Asshole-related news

[sabotabby]

So no one's blogged the driver vs. bike courier brawl that made the front cover of the Star this morning? Shame on you, blogosphere! I shouldn't have to read about teh intarwebs in the newspaper.

It's heartening to see that most of the comments support the courier, as well they should. But I'm a dedicated pedestrian, which means that I'm the lowest on the Hogtown totem pole (cyclists can be dicks to pedestrians), so the real kudos go to the bystanders who intervened. Cheers!

My own rage today is directed at the convenience store owner who (although he once sold me tokens), refused today to even open his bloody cash register to give me change for the streetcar. This seems to be a pattern lately. We're all aware that streetcar drivers don't give change, right? So why be uptight about opening the cash register? Do I really look like I'm going to rob the place?

In other news, Chuck O is co-hosting an exhibition of radical poster art. englishpigdog is a total keener and made some posters already. I can't read one of them, but this one is awesome. Don't miss the roter_terror cameo!

Also, Fafblog has finally settled the question of whether the president can eat a baby during a time of war.

Comments

[billie0.livejournal.com]

I thought it was bad enough until I heard that the courier was a woman... Big guy fighting a woman in the street...

I think it's about time litterers got a taste of their own medicine.

[sabotabby]

I don't think anyone should be driving in the Market unless it's a delivery truck. Those streets are too narrow for cars.

[billie0.livejournal.com]

That is for sure.

It's a bit hard to get into citynoise right now, I guess everyone and his brother is on that site today :)

[sabotabby]

@#$% Toronto Star.

[englishpigdog.livejournal.com]

RE: the first one (http://img100.imageshack.us/my.php?image=anarchyposter1yb.png), I think clicking on it makes it bigger.

I don't like the second one as much. I just felt like a poster making fun of anarchists wasn't complete without Crimethinc or Zerzan.

[sabotabby]

AH! It does. But it still has too many words and not enough pictures. Also, roter_terror automatically makes anything a million times better simply by existing.

[englishpigdog.livejournal.com]

I hope he doesn't find out I put him in it and get mad at me, though

[sabotabby]

I suppose we'll find out. But given that he's the very definition of awesomeness, I predict he won't be mad.

[roter-terror.livejournal.com]

I'm not mad! I guess I'm honored, really.

If anyone is interested in reading a defense of the view that "real anarchism is actually marxism" -- or at least something of a similar view -- they can check out "The Anarchism of Marx", a chapter in The Marxian Revolutionary Idea by Robert C. Tucker (!!!).

The thesis: "Stated very simply and briefly, it [Marx's position] held that there are no conditions under which the state can be adjudged a good state. ... The state qua state was evil."

[sabotabby]

I definitely want to read that. A trip to the library is in order anyway, since I need a new card.

[roter-terror.livejournal.com]

If you can't find it, I'd be glad to send it your way. Lots of my books are looking for good homes!

[sabotabby]

I may take you up on that.

[roter-terror.livejournal.com]

Well, let me know if you can't find it. I wanted to send everyone on my friends list a package for the holidays, but that kinda didn't work out... :-\

lazy me.

[pluvka.livejournal.com]

hahah oh my god, that woman is awesome for throwing the trash back in his car, i would have done the same fucking thing.

[pluvka.livejournal.com]

although i'm a pretty small female and if a big guy got out of a truck looking like that i probably would have run away!

and nobody ever gives me change. i always have to buy something to get change.

[sabotabby]

I had to buy gum. Which is probably better for everyone around me, but I'm still annoyed.

I'd have been scared too. She's like the avenging angel of bike couriers or something.

[pluvka.livejournal.com]

i remember once some fucking asshole in an SUV cut me off when i was biking to work, and because i had to swerve to avoid crashing into them, i crashed into a really high curb and flew like 10 feet in the air, split my leg open, and popped my tire. they drove away.

[sabotabby]

Kill.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

Wow, is it the norm that people will give you change in Canada? I think most places here you have to be prepared to 1) smile really sweetly while you ask, and 2) bury the body after they inevitably refuse. It's right below "can I use your restroom" on the list of futile requests.

[sabotabby]

I always smile sweetly, even when the gun is about to come out. It's part of my charm.

I usually don't need to ask for change, since up until recently I've been near a subway station and I've just bought tokens. But on the rare occasions where I've had to ask, most places would give me change. When I worked retail, I gave people change.

[jaymoh.livejournal.com]

I can't get onto the citynoise site. :( There's lots of driver/cyclist rage here too. And driver/pedestrian rage, driver/protester rage, driver/driver rage...

One Friday a month we have Critical Mass though, which pisses off a lot of drivers. :) I've never been a part of it since I'm scared riding a bike in the city. I've seen cabs aim for bikes.

I think throwing the trash back in the car was exactly the right reaction. That guy was an asshole of the worst kind.

