Semi-OT: what my bike has taught me about white privilege

[tuxbailey]

http://alittlemoresauce.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/what-my-bike-has-taught-me-about-white-privilege/

Interesting perspective if comparing riding on the road and racial issues.

[joosttx]

http://alittlemoresauce.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/what-my-bike-has-taught-me-about-white-privilege/

Interesting perspective if comparing riding on the road and racial issues.

I can always get off the bike and drive a car if I want to. Lame comparison.

[tumbler]

Is there a TL : DR for this?

[pdmtong]

Complete fail

[93legendti]

The writer needs a hobby to help him relax...

[fuzzalow]

They have the right to be on the road, and laws on the books to make it equitable, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are on a bike in a world made for cars.

In fairness, it is easy to take select quotes and focus on them alone as inflammatory. I struggled with the half-baked circumlocutions of his mental gyrations as he dribbled and drooled them for his readership. Yet still, where the heck is he going with this?

No great loss, I read fast.

Give a thousand monkeys typewriters and over infinite time, Shakespeare might emerge. The writer of that blog just added himself as one more monkey.

[gemship]

Ok I have yet to read the linked article by the OP. However this thread heading has me immediately thinking about an epic ride I took a few times.

I have bicycled roughly 75 maybe 100 miles roundtrip from my home in a little seaside city to the state capital by the ocean with a big inner-city. The cities between there and home are pretty much all close to the ocean but a whole lot dirtier. With no real "bike friendly" roads, I would have to ride thru a few sketchy neighborhoods. I was white on a nice expensive bicycle and all the men on foot were black or spanish and looked like gang folk. I got this vibe that I didn't belong and some of the stares, well I did always say hi and smiled.

[93legendti]

I think "Bike Privilege And The War on Squirrels" is what we need to be concerned about. Every time I hiss at a squirrel so I don't kill it/it doesn't take me down while riding, I feel so guilty...I need to put myself in the squirrel's paws....just trying to pack away food for winter...so innocent....

Today, we are all squirrels trying to put food away for winter...

[GScot]

I think "Bike Privilege And The War on Squirrels" is what we need to be concerned about. Every time I hiss at a squirrel so I don't kill it/it doesn't take me down while riding, I feel so guilty...I need to put myself in the squirrel's paws....just trying to pack away food for winter...so innocent....

Today, we are all squirrels trying to put food away for winter...

Perfect:banana:

[Mr. Pink]

I want my five minutes back.

[dogdriver]

Heard a lady talking about this article on a podcast I listen to (Best Of The Left). Thought it was a pretty weak metaphor... it is.

[malcolm]

Interesting perspective and I think his heart is in the right place, but it's hard to draw analogies to racism and not come off as lame or at least grossly understated. For people who live it, it's way too personal.

Racism is about fear and ignorance. I'm a white guy and I've seen my fair share of intolerance, but to be judged, mistreated and at times killed based only on the color I'm cloaked in, well I can't even imagine that and certainly wouldn't try and make an analogy to something trivial in trying to explain it.

[Louis]

Not the best of analogies, but I can see where he's coming from.

The connections are there with cycling: issues like majority vs minority, power relationships, what the government institutions are set up to defend, and what the majority assumes to be the "normal and correct" state of affairs, but isn't necessarily so when you look at it from the other side's perspective, etc. etc.

[cfox]

You choose to ride your bike in city traffic. As of now, a human doesn't have a choice in skin color. You get what you get. That he thought of that analogy in the first place is a better example of "white privilege" than the analogy itself.

[sitzmark]

You choose to ride your bike in city traffic. As of now, a human doesn't have a choice in skin color. You get what you get. That he thought of that analogy in the first place is a better example of "white privilege" than the analogy itself.
... or maybe a just spur-of-the-moment thinking aloud for others to consider as he/she contemplates the world in which his non-white children live. Something that might interrupt the immediacy of someone's personal day-to-day struggles, so that they might pause to consider how fortunate they may (or may not) be in the scheme of life. AND maybe be more understanding and sharing of good fortune if it runs aplenty.

Not a Pulitzer Prize worthy work ... but doubt that was the intended purpose.

[kevinvc]

I agree it's not a perfect analogy, but there are some kernels that I think are useful in thinking about issues like race or privilege.

There are certainly bicyclists who ride dangerously. But seeing one (or two or three or four) cyclists breaking the rules and then saying something like “bikers drive me crazy with their lack of road etiquette” while conflating the individuals they saw to an entire group is very similar to racism. There are way too many people who have seen people of color in news stories for committing crimes who then make the same type of sweeping generalization: “See, I’m justified in walking across the street when I see a black man coming towards me because there’s a good chance he’s a mugger.”

