Quote:
Originally Posted by Burnette
People can be jerks no matter the uniform. But people can't disparage hundreds of thousands of people for the actions of one either. Normal people don't do that.
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you are way more charitable of the human race than I am. from celebrities such as Clarkson to the comment section of any newspaper article about a motor-vehicle caused bike accident, this is exactly what an average person does: saying something to the effect that cyclists are nuisances, and implying that it's either their own fault (or worse, that cyclists had it coming). Outside of the comments on places like WaPo and NYT, such comments would actually get the most "likes".
Which brings us to the bigger picture. Your take of the cartoon is by default different from that of the average audience. You, I, and other roadies see the cartoon and recognize that the person illustrated is a caricature. I'm not sure the average audience views it the same way; s/he may think that the phenomenon illustrated is so pervasive, thus causing the illustrator to dedicate a panel to it. Whatever nuances you and I may see gets tossed out of the window.
This strip does nothing but to reinforce the stereotype of cyclists. No, it likely won't result in people coming after cyclists, but are you as certain that it won't result in people having a more negative view of cyclists?