Great posters!!! eloel

[sabotabby]

I'm a pedestrian because I'm scared to ride in the city. I'm a fairly uncoordinated person, so my tendency to hit things plus the tendency of drivers to hit cyclists adds up to a statistic waiting to happen.

I love the idea of Critical Mass. It's the same time as our vigils, though, so even if I did have a bike I wouldn't be able to do it.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

I have a certificate from the League of American Bicyclists that says I passed their bicycle riding test. Their approach is to strictly follow the rules of the road, and ride predictably. The problem is most people that ride a bicycle don't take it seriously and *never* follow the rules of the road. So drivers just ignore bicycles since they can't predict what we're going to do anyway. This then makes it appear that drivers simply, well, ignore cyclists.

The League of American Cyclists basically can't stand the idea of critical mass, it is exactly the opposite of their principles; cooperating with cars and avoiding irritating people. This organization is American, so I don't know if there's anything like it in Canada. And it seems like they're practically fighting a losing battle. But I was surprised how much respect a cyclist suddenly gets when we demonstrate that we're making a point of riding predictably.

[jaymoh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, point well taken but I don't think that critical mass (at least here) is just about rider advocacy although that's certainly part of it. I don't have the impression from cyclists that I know that it's simply a war against cars or drivers. I think there's a bigger, environmental focus.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

That's a good point too, as a cyclist that's how I think about it, but there was a time when I came up with literally a dozen reasons why cars are intrinsically inferior to bicycles, so yeah I guess there's more to it then that for many people.

[y2kesha.livejournal.com]

You just aren't reading the right blogs...

driver vs. bike courier 01-26-06
http://community.livejournal.com/bikepirates/1834790.html

[sabotabby]

*goes to read*

Oh -- someone is suggesting that it might be an art project. That would be an interesting twist.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

Those posters are fuckin awesome.

[sabotabby]

That cat is fucking awesome.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Whoa...

[teapolitik.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that most of the responses were supportive of the courier, but other responses... they make me sick.

Yes, the motorist was wrong to litter, and I might have done the same as the courier. No, he shouldn't have dumped his coffee on her. However, scraping his car with a key takes it to a level far and above anything else. That sort of damage costs several thousand dollars to repair. I can totally understand why he then flew into a rage and stomped her bike.

So assault (pouring coffee on someone) gets a sideways mention, but aesthetic damage to the vehicle "takes it to a level far and above everything else"?

Whoa, I'm about to get road rage.

By the way, in Seattle, pedestrians are above cyclists on the totem pole.

Re: Whoa...

[sabotabby]

Don't you know that property is more important than people?

I knew there was a reason I liked Seattle!

Re: Whoa...

[teapolitik.livejournal.com]

Hey, just for that little comment, the next time some asshole physically blocks me from riding onto the sidewalk, I'm knocking his ass down. I'll tell him he can blame you.

Re: Whoa...

[sabotabby]

He'd have to go a far way to get revenge, though.

[ocicat-bengals.livejournal.com]

Chuck O's feelings will get hurt and he'll take his toys and go away. Really great work on the posters. I needed the laugh.

[sabotabby]

I hope englishpigdog is serious about submitting them. And then posts the response.

[joyful-grrrl.livejournal.com]

more bike fun, in my neck of the woods. (http://bikeportland.org/2006/01/13/cyclist-sues-trimet/)

[sabotabby]

Yeah, the bus driver should have done something, but I'd say the main asshole here is John Doe. Who gets off a bus and beats someone up?

[joyful-grrrl.livejournal.com]

no shit!

i can't believe the driver let him back on, though. oh well, he died.

[sabotabby]

He died? What -- where does it saythat?

[roter-terror.livejournal.com]

HAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAA. That driver's such a piece of sh!t.

Drivers are evil to bicyclers (as opposed to bikers) and here's a fact to back it up: when I was younger, one of my friends upset a passing car. I don't remember what he did to provoke them, but they turned around and stopped in front of his house. A GIANT woman got out of the car, knocked over his bike, and SAT on it. It was bent up! Man.

[sabotabby]

One time an SUV driver cut off my friend when he was on his bike, and he made a very fat-phobic comment about how she ought to get some exercise. It was justified, though, as she was driving an SUV and cutting off cyclists.

[roter-terror.livejournal.com]

My grandpa, a surly old Norwegian, had my pa pull the car over once so he could tell an older woman in tight biking shorts that they made her "look like shit."

[sabotabby]

Is your grandpa still alive? If so I'd like to meet him.

[roter-terror.livejournal.com]

You probably would have liked him. He was a hero of power. He was a heavy, slow-moving man when he got older, but he never stopped yelling at people and threatening to beat them up. And the best part was, he hated rich people, wasn't rich himself, and yet he lived in a very rich neighborhood (and I'm sure he was glad that his house and car were eyesores).