Make Boston bicycle-free
An open letter to Brian McGrory and the Boston Globe.
This ridiculous article was emailed around this morning and has caused quite a stir. To be honest, I didn’t read the entire article because I do not waste my time reading such useless pieces of sensationalist bullshit.
However, at first glance, anyone who has ever been discriminated against for being part of a generalized group or class ie. people of color, Jews, poor people, women, folks with disabilities, etc should rightly be alarmed that such bigotry is being supported by an “esteemed” “journalistic” publication.
While i will not speculate about the intentions or integrity of the author, the fact is, people who read this article will see either a justification of their own hate or they will see an assault of clear and open bigotry. The fact that the target of this article is “cyclists” rather than any other group of people is, in my mind, a very minor detail. The Boston Globe is showing by example that bigotry and intolerance and hate are perfectly acceptable.
July 15th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
I believe the term your looking for is yellow journalism.
July 15th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
absolutely.
Oh, and also, Mr. McGrory, both roads AND bicycles were around long before cars. check your facts.
July 15th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
hmm, great point. i love that the cycle-business owner speaks up and says, basically, ‘you suck and its not even cuz you are bashing my livelihood with such hate, it’s cuz you are bashing anything in that fashion’
July 15th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Right on, sista! I couldn’t finish it either. Calling him out on streets are for cars bs is needed!
August 30th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
I love this guy. He is so ludicrous that I’d be laughing if I were not so nauseated. Does he have any idea what it’s like to attempt a non-motorized jaunt around here? It’s scary, and I say this as a so-called “daring pedestrian” (I’m going to have to make a t-shirt out of that!) who wouldn’t dream of adding the speed of bicycle wheels to her perilous wanderings. And damn right I’m feeling a bit superior, but only because I’ve managed to avoid the drivers who have very nearly run me over in crosswalks all over town.
October 22nd, 2011 at 8:29 pm
You guys, the article wasn’t that long; you could have read the whole thing. Also, it’s not anywhere near as offensive as your comments led me to believe. Can we get some thicker skin?
October 24th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
please.
come ride a trike hauling hundreds of pounds of cargo through the New England winter and then you can talk to me about thick skin.
Seriously. Are you kidding?
November 19th, 2011 at 7:15 am
I read McGrory’s article through til the end. Yep, it’s pretty inflammatory, not to mention rude and negative.
But he does have a point about some Boston cyclists. There are fair number who defy the rules of the road: ignoring traffic lights and one-way streets. These rogue cyclists give a bad name to the rest of us who just want to get where we need to go and are willing to share the road with everyone.
If we don’t do something about those few bad eggs in the cycling community they could wreck it for the rest of us.
January 4th, 2012 at 8:18 pm
Wow, if he’s this angry about reckless cyclists, I can’t wait to read his rant about reckless drivers. Looking forward to when he convinces the city of Boston to ban cars within city limits!
January 20th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
I must agree with Molly. The article is inflammatory and rude in its nature, but because I drive, cycle, and walk in the city (Cambridge/Somerville/Arlington), I certainly understand the underlying sentiment. Do a few bad apples spoil the bunch? They most certainly do, and these are the ones that McGrory is describing. If we see fellow cyclists “misbehaving” or not following the rules of the road, we have an obligation to self-police them. Molly is right, they will wreck it for the rest of us.