Dealing with the “i hate cyclist” rant from relatives at Christmas

If they say that cyclists
If they say that cyclists hold up traffic, remind them of what vehicle traffic is composed of.

If they say that cycles don’t belong on the road then you can remind them that all alternative forms of road transport used roads well before cars did.

As for annoying, ask them how many times they have had road rage with another driver. There are plenty of annoying sods in this world and I can guarantee they’re not all on bicycles.

Failing all logic, ignore them and take comfort in knowing you grind their gears.

I tend to ask these people,

I tend to ask these people, and especially the ones who go on about riding on pavements and jumping red lights, to apologise for drink driving.  What, you mean *they* don’t drink and drive, that’s some *other* people in cars? Oh.

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

shufflingb wrote:

Persuasion works (how else does a peaceful society move forward?) but it is definitely far more of a challenge when firing the individual is not an option 😉

Society usually moves forward with the use of some measure of force, and at least an implied threat of violence. That’s how change historically has happened – I can’t think of a case where persuasion entirely on it’s own did much to ‘move society forward’. People tend to respect those who pose a threat to them. It doesn’t necessarily mean terrorism, in fact ‘terrorism’ seems to be a label for violence that doesn’t work. Violence very often doesn’t end up being made manifest, because people calculate that it’s not worth the danger or trouble and so concede before it gets to that point, hence the ‘peacefulness’ is maintained. But if the threat of violence wasn’t there, the persuasion probably wouldn’t work. Almost every change in society, from the enclosures to the end of monarchy to the end of slavery involved violence. At the very least persuasion only works when it’s accompanied by real changes in material conditions. And all physical action is ‘violence’ in some sense, at least it’s part of a continuum with it, with a fuzzy boundary line. Being able to fire someone ultimately depends on violence, to maintain power relationships that allow one person to fire another. A driver obliging me to wait by the kerb to cross while they drive past is implicitly relying on the threat of violence to ensure I know my place. I’m massively overthinking this. I just get irritated with the implication that all disagreements can be resolved by everyone discussing things ‘reasonably’. It just does not appear to work like that in real life and real history.

Disagreements don’t always get resolved by implied violence. Sometimes it’s just a matter of old ideas dying off with the older population, but I don’t think that’s the case with cyclist hatred as it seems to cross age groups.

The thing is that it actually benefits most people to have a larger number of cyclists on the roads and so motorists and cyclists should have their goals aligned – quality transport options that get you from A to B quickly and safely. The problem is that there’s a lot of money made in keeping people in their cars, so we end up with biased media *cough*BBC*cough* and a lot of people eager to have an out-group to blame for all their repressed rage from sitting in traffic queues.

I think education is going to be more effective in getting people to realise that cyclists are not actually a curse upon the roads though there’s always some people that just don’t like to hear facts.

A good thread, one of the

A good thread, one of the best, I enjoyed reading it.

The hierarchy/ inferiority stuff I’m not so sure about, enjoyable though it is to think that when there’s a lane out that the 69 reg Vogue is as stuck as I am in my little 57 reg.  I think in motoring there’s a “follow the car in front”/ we’re all in it together, sort of spirit reinforced in towns by specific traffic schemes – in short, the car and its progress is “normal”.  Bikes disrupt that “order” in the ways people have described – physically and psychologically. 

The car is all haste, an illusion of speed; it relies on its exclusivity to function, and it has lost this in recent years. 

we’re in an odd social space with less frequently visited/ don’t know you all that well/ conversation is a bit scarce/ I’ll just go with the first thing that comes into my head/ relatives. It’s no more sophisticated than an immediate, 2D response to the thing that is in front of me now – that’s how many people are when it’s a situation that’s not particularly engaging or interesting to them. It’s how many of them drive.

i can’t remember if it’s The Simpson’s or Family Guy – Wife: do you actually pay any attention to the things you say? Husband: I tune in and out.

To a person who clearly has a particular attribute “aren’t people with [your particular attribute] terrible?” – what on Earth response are they expecting to get, in this case where [attribute] = cycling??  

so, taking a page out of the sea lion’s book of persistence, and your sales manual (if the product/ service is anywhere in the customer’s conversation, treat that as interest”), smother them with charm, inclusiveness and as has been said, positivity – responses are : tell you what,  come out cycling with me, have a go, which would you rather do sit in a traffic queue (that’s what you mainly do, right?) or feel the breath of the winter air on your face, you’ll feel a lot fitter, work some of that mass off (pat-pat), won’t cost you a penny, seriously I’ve got a garage full of bikes I can fix you up a loaner, no, I won’t take no for an answer, I insist, I really do, how about tomorrow morning, 9:30 suit you? You’re never too old, it’s never too late, it’s like falling off a log. 

 they will be squirming within a couple of minutes – keep it up for say 10.

mikepridmorewood wrote:

That’s a rhoritcal answer btw……

a what? 

Think dog owners. 

Think dog owners. 

They let their animals pee and poo everywhere without cleaning it up or if they do it’s in a plastic bag that doesn’t compose. They have their dangerous animals off the lead when there are other vulnerable people and animals arond. They have them on long leads that cross shared use paths. They have big dogs that crash into walkers and give tham serious injuries….

There are more dog ownwers than recreational cyclists

Who’s the menace?

Tell ’em not to knock it ’til

Tell ’em not to knock it ’til they’ve tried it. Then take the piss out of their lack of fitness as you bitch slap them repeatedly.