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Topic: A Man's Bike Is His...
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martin dufresne
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11463
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posted 19 August 2008 06:28 PM
Have you read the latest letter to Ms. Communicate?One has to feel for « bicycle crusader ». RW pundits and forum freaks are joy-riding the « law and order » bandwagon, while his own principles force him to walk home without his aerodynamic hard-on, denied even the simple solace of a righteous rebel rant with like-minded victims. If MPs are allowed to thump their desks and cops to shoot first and ask questions later, couldn’t he at least be given some moral leeway to rattle court doors, if not be called in to provide an impact statement about the loss of his significant mount? The undeserving poor may not know it, but one can really bond with a Marinoni VR2 Ultra... And imagining it being pawned off for crack hardly worth 1/20th of its value tears a true cyclist’s heart out. And yet... what is it that so easily turns social crusaders to pitchforks and scythes when a fancy bike disappears? Our money is discreetly tucked away in RRSPs or condominiums, guaranteed by over-education (and racist/sexist/able-ist hiring policies); our dwellings are compact well-locked cocoons of identity trinkets; cars (if any) are silent and sensible... but the modern sports bicyle, generally ultra-light, symbolizes our venture out there, in a world of vulnerability. Privilege at the mercy of a padlock. Europeans mostly ride clunkers in the city. In Amsterdam or Paris, bikes are either free or rented by the hour, a collective staple. But in our little bohemian-bourgeois world, a man’s "good" bike often seems to be something else altogether : symbolizing health, class, commitment to ecology, a je-ne-sais-quoi of anarchism and, yes, damn it, virility if those tight shorts do their stuff. Isn’t its disappearance at enemy hands enough to get a guy to find his inner crusader, don a white cape and scream for blood? Has Ms. Communicate no compassion? P.S.: Hey, friends of Omar Khadr, want lefty action?... Start spreading the rumour that it’s CSIS that is stealing guys’ bikes... [ 19 August 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
From: "Words Matter" (Mackinnon) | Registered: Dec 2005
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 20 August 2008 06:51 AM
I think this was a fabulous response. I think sometimes there's a bit of cognitive dissonance on the left (not everyone on the left, of course) in that many of us feel strongly that the justice system should not be punitive and people (particularly people from working class and underclass backgrounds) should be forgiven for wrongs they commit - until they do something that we as lefties find hits home, and then some of us are like, HANG THEM!Bicycle thievery is one of those crimes, I've found, where some lefties depart from our usual support for restorative justice and get awfully "law-n-order" about the whole thing. Nothing's too harsh for the guy who stole my bike and sold it for drug money! Whereas if the bike wasn't involved, we'd be sympathetic to a drug addict whose illness drove him to steal, etc. Most "street crime" is perpetrated by, and against, working class people. And people in authority know that a great way to divide us and to keep control over us is by pushing the idea that we are enemies with each other and that we can use the power of the system to get each other when any of us falls out of line somehow. Does this mean that no criminals should be prosecuted or that no one should call the police? No, of course not. But to me, it means that, as part of my commitment to progressive justice principles, I support everyone getting a fair shake in court, that I support restorative justice as opposed to torches and pitchforks and angry punishment, and that I support the integration of people who have screwed up back into society. And I also support a critical consciousness of those of us who have not been criminalized of what exactly it means to be a criminal in a society where not everyone has what they need to function properly.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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Boom Boom
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7791
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posted 20 August 2008 01:38 PM
quote: Originally posted by Stargazer: Some jackass is calling for 6 months for each bike.