I’m not saying any individuals in this thread has these thoughts along racial lines, but generalize statements we've all heard about bicyclists are good examples of what racial prejudice looks like. It doesn't even have to be "all bicyclists are law breakers"; it can be "too many bicyclists are law breakers, so bikes shouldn't be allowed on the roads."

[flydhest]

I didn't think it was much of a stretch. Imperfect analogy, to be sure, but all are. The reactions are interesting, in context.
Being a black cyclist, I found it quite interesting.

[pbarry]

... or maybe a just spur-of-the-moment thinking aloud for others to consider as he/she contemplates the world in which his non-white children live. Something that might interrupt the immediacy of someone's personal day-to-day struggles, so that they might pause to consider how fortunate they may (or may not) be in the scheme of life. AND maybe be more understanding and sharing of good fortune if it runs aplenty.

Not a Pulitzer Prize worthy work ... but doubt that was the intended purpose.

Nice overview. Thanks for this.

The initial premise is not a stretch. I'd give it a solid B in a sophomore English class. The last sentence brings it down to an F: I don't listen, but that comment came out of the blue and was not supported by anything in the post.

[SlackMan]

Nice overview. Thanks for this.

The initial premise is not a stretch. I'd give it a solid B in a sophomore English class. The last sentence brings it down to an F: I don't listen, but that comment came out of the blue and was not supported by anything in the post.

Ditto. Lame attack on Christians that is very close if not equal to the same kind of bigotry that underlies racism. The sad thing is that I don't think writers like him even recognize their bigotry....sort of like whites not recognizing their privilege.

[tylerbick]

Thanks for posting this!

[earlfoss]

These poorly written articles are simply clickbait. The general formula begins with an inflammatory title that sits perfectly in a Facebook status update.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[93legendti]

That's it, I am selling my White Ottrott.


In our bike group, we have riders of all race, color, creed, sex, national origin, religion and walks of life. Drivers treat us all the same. The rude ones yell and obnoxiously honk at us and crowd us at lights. The friendly ones give us a wide berth, a friendly honk and stop to let us cross busy intersections. My belief is that it's because I am first generation American and Jewish...I need to make a blog post about that...

[professerr]

I can always get off the bike and drive a car if I want to. Lame comparison.

Your criticism actually just makes his point. If you are a minority, you cannot “get off the bike”. See?

Ditto. Lame attack on Christians that is very close if not equal to the same kind of bigotry that underlies racism. The sad thing is that I don't think writers like him even recognize their bigotry....sort of like whites not recognizing their privilege.

The guy is a Christian pastor. I think that gives him standing to critique his own tribe without being called a bigot. The point he’s making (read further up in the post), is that good people, good Christians, driving roads in cars and trucks with ease are unaware of the difficulties faced (many such difficulties the result of those same decent, well-meaning drivers) by cyclists navigating the same roads.



I’m not a minority, but I’ve lived in places where I was, and the analogy in the post seems very apt to me. I can tell you from those experiences that it is one of those things that you really can’t judge until you’ve walked in another man’s shoes, and I think the author is using the bicycle analogy as a way to explain his (or really his children’s) experience to those open enough accept that his experience is valid and want to try to understand what is going on. I’d bet not one of the posters above that flippantly attacked the author or article is a minority. I’d also bet you all are decent, well-meaning people too, which is exactly his point.

[pbarry]

Your criticism actually just makes his point. If you are a minority, you cannot “get off the bike”. See?



The guy is a Christian pastor. I think that gives him standing to critique his own tribe without being called a bigot. The point he’s making (read further up in the post), is that good people, good Christians, driving roads in cars and trucks with ease are unaware of the difficulties faced (many such difficulties the result of those same decent, well-meaning drivers) by cyclists navigating the same roads.

Whatever his vocation, the argument, and particularly the closing paragraph, have problems.

But when I’m not so civil with a “privileged” driver, it’s not because I hate him/her, or think s/he is evil. It’s because it’s the third time that day I got some gravel in the face. So try to remember that even if you don’t feel like a “semi driver,” a person of color might be experiencing you the way a person on a bike experiences being passed by a semi. Even if you’re listening to Christian radio. [Bold added].

The semi-driver listening to Christian radio example was 10 (ten), paragraphs earlier. He doesn't flesh that out enough to bring it back at the end and expect it to resonate. BTW, I've had almost zero problems with semis in decades of riding.

