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Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists



 
 
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  #21  
Old April 30th 09, 03:40 PM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
Papa Tom
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Posts: 369
Default Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists

Safety?

Hmm, safety. What a concept.

That brings me back to my initial comment, which is how biased reporting
molds the attitude of non-cyclists toward cyclists. Parents read news
stories that seem to imply that all cyclists are menaces who don't belong on
roads or anywhere the sun shines. They carry that with them in their
attitudes about their children's cycling habits. Around here, the attitude
is that there's no reasonable cause for a grown-up to ride a bicycle and
that, therefore, there's no reason to waste time teaching kids a set of
skills that will be useless the day he/she gets a driver's license. Thus,
parents give their children bicycles and let them ride off without ever
preparing them for what might happen out on the road.

Hey, there's only about a half-a-decade between the time a child is allowed
to ride on the street and the time he/she is allowed to drive on it. What
can happen in those few years?


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  #22  
Old April 30th 09, 05:16 PM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
Jym Dyer
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Default No Bicycle Licensing (was: Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists)

As long as you can buy a bicycle in a toy store, a bicycle
will be a toy. And as long as the only pre-requisite for
purchasing one is to know which color you want, most people
won't take riding one very seriously.

Bicycle licensing, anybody?


=v= Nope.

=v= Bicycle licensing has not proven to be necessary in the
parts of the world where bicycling is taken seriously, not
even under the world's most totalitarian Maoist regime. So
there's no reason to impose it in the U.S. or anywhere else.

=v= Indeed, it would just create (yet another) barrier.
_Jym_

  #23  
Old May 2nd 09, 06:35 AM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
Tom_Sherman
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Default Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists

Papa Tom aka Tom Montalbano wrote:
[snip story that anyone who understands threaded Usenet can read]


We never attempted Bike Safety Night again.
[...]


Your fatal mistake was letting the parents observe. Parents almost
invariably foul up children's activities.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
LOCAL CACTUS EATS CYCLIST - datakoll
  #24  
Old May 3rd 09, 12:19 AM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
Papa Tom
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Default Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists

Bicycle licensing has not proven to be necessary in the
parts of the world where bicycling is taken seriously,

The problem is that bicycling is NOT taken seriously in the US!


  #25  
Old May 4th 09, 01:27 PM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
recycled[_2_]
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Default Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists


"Papa Tom" wrote in message
...
Hmm. Nobody seems to agree with me, so I guess I'll just keep it to
myself from now on.

Just for the record, though, I strongly disagree that these examples do
not imply a guilty verdict with regard to the bicyclists. However, I want
you guys to know that I am IN NO WAY suggesting that the bicyclist is
always an innocent victim. In fact, given the way so many of us ride, I
wouldn't doubt the bicyclist is USUALLY the guilty party in these
collisions. Two more examples, though, and then I'll drop it....


I won't comment on writers and news stories but have had a some
conversations with people who have encountered cyclists that goes to what
you are suggesting generally.

They are basically 'taken by surprise' by cyclists after a turn or hill or
similar view blocking situations. they seem to think that it is somehow the
cyclists fault for being there, not that they were travelling too fast to
react to an unexpected slower vehicle.

In the sense of 'right or wrong' they don't really have a case but in the
'dead or alive' sense there PoV is somewhat stronger.

  #26  
Old May 4th 09, 05:54 PM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
Papa Tom
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Default Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists

From the person who started this thread:

My apology to all that this discussion has gone on so long. I wonder if,
perhaps, there is a more appropriate group for such a topic. If so, I'd
like to know about it.

For anyone who is interested, I just want to respond to one more comment
below....

They are basically 'taken by surprise' by cyclists after a turn or hill
or similar view blocking situations. they seem to think that it is
somehow the cyclists fault for being there, not that they were
travelling too fast to react to an unexpected slower vehicle.


I'm sure that happens a lot. However, as I presume you are implying, that
doesn't mean that every mishap between a bicycle and an automobile should
automatically be assumed to be the cyclist's fault, correct? To, hopefully,
wrap up this discussion, I just want to go back to a quote from my original
post:

"Camacho was hit while trying to cross in front of a 1994 Toyota Camry
driven by..."

This is typical of just about every article I've ever read about a bike/car
collision. Saying that the cyclist was hit while "trying to cross in front
of a car" is like saying "The pedestrian was crushed while trying to walk
beneath a falling piano." It implies that the pedestrian knew there was a
piano falling and that he shouldn't have made an attempt to walk beneath
it -- when the truth may have been that the pedestrian was simply walking
along the sidewalk when a piano suddenly fell out a window and landed on his
head. Whatever might be the truth, the news reporter's personal attitude
about pedestrians and how they selfishly hog the sidewalks from all the
newspaper racks should not make its way into the story, consciously or
unconsciously.

This is why we need to maintain the dignity in journalism and cut the crap
with all this blogging...but that's a topic for another day!


  #27  
Old May 4th 09, 07:43 PM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
Art Harris
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Default Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists

"Papa Tom" wrote:
My apology to all that this discussion has gone on so long. *I wonder if,
perhaps, there is a more appropriate group for such a topic. *If so, I'd
like to know about it.


rec.bicycles.misc would be a more appropriate group for something lke
this.

Art Harris
  #28  
Old May 4th 09, 07:49 PM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
Papa Tom
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Posts: 369
Default Another example of slanted journalism re bicyclists

rec.bicycles.misc would be a more appropriate group for something lke
this.


Thanks, Art. Actually, right after sending that last post, I found a group
called rec.bicycles.soc, which markets itself as a group for discussion
about the "societal issues of bicycling...Social issues, cycling
transportation advocacy, laws, conduct of riders and drivers; road hazards
....." I think this particular thread has lost its steam at this point, but
I will probably direct future posts of this nature to that group.

TM




  #29  
Old May 6th 09, 10:36 PM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
[email protected][_2_]
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Default Another example of slanted journalism

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla...as-framed.html
  #30  
Old May 6th 09, 11:45 PM posted to rec.bicycles.rides
Papa Tom
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Posts: 369
Default Another example of slanted journalism

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla...as-framed.html

Great contribution to this thread, Mike. Thanks!


 




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