Courtland is Back – Surprise, Bicycles Shouldn’t Be On Roads

[cyclingfool]

@Brünø Moore 104094 wrote:

Probably for the same reason that part of 295 is a national park.

We better start charging admission then!

[Orestes Munn]

Milloy’s maunderings aside, I thought the really bad cycling news in today’s WaPo was this, on heads-up displays for cars: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/heads-up-technology-puts-data-on-car-windshields-at-ces/2015/01/06/036afdf6-95e5-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html

[scoot]

@Orestes Munn 104119 wrote:

Milloy’s maunderings aside, I thought the really bad cycling news in today’s WaPo was this, on heads-up displays for cars: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/heads-up-technology-puts-data-on-car-windshields-at-ces/2015/01/06/036afdf6-95e5-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html

Agree. Most of the Milloy sympathizers are just bitter folks with windshield perspective looking for convenient scapegoats to blame for their frustration with traffic. The vast majority of those people maintain enough sanity to refrain from turning that frustration into actively hostile road behavior.

On the other hand, the number of distracted, inattentive, and otherwise negligent motorists is truly frightening. And this problem is getting worse.

[PotomacCyclist]

@thucydides 104098 wrote:

I think it’s telling that Milloy is one of the few remaining really senior people at the Post. My interpretation is that it’s because he’s a natural at the only thing that really matters at that “newspaper” anymore: producing clickbait.

I still look at other, non-Milloy articles on the Post website. But I don’t bother looking at his pieces. If the Post tracks page views by article, then at least Milloy isn’t getting credit for generating page views from me. Some of the other writers actually have decent transportation-related posts, including Halsey and Dr. Gridlock. I don’t agree with them all the time, but at least they provide reasonable statements, actual news, and some good articles.

[lordofthemark]

If you want to read the column without giving Milloy clicks, WashCycle has it in full, with and without his comments.

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2015/01/courtland-milloy-wants-to-ban-cars-from-local-roads.html#more

Special buses for cyclists to and from the trails? Oy. (Actually I used to use a bus to get to the W&OD – but most of the riders were working class immigrants using it to get to work and shopping – CM may not know where trails are actually located in the region) I agree with whoever said the column is pure clickbait. CM does not appear to have his heart in it any more. Just trying to stir things up in the absence of anything else to talk about (I guess he does not know yet whether to attack Muriel or defend her) I would say this one is not worth engaging with.

[jabberwocky]

Its just the same tired “ban cyclists from roads” argument with a new veneer (pretending its about their safety rather than his desire to drive like an asshat). Its utterly infeasible and he knows it.

I’ve got an idea: every car that enters the district needs to have a device fitted that locks the top speed to 15mph. You know, for safety. Which he cares about a whole lot.

[PotomacCyclist]

After seeing this, I can’t seem to get engaged about anything he writes anymore:

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Or this:

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[cyclingfool]

@PotomacCyclist 104193 wrote:

After seeing this, I can’t seem to get engaged about anything he writes anymore:

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Seriously! Who rides a Bianchi?

[PotomacCyclist]

Courtland or Not Courtland?

https://screen.yahoo.com/phillip-hyper-hypo-000000418.html

[cyclingfool]

@PotomacCyclist 104195 wrote:

Courtland or Not Courtland?

https://screen.yahoo.com/phillip-hyper-hypo-000000418.html

LOL

[IMG]http://reactiongifs.com/?p=1294[/IMG]

[mstone]

It’s possible to ignore Courtland without mocking the developmentally disabled.

[PotomacCyclist]

I think the skit is mocking the overload and abuse of sugar more than anything else. And I’m comparing Courtland to the character because he voluntarily put on that camera harness, as a capable grown adult who posted questionable statements in the recent past. The character is not supposed to be mentally deficient.

[mstone]

well, it’s probably possible to find a tangentially relevant blackface skit also, but we typically try to avoid insensitive/cringeworthy stuff in general interest forums

[PotomacCyclist]

Why is this comparable to racial skits? The kid gets fed too much sugar and his parents are overprotective or lazy. The skit is mocking the parent’s practices. It has nothing to do with race, class, gender, disabilities or other genetic traits or conditions. He’s supposed to be a young character. That’s why he talks so simply. It’s normal for a preschooler to sound like that. I don’t mock adults, children or groups for things they don’t control. But I think it’s reasonable to mock the practices of capable adults who do foolish things because of laziness or inattentiveness. The parents don’t want to spend the time to supervise the child properly, so they use a harness and a helmet. Or they are overprotective. Or something, but it’s not related to race or disabilities.

Then given that, Courtland resembles the character because of items he voluntarily placed on himself, as an adult. They are not items that are part of any ethnic, racial or other group (other than cyclists, and since I’m a cyclist, I feel OK in poking fun at cyclists once in a while too). I still wouldn’t mock most people for wearing a get-up like that. But when they write columns like the one he did a few months ago, well, then I will take a gentle jab at him for an outfit like that.

[PotomacCyclist]

I’ll add that I do recognize the need to avoid even an appearance of mocking helpless or vulnerable groups and individuals. I’m trying to look at the skit from your point of view, to see if there is something wrong with the humor. I still don’t see any racial, class or genetic element to the humor or mockery. As far as I can tell, the character is part of a generic middle class or perhaps upper-middle class family, but it’s not clear, and it doesn’t have much to do with the humor of the skit. Even the “condition” of hypoglycemia is unclear, because the child’s parents fed him sugar to make him tow a car. I guess if such a character were actually played by a child, it wouldn’t be funny. But since he is played by a grown man, I don’t see that as objectionable.

ADHD, well, I’m wondering about that. Many people are diagnosed with it these days, but some say that it is overdiagnosed, to a great extent. The skit may also be taking a swipe at the modern trend to overdiagnose ADHD. Maybe the skit is treading on the ADHD element a bit, apart from the other angles. But I don’t think it’s the primary source of the humor. There are prominent examples of people with ADHD who have accomplished a great deal, such as record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, which is why I may not see it as a great handicap. On some websites, I found lists of prominent individuals with ADHD. (I don’t know how reliable the site is, but it appears legitimate.) People like James Carville, Richard Branson and others. But if there is more to this angle, then I’m willing to hear the points.

[Author]

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