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HN (and twitter) wants to find people that hate cyclists so we can get angry at them, but I don't think that's what's really happening here. For example: > "We

HN (and twitter) wants to find people that hate cyclists so we can get angry at them, but I don't think that's what's really happening here. For example: > "We may recall the sage observations made by a writer in one of the English medical journals two or three years ago, that the habit of smoking and the prevalence of appendicitis had both increased during the last two decades, and consequently it was reasonable to suppose that the former was the direct cause of the latter -- or the latter the cause of the former, we forget which." Seems very clear that this article in particular is satire. Its actual underlying point is that a connection between smoking and health problems is as ridiculous as a connection between cycling and health problems. It's impossible to tell for sure whether the other articles are serious or satire with a point or just shallow jokes, because they're quoted with so little context. But it's safer to assume they're not serious.

vanderZwan 4y ago
> HN (and twitter) wants to find people that hate cyclists so we can get angry at them Have you like… ever been on a bike in a country where cycling isn't normalized? There's no need to look for these people, they'll find you > Seems very clear that this article in particular is satire. Its actual underlying point is that a connection between smoking and health problems is as ridiculous as a connection between cycling and health problems. It also seems very clear to me that most of the stuff the British tabloids make more sense when read as bad satire (because they tend to punch down, and punching down is bullying, not satire) than articles intended to be taken at face value, but they genuinely want the public to do the latter.
- quietbritishjim 4y ago
  > Have you like… ever been on a bike in a country where cycling isn't normalized? There's no need to look for these people, they'll find you Of course, and I never claimed otherwise. I'm just saying, these articles are not those people. > ... stuff the British tabloids make more sense when read as bad satire ... Sure but that's different from what's happening here. The article I quoted has a particular point to make and the use of cycling as an analogy is totally incidental. [Edit: OK, looking back, maybe some of them are just trash tabloid stories. In that case they're just saying anything at all that stirs up emotions to sell papers (it really is like Twitter). Note that many/all of them are not "cycling is bad" but "we heard some people saying cycling is bad". My overall point, don't take them too seriously, is still valid.]
bertil 4y ago
Almost every anti-cycle tweet that I read nowadays is from very obvious spam bots (days old, one single topic, haphazard spelling, and typing mistakes). I blocked a few real people who were calling for killing others, and there must be someone who wants the bots to operate, but it increasingly feels like either an aggressive minority or some corporate interest that I'm not grasping.
- unglaublich 4y ago
  Which $104.2b corporate interest could that be?

vanderZwan 4y ago

> HN (and twitter) wants to find people that hate cyclists so we can get angry at them Have you like… ever been on a bike in a country where cycling isn't normalized? There's no need to look for these people, they'll find you > Seems very clear that this article in particular is satire. Its actual underlying point is that a connection between smoking and health problems is as ridiculous as a connection between cycling and health problems. It also seems very clear to me that most of the stuff the British tabloids make more sense when read as bad satire (because they tend to punch down, and punching down is bullying, not satire) than articles intended to be taken at face value, but they genuinely want the public to do the latter.

quietbritishjim 4y ago
> Have you like… ever been on a bike in a country where cycling isn't normalized? There's no need to look for these people, they'll find you Of course, and I never claimed otherwise. I'm just saying, these articles are not those people. > ... stuff the British tabloids make more sense when read as bad satire ... Sure but that's different from what's happening here. The article I quoted has a particular point to make and the use of cycling as an analogy is totally incidental. [Edit: OK, looking back, maybe some of them are just trash tabloid stories. In that case they're just saying anything at all that stirs up emotions to sell papers (it really is like Twitter). Note that many/all of them are not "cycling is bad" but "we heard some people saying cycling is bad". My overall point, don't take them too seriously, is still valid.]

bertil 4y ago

Almost every anti-cycle tweet that I read nowadays is from very obvious spam bots (days old, one single topic, haphazard spelling, and typing mistakes). I blocked a few real people who were calling for killing others, and there must be someone who wants the bots to operate, but it increasingly feels like either an aggressive minority or some corporate interest that I'm not grasping.

unglaublich 4y ago
Which $104.2b corporate interest could that be?