Better wording, something like,"Even if you, (remember the semi-driver?), are listening to Christian radio while you drive, the 4,000 lbs of steel you are piloting is intimidating to a cyclist, and they are rightfully concerned about your awareness."

As I said above, I thought the premise was apt. Like many in the blogosphere, a good editor could make this a better piece, especially when dealing with a tricky subject.

Cheers

[joosttx]

Your criticism actually just makes his point. If you are a minority, you cannot “get off the bike”. See?


See? What? It's THE typical lame comparison and a major problem moving is discussion as a whole forward.

[berserk87]

Give a thousand monkeys typewriters and over infinite time, Shakespeare might emerge. The writer of that blog just added himself as one more monkey.

Terrific quote!

Although I think that these days only Luddite monkeys would be using typewriters.

[verticaldoug]

The article is weak. The author is naive. The privilege population may act blissfully unaware of the institutional privilege built into the system, but try to correct the 'privilege' and there will be hell to pay- taking away our rights.

No system better reflects this than legacy admissions to colleges in the U.S.
For example, admissions to Harvard range from 5-6% per year without edge. However, for legacies, the acceptance rate is 30%. (Although this number is contested because Harvard treats this as a need to know basis. It is probably slightly higher like 40%.) Now go ask a Harvard Alumni about abolishing legacy privilege and check the reaction...

[Tony T]

Just take look at the size of the Harvard endowment fund and you'll understand why ;)

[SlackMan]

The guy is a Christian pastor. I think that gives him standing to critique his own tribe without being called a bigot. The point he’s making (read further up in the post), is that good people, good Christians, driving roads in cars and trucks with ease are unaware of the difficulties faced (many such difficulties the result of those same decent, well-meaning drivers) by cyclists navigating the same roads.


Clearly may bad in not seeing this. That said, I have to agree with pbarry that there are significant problems with the writing. Perhaps if one restricted the essay to a narrow audience, the essay might work better, but for a broad audience it fails.

[fuzzalow]

Terrific quote!

Although I think that these days only Luddite monkeys would be using typewriters.

That line was incomplete. I was gonna end the post with that line which was meant to besmirch the blog writer with a slur of ironic racism - but I kinda chickened out and left out the punch line. The original quote was to have read like this:Give a thousand monkeys typewriters and over infinite time, Shakespeare might emerge. The writer of that blog just added himself as one more monkey. "Lookit' that little monkey type!!".If the punch line eludes you, just look up Howard Cosell and the fatuous BS leveled at him by people that didn't know anything about Howard Cosell other than to misconstrue his turn of phrase.

[CunegoFan]

The article is weak. The author is naive. The privilege population may act blissfully unaware of the institutional privilege built into the system, but try to correct the 'privilege' and there will be hell to pay- taking away our rights.

How white do you have to be to get this supposed privilege? If I stop riding and let my tan fade do I get more privilege? If someone is half white and half asian does the white privilege get cancelled out by colored non-privilege or is there a special yellow privilege? What if I am half white, a quarter black, and a quarter asian? How will I know whether I should get special accommodations or not?

No system better reflects this than legacy admissions to colleges in the U.S.

What demonstrates the luncacy of the system best is affirmative action, where people are discriminated against or given special treatment based purely on their skin color.

[pdmtong]

Terrific quote! Although I think that these days only Luddite monkeys would be using typewriters.

Said another way, "even a blind squirrel might find a nut".

[rain dogs]

I didn't think it was much of a stretch. Imperfect analogy, to be sure, but all are. The reactions are interesting, in context.
Being a black cyclist, I found it quite interesting.

Thanks for posting your reaction. I read the piece (white male, mid-30's, car-free for some 12 years.) and found it thought provoking and I think it's quite a powerful analogy TBH. And as you've pointed out, there is no such thing as a perfect analogy.

There are certainly some very powerful ideas that could be teased out of that though. I'm glad I read it and am quite surprised by the majority of the reaction.

[verticaldoug]

How white do you have to be to get this supposed privilege? If I stop riding and let my tan fade do I get more privilege? If someone is half white and half asian does the white privilege get cancelled out by colored non-privilege or is there a special yellow privilege? What if I am half white, a quarter black, and a quarter asian? How will I know whether I should get special accommodations or not?



What demonstrates the luncacy of the system best is affirmative action, where people are discriminated against or given special treatment based purely on their skin color.

I don't define privilege only on skin color. A family's wealth probably is as big a factor. A poor white child will have less priviledge than a wealthy black child. The question is how can society improve the opportunities for all? Acknowledging privileges exist is probably part of the equation.

Go read some of the articles online in The Daily Princetonian which has been having the privilege debate for the better part of a year. .