Washington Post is on an Anti-Bike Roll

[creadinger]

@Greenbelt 89762 wrote:

Basically, if you do the opposite of what the Washington Post’s opinion writers recommend, you’ll be on the right side of history. I mean, come on — Courtland Milloy, George Will, Charles Krautwhatever? These guys have been demonstrably wrong about pretty much everything.

His name is Charles Klingonface. Also, you forgot Jennifer Rubin who is often a cariacature(sp) of a conservative columnist who is just downright confused as to what she is supposed to believe with all this new tea-party stuff and people being more and more and more and more ridiculously right wing.

[83b]

Unpopular opinion: I love this article.

Every bitter word betrays his feelings of impotence. Of inevitable irrelevance. I finished reading and thought only, “I’m winning.”

[DismalScientist]

Man, I love watching all the disparate factions of the left going after each other.:p

[Greenbelt]

Boycott Amazon.

[lordofthemark]

@DismalScientist 89773 wrote:

Man, I love watching all the disparate factions of the left going after each other.:p

I don’t think Milloy speaks for DC blacks – Democrats, liberals, or otherwise. Even CM Barry has not adopted this kind of position, AFAIK. At most he speaks for frustrated PG auto commuters, who may mostly vote Dem, but aren’t really a “faction” of the “left”.

[Subby]

We live in a world of clicks. The Post knows they have to generate clicks in order to sell advertising. This shows up as the second most popular article in their local section online. The business people there absolutely love it. The newspaper people? Not so much.

[consularrider]

@Subby 89779 wrote:

We live in a world of clicks. The Post knows they have to generate clicks in order to sell advertising. This shows up as the second most popular article in their local section online. The business people there absolutely love it. The newspaper people? Not so much.

One reason why I prefer the print edition, they have no idea which articles or columns I read. Paying for limited anonymity.

[Greenbelt]

Re Courtland Milloy, resident of Ft. Washington MD

Here’s WABA’s response: http://www.waba.org/blog/2014/07/setting-the-record-straight-re-milloys-bullies/

Including this whistler:

At one time, Milloy seemed to recognize the need for this dedicated space for bicyclists, as his own 1998 account of biking after his license was suspended for excessive speeding included being caught in the common bicyclist’s catch-22 in which you are welcome on neither the roadway nor the sidewalk, and there is no third option.

[83b]

@Greenbelt 89781 wrote:

“At one time, Milloy seemed to recognize the need for this dedicated space for bicyclists, as his own 1998 account of biking after his license was suspended for excessive speeding included being caught in the common bicyclist’s catch-22 in which you are welcome on neither the roadway nor the sidewalk, and there is no third option.”

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[creadinger]

@83(b) 89772 wrote:

Unpopular opinion: I love this article.

Every bitter word betrays his feelings of impotence. Of inevitable irrelevance. I finished reading and thought only, “I’m winning.”

I felt the same way reading Ann Coulter’s rant about the World Cup. All she did was expose her ignorance and stupidity to even more people.

[VikingMariner]

@lordofthemark 89777 wrote:

I don’t think Milloy speaks for DC blacks – Democrats, liberals, or otherwise. Even CM Barry has not adopted this kind of position, AFAIK. At most he speaks for frustrated PG auto commuters, who may mostly vote Dem, but aren’t really a “faction” of the “left”.

Actually most of that county doesn’t vote.

[sjclaeys]

@Greenbelt 89774 wrote:

Boycott Amazon.

Wouldn’t it be more effective to write to the Washington Post?

[sjclaeys]

@DismalScientist 89773 wrote:

Man, I love watching all the disparate factions of the left going after each other.:p

I think that Courtland Milloy’s column and Scott Simon’s tweet shows that anti-bike bias is not limited to the right-hand side of the media spectrum.

