Is anti-cycling/anti-cyclist hatred a hate crime?

srchar wrote:

By the way, haven’t you heard the news?  Cycling infrastructure is now hated by both the anti-cycling, pro-congestion lobby AND the oversensitive social “scientists” graduating from places like the LSE: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/73593/

That paper seems to be decrying Hackney’s particular approach to cycling infrastructure i.e. spatial interventions such as filtered permeability, a borough-wide 20 mph speed restriction, and speed humps. It then goes on to make the case that these spatial interventions are raising the profile of privileged, white, male cyclists and thus are not apolitical. Presumably, the paper’s author would be happier with dedicated cycle infrastructure.

@Jimmy Ray Will – I think

@Jimmy Ray Will – I think cyclists are in an unusual position with regards to being hated or being an out-group. From what I can tell, the biggest influence on hating cyclists seems to be the country of residence and usefulness of cycling infrastructure.

When I’ve been in Europe, there seems to be very little antagonism against cyclists (I might have just been oblivious to it, though) and there seems to be far less of a distinction between someone who cycles and someone who walks/drives/catches a bus. Noticeably, the majority of European cyclists are just commuters who happen to cycle and they are typically wearing ordinary clothes.

The UK, however, seems to delight in making the worst possible cycle infrastructure and repeatedly ignores any kind of standards or policies. As a result of this, the cyclists wearing specialist clothing are more noticeable (except to some drivers apparently) and their exploits are more easily pigeon-holed into a “bloody cyclists blah blah…” rant. These rants then bounce around the echo chambers that form our newspapers and media websites and a lot of people get polarised into directing their anger against cyclists.

The ultimate solution is to improve cycling infrastructure until people just cycle due to convenience and no longer form such a distinctive outgroup.

I’d say it is definitely hate

I’d say it is definitely hate speak, and I’d say that the general media coverage, and the inevitable unmoderated comments ot generates, certainly fuels significant prejudice against cyclists.

If you stop and really think about the angst felt by many of the population towards those on two wheels, it is utterly ridiculous. Totally out of proportion. 

You don’t get to such a ridiculous position without that angst being fueled by something.

At some point, someone signifcant enough will say ‘enough’ and call this bullshit out. Unfortunately I fear it will take an escalation in line with the persecution experienced by other minority groups before anything will be done however.

By that I mean cyclists being deliberately and blatantly mowed down and killed with regularlity and inpunity (we are getting close), or other public vigilant activity taking place. i.e. beating cyclists to death or setting them on fire in the streets (we are a stretch from this yet). 

I’d also suggest that, as with other minority groups in the past, it will take the cycling community to stand up and recognise itself as an out-group and stop focusing on any bullshit road safety initiatives (which will always fail as long as there are people out there believing it is OK to kill a cyclist for holding them up for 10 secs), and focus solely on calling out the prejudice and associated incitement we are witnessing. 

Nothing else matters in my opinion.  

I often read some of the

I often read some of the comments following cycling related news stories and imagine substituting the word “cyclists” with common racial slurs. It certainly makes it feel like hate speech to me. 

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

I think we need to move away from all ‘hate’ crime or it trivialises crime in general. If I punch you in the face randomly and break your teeth should I get a lesser sentence as long as I didn’t hate you for some reason first? Punish the crime ,not the reasoning behind it. We are just too soft on crime in general now. Targeting hate crime is on the road to thought crime.

I understand your point, but under some circumstances it can be argued that a crime is “worse” if the victim was targeted solely because they are perceived to belong to a certain group. Take close passes, for example. Most instances can be attributed to purely bad driving, but I wager there are many drivers out there who do it because they have a bitter prejudice towards anyone riding a bicycle on the road in front of them.

I think we need to move away
I think we need to move away from all ‘hate’ crime or it trivialises crime in general. If I punch you in the face randomly and break your teeth should I get a lesser sentence as long as I didn’t hate you for some reason first?

Punish the crime ,not the reasoning behind it. We are just too soft on crime in general now.

Targeting hate crime is on the road to thought crime.