Why is the right at war with cyclists? We’re not ‘wokerati’ – we’re just trying to get around | Zoe Williams
Why is the right at war with cyclists? We’re not ‘wokerati’ – we’re just trying to get around | Zoe Williams
Riding a bike is not a political act, yet cyclists have become the bete noire for the anti-woke, anti-green, anti-liberal crowd, writes Zoe Williams
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I have a hypothesis about the right. Some of what happens is to protect the ego.
Consider bike riding. Riding a bike is better for the environment and their health. This prompts questions like "why am I not being better for the environment? Why am I not being better for my health?"
One option when faced with that sort of uncomfortable question is to reject thinking about it and get mad at other people. Do not consider anything negative about oneself. That's uncomfortable and difficult. Being mad about other people is easy.
This resolves the cognitive dissonance, though in its own expensive way with its own tradeoffs.
Yes, a friend clued me in years ago that the key to understanding the conservative mindset is their deep shame and self-hatred. A lot of people say it's fear, but that's only partly true. Everybody is motivated by fear; liberals just fear other things.
But for conservatives, it's fear that they're worthless and inferior. That's why so much of their ideology concerns groups that they denigrate and oppress in order to feel superior. This is why they have bicyclists in their crosshairs recently.
And not just bicyclists. It's not enough just to have a car. Oh no! They have to have a truck. And not just a truck, but a grotesquely enormous truck, with a grill that juts 6 feet straight into the air, perhaps with a lift kit, too. That way, they can roll coal on and intimidate drivers of smaller, weaker vehicles, like Prius drivers.
It's a performative doubling-down on the behavior that they subconsciously feel others are judging them for, in order to redirect the shame and self-hatred outward as anger at others.
I drive a Prius and can confirm. Large trucks act threatened by my existence on a regular basis.
It soundy similar to how some straight people act as though homosexual people are a threat to their particular sexuality. Of course we all know that they are 0% correct, unless, unless... you think you should be examining your own sexuality? Like maybe you suspect there is something that could be awakened there...?
Then the lashing out makes sense.
Also patriarchy and control, but it can be multiple things.
Followed by the culture of you aren't a real man if you don't go into debt to drive a massive truck which the bed will be empty 99% of the time and you can barely afford to put gas in it (but its the carbon tax bankrupting them they'll claim).
You’re overthinking this. I mean, you’re right in general, but I have a hard time believing all this is going through their heads when they see a cyclist.
I think it’s just different. Conservatives dn’ t like seeing change or difference. Clearly only cars should be on the road, and everything else is change, different, an affront to the “rules”
I don't think it's happening consciously. Most people don't introspect that clearly or often
But you may also be right that a generalized, acontextual, resistance to change may be a factor. Like if bike lanes were common and someone wanted to remove them, a lot of basic conservatives would resist that just because it's a change.
Exactly, and it should be noted they also never consider the other reasons to bike. Health and environment are part of why I want my city bikable, but mostly it’s because I enjoy biking more than any other mode of getting around. It makes me happy to be on my bicycle and getting to use it to get groceries turns a chore into a delight. Even if I had a perfectly clean and safe automobile and perfect health I’d still choose to bike to the grocery store when I can because fun.