[Greenbelt]

Here’s a more general response, please feel free to cut and paste or modify if you think it’s useful:

Dear Mr. Bezos (jeff@amazon.com),

The Washington Post’s op-ed policy continues to devolve toward idiocy and farce. They still publish Charles Krauthammer, whose opinions on war and foreign policy have proven wrong time after time. They continue to publish George Will, greenhouse effect denier, rape denier etc. etc.

The latest bit of op-ed filth from my point of view is a column in today’s Post advocating violence against bike riders.

It is by Courtland Milloy, and it’s chock full of falsehoods, contradictions, distortions, code words and race baiting.

Naturally, it’s one of the Post’s top-trending clicks, so I’d rather not provide a direct link.

Here’s the takedown from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association: http://www.waba.org/…

which includes this gem:

At one time, Milloy seemed to recognize the need for this dedicated space for bicyclists, as his own 1998 account of biking after his license was suspended for excessive speeding included being caught in the common bicyclist’s catch-22 in which you are welcome on neither the roadway nor the sidewalk, and there is no third option.
Here’s the point by point response from Washington’s City paper: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/…
And here’s a DC-based bike blogger’s take: http://www.thewashcycle.com/…

Of course, BikesnobNYC has a run at it too: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/…

Like Bikesnob, I’m actually fairly sympathetic with local concerns about gentrification in DC, and how to make sure that as cities are reborn and grow, they don’t displace long-time residents. It’s important to note that Milloy doesn’t live in DC, however. He lives in surburban Fort Washington MD, a car-dependent high-income community outside the beltway. He’s not interested in solving the problems that accompany urban growth — he’s just spreading his inner hatefulness around irresponsibly to get attention.

We could easily just dismiss this sort of thing as click trolling, but, for better or worse, the Post’s editorial and op-ed policies are influential. And suggestions of violence from people in positions of influence can be amplified by the weak minded, or fearful, or hate-prone, or mentally ill.

The Post’s editorial advocacy of fiscal austerity during a deep recession has proven to be extremely destructive to our economic capacity. Their complicity in the runup to the Iraq war was unforgivably deadly. Maybe those issues are more important than a stupid screed that advocates running bikes off the road, but I ride in the DC area every day. It’s personal.

What can be done about this?

Well, the Post’s readership has already taken a hit as their business model dies off (both the technology and the readers themselves it seems). So canceling your subscription isn’t likely to be noticed.

A better form of protest may be to simply boycott Amazon. (The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.)

I will admit up front that I have a (small) conflict of interest. My spouse owns a local retail shop that competes with Amazon. She pays local taxes and contributes to our community in ways that big box stores or Internet retailers don’t. She doesn’t get tax abatements like the big boxes and Internet warehouses, and she doesn’t benefit from Internet sales tax avoidance.

And I even sort of like Amazon’s technology and service — they do an admirable job at what they do in many ways.

But for better or worse, Amazon bought the Post and is allowing the Post’s vile and destructive op-ed trolling to continue.

A boycott of Amazon might just get their attention.

Jeff Bezos has his email is posted in the public domain precisely so that he can get an idea about consumer satisfaction issues:

jeff@amazon.com

Please join me in sending a message to Mr. Bezos that the current stewardship of the Washington Post is wrong and destructive, and that editorial changes must be made.

If not only for the sake of its declining business model, perhaps he could be persuaded to make changes for the good of our country’s political discourse.

Violence — whether against the atmosphere, women, or mere bicyclists — should not be advocated on the op-ed pages of the Washington Post, and columnists advocating violence should not be given a platform in a once-great newspaper.

Thanks for considering.

[lordofthemark]

@sjclaeys 89802 wrote:

I think that Courtland Milloy’s column and Scott Simon’s tweet shows that anti-bike bias is not limited to the right-hand side of the media spectrum.

Has anyone said it is?

In fairness Simon did an offhand tweet, not the kind of spewing of multiple absurd and/or hateful memes one finds in Milloy AND from the right wing “war on cars” voices.

[Author]

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