Gonzalez <
[email protected]> wrote
> Thanks for this.
>
> May I suggest we all send him letters expressing the true feelings we have towards him. A few
> late night or early morning telephone calls wouldn't go amiss either, but remember to use public
> phone boxes.
From what I have heard elsewhere they guy may have changed his number and gone ex directory since
the attack. I guess a well argued letter pointing out the error of his ways might get to the right
person. However, I doubt he would read them, I wouldn't even bet that he can read...
Ultimately, this attack is just a symptom of a deeper sickness in our society. The reasons why
cyclists are treated like dirt and car drivers are so leniently treated are complex. These include
historical factors, the individual selfishness that is encouraged by a competitive market led
economy and is rapidly leading to a 'Fu*k You, I'll do whatever I want' society, the power of the
car lobby, the influence of advertisers, the image of cyclists as being poor, or 'loony left' eco
cranks, the fact that many car drivers actually dislike driving but see no alternative and feel they
will end up in even more traffic jams if measures are introduced to encourage cycling...
Perhaps most of all to be a cyclist is to stand aside from the values of the car owning herd.
Cyclists offer a challenge to the social norm and many just can't deal with this. When a cyclist
passses a car driver sitting in a traffic jam does the driver think, Hmmm... that looks like a good
idea. No, they have invested so much, both financially and psychologically in their car owning
lifestyle that to think this would be tantamount to saying 'Hey, I am wrong, I have been had'.
However, the realisation that another way is possible is still there and causes something called
'cognitive dissonance', a sort of
psychological tension that needs to be released. One way to do this is to debase the values that the
challenge is based on so the driver will think, 'He will get wet when it rains' 'bloody lycra
lout' and so on. Research has shown that drivers who have bought a new car even become blind to
adverts for other makes as they suggest that may have made an incorrect buying decision!
By the way, as to my comment that cyclists aren't even permitted to display thier anger without this
leading to further vilification. A good example of this was in the Times on July 28 2002. Brian
Appleyard knocked pulled into the path of a cyclist, knocking them off or as he put it 'edged at
walking speed into a line of traffic. Suddenly a man clad in Lycra and helmet was toppling over next
to me...' The cyclists was obvioulsy uspet and shouted at the 'journalist'. Appleyard then wrote an
article entitled 'One day, I'll kill a lycra lout' decrying cyclists for being aggressive and angry.
Christ with tossers like Appleyard on the road it is no wonder!...
Regards,
Howard
http://www.thebikezone.org.uk