.
magicbastarder wrote: » i 100% get what you're saying, but the problem is that those attitudes follow many people out of social media and media on to the roads. so often it's not a case of being able to ignore it if it follows you around.
Tombo2001 wrote: » Thats why I have such a love/ hate with the Irish Times - I woudnt listen to Pat Kenny or Newstalk anyway, I wouldnt read the facebook comments. But I do like reading the paper. And more than a few times, my Saturday morning with a nice coffee and slice of toast, and enjoy the paper has been ****ed up by getting to the Letters page of the Irish Times - and there it is, Cyclists on the footpath ....again.
Harrybelafonte wrote: » There's little difference between the letters page in the IT and a comments section on The Journal, bar the eloquence of the writing, the messages are usually the same, lol
Cyclists, ring those bells A chara, – Having just survived, yet again, and narrowly, being sliced in two by a silent cyclist coming up behind me, I am crying to the heavens for the sound of bells. Cyclists are everywhere now, especially here in Dún Laoghaire, where our traffic system has been overhauled (I refrain from writing “ruined”) to give cyclists parity along the seafront. Environmental concerns are vital, but I am not getting into that argument. But anyone who values their health and bodily integrity can get very fed up with the numerous times it is necessary to leap briskly out of the way when perceiving the silent cyclist at the last minute. Why do cyclists not ring their bells? When I asked one senior gentleman cyclist if he had a bell, in reasonable tones, I was immediately accused of being abusive. It seems to me that Hobbes’s war of all against all is imminent, with the cyclists on one side and pedestrians on the other. The law (1963, amended) is that all bicycles in Ireland must have a bell. Folks, please use them. – Is mise, ANGELA LONG, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Thelonious Monk wrote: » I think it's down to more traffic lights, more traffic, and people just becoming more entitled for some reason that's led to the hatred of cyclists. Seeing someone cycling between cars or through a pedestrian crossing is something that they can vent their frustrations on. It's almost like some kind of shared psychosis among the populace.
cletus wrote: » Surely part of the middle class or elitist view of cycling is how some cyclists perceive other cyclists. Even on this forum, I've come across posters trotting out the No True Scotsman fallacy.
