Why is the right at war with cyclists? We’re not ‘wokerati’ – we’re just trying to get around | Zoe Williams
Why is the right at war with cyclists? We’re not ‘wokerati’ – we’re just trying to get around | Zoe Williams
Riding a bike is not a political act, yet cyclists have become the bete noire for the anti-woke, anti-green, anti-liberal crowd, writes Zoe Williams
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Many people have spent their entire lives with the idea that car = freedom, and when they see cyclists they fear that they would be forced to give up their precious vroom-vroom-box and associate it with totalitarianism, which they call it communism because of red scare propaganda from the cold war...
This is especially common the more conservative someone is, the more likely they are to be locked into that way of thinking because conservitvism rots the brain. The sheer stupidity of these conspiracy theories would make it glaringly obvious to anyone who puts even the slightest bit of thought.
They literally call the 15 minute city a "socialist conspiracy" of the world economic forum, which they conveniently forget is a capitalist organisation.
In reality both capitalists and socialists should want to have less car dependency, heck, even drivers benefit from having fewer cars on the streets and roads.
I have not had a car in years and have never felt so free. No payment, no gas, no maintenance and no insurance. Granted I live in DC and I can Metro just about anywhere.
Haven't owned a car in over a decade and I 100% agree with you. Cars are a poverty trap which extract wealth from the people (not just car owners, but all tax payers) to the executives and shareholders.
This is true for the people who have to have the newest and shiniest car. Buy a reliable car and drive it until the wheels fall off and it's literally the opposite of poverty trap.
The above said I do agree with the sentiment. I've seen very very expensive cars sitting outside of trailers and other hovels that I wouldn't go anywhere near. I'd rather have a crappy car and a nice house.
I have a "nice" car now because I drive for a living and besides it being good for business to be driving something not falling apart, I spend enough time in it that I should have something comfortable.
What I mean is that the cost of ownership of a car is usually twice as much as people estimate it to be. It isn't just the cost of the car, it's fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration... While getting a beater car is significantly better since it's cheaper, doesn't depreciate as much, and cheaper to maintain than newer cars, people still underestimate the cost.
And what I mean by poverty trap, it isn't just for car owners; taxpayers are the ones footing the bill for incredibly inefficient cities that require a lot of road maintenance, and the parking requirements and generally big sprawl that came from car centrism is much more expensive to maintain, which is why poorer neighborhoods are actually subsidising it for the wealthier neighborhoods. It's literally a steal from the poor to aid the upper-middle and upper class scheme.
If it were up to me, public transit would be completely free and very well funded, once the infrastructure is put in place and people get used to free transit, privately owned cars would be banned from cities and towns over 1000 people, and businesses who need a car would need to request it, explaining the reasons they need it, and be allowed to operate one based on need.
I lived for years without a car but sadly most of the country isn't amenable to biking, walking, bus, etc. I now live in what I call country'ish and if you don't have a car, you're straight fucked. No car means no way to get to stores, work (assuming you don't work from home), etc. Now I drive for a living but we would still need at least one car in our household if we didn't want to continually over pay for groceries being delivered, need to go to Dr appointments, etc.
But would they react the same way if I was on a horse?
Driving a horse and buggy?
I still think it's just basic tribalism. Bicycle rider=wrong tribe.
Anything that isn't a car is a threat to them, but I'd wager they would feel significantly less threatened by it because horses aren't a viable alternative to cars, while deep down they know bicycles can replace cars.