Raise the Hammer

Regarding Ms DiManno... I'm always amused by how pissed-off people get by her columns. (My mom included; Rosi wrote a funny piece about Prince Charles and Camilla's visit to Hamilton that had my mom apoplectic...and me chuckling.) What she has to say about cyclists is dead-on. For a group that's trying to effect positive change, they (collectively) act like idjits and always have. (Yes, I'm a cyclist. And a pedestrian. No, I'm not a car-owner; I use mass transit. And yes, I was a bike mechanic for two decades, so it's not like I'm 'the enemy' here.) In just about every North American city I've lived in or visited, I've been constantly amazed at the amount of sheer ignorance (or arrogance) so many cyclists display.

As for "It's curious then, why mass transit, pedestrian safety and bike lanes don't appear to be on any of the municipal candidates' radars," why should this be a curious element? It's not to me. In a car-centric society, where so much is predicated on moving from Point A to Point B in an automobile, why should this mindset be bewildering? (my choice of words) It strikes me to be similar to secular concerns not being taken as seriously or as thoroughly as might be, in a religious-based society. (Like, for instance...ours.) Why should this surprise? It's the default. It might not be intractable, it might be completely and entirely changeable, but scratching your head over it? Now that's curious.

What I find 'curious' is the seemingly blinkered way that so much of the pro-pedestrian, pro-transit, pro-cyclist cadre view how things are...and choose to rail at how not everyone can see common sense (theirs) and join in the fight.

You wanna change the world? You wanna effect a sea change in societal mores, shift things in terms of our value system? (And for the record, I do.) Start by being honest about how things are, how we got here and by being patient and consistent in proffering sensible, workable solutions...instead of investing all those energies in carping about how people just (curiously) can't or won't see the light.