You know, I can understand that, because in some cases, me for instance, I saved up a hell of a long time to buy a great Nishiki racing bike back in 1981, and some asshole stole the front wheel, and another jerk ripped off the crank. 6 months in prison for stealing an expensive bike is about right, unless the culprit offers to make amends, like giving the bike back, or replacing it with a new one - in that case, a simple fine would suffice, in addition to making amends. There has to be something there to discourage theft of something that someone put a hell of a lot of effort into, and which means a great deal to that person.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004
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cornerstone
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 15432
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posted 20 August 2008 03:32 PM
quote: Originally posted by Michelle: I think this was a fabulous response. I think sometimes there's a bit of cognitive dissonance on the left (not everyone on the left, of course) in that many of us feel strongly that the justice system should not be punitive and people (particularly people from working class and underclass backgrounds) should be forgiven for wrongs they commit - until they do something that we as lefties find hits home, and then some of us are like, HANG THEM!Bicycle thievery is one of those crimes, I've found, where some lefties depart from our usual support for restorative justice and get awfully "law-n-order" about the whole thing. Nothing's too harsh for the guy who stole my bike and sold it for drug money! Whereas if the bike wasn't involved, we'd be sympathetic to a drug addict whose illness drove him to steal, etc. Most "street crime" is perpetrated by, and against, working class people. And people in authority know that a great way to divide us and to keep control over us is by pushing the idea that we are enemies with each other and that we can use the power of the system to get each other when any of us falls out of line somehow. Does this mean that no criminals should be prosecuted or that no one should call the police? No, of course not. But to me, it means that, as part of my commitment to progressive justice principles, I support everyone getting a fair shake in court, that I support restorative justice as opposed to torches and pitchforks and angry punishment, and that I support the integration of people who have screwed up back into society. And I also support a critical consciousness of those of us who have not been criminalized of what exactly it means to be a criminal in a society where not everyone has what they need to function properly.
Hear Hear!!! Again Michelle you nail it. 10 points for you for it is the Olympic season. To love one's neighbour is easy, people of like minds seek each other out. The trick is to love and feel compassion for those who are different from us and those who have wronged us. As you know rehabilitation requires more than just a pro forma exercise within the judicial system. It requires levels of comprehensive support from the state and a recognition by the one who committed the crime to seek change. This requires a commitment and a lot of work from all sides and is never easy.
From: in time and space | Registered: Aug 2008
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martin dufresne
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11463
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posted 20 August 2008 03:47 PM
quote: Boom Boom:I thought petty theft was something like stealing a pair of jeans or something.
Well, this is why one has to relativize a bike owner's personal, emotional assessment and judge crimes comparatively. You must know that anything worth below $7,000 is considered a "small claim" in Quebec. In comparison, look at the savings&loans scandal in the U.S., which is nothing compared to the current mortgage crisis. Look at what Conrad Black or the Chretien mafia or a con man like Lacroix or Litalien spirited away, with relatively few consequences. A bicyle is petty by those standards. In fact, there isn't one bike worth the costs involved in prosecuting, let alone jailing its thief. As for the dissuasion effect of harsh sanctions, it remains highly questioned, with little evidence for it and much against.[ 20 August 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
From: "Words Matter" (Mackinnon) | Registered: Dec 2005
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Papal Bull
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7050
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posted 20 August 2008 05:17 PM
quote: Originally posted by Boom Boom: The question remains - what is the appropriate deterrent to bicycle theft?
Capital punishment? edit:: my bike, aka the crapsicle, was a decent used bike I picked up back when I was 13 (far too small for me now). I covered it with tape and spray painted it a crappy brown, after covering the gears and other important information. I even added some stuff to the wheels. Anything to make it too unattractive to steal. I really don't care who sees me riding it, my bike ain't gettin' stolen. [ 20 August 2008: Message edited by: Papal Bull ]
From: Vatican's best darned ranch | Registered: Oct 2004
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 21 August 2008 03:36 AM
In one way, though, IF this person is convicted and is actually guilty of the crime he's accused of committing, then the police (for once) have caught the guy at the top instead of the people at the bottom of the operation, right?Hypothetically speaking (since we don't know whether in this particular case the guy is guilty or not), if John Smith is running a bike theft ring to the tune of thousands of stolen bikes, and then selling them through his store, and is paying people who might be down and out and desperate for money (whether to feed addictions or for other reasons) a few bucks piecemeal for each bike they steal and bring to him...then is John Smith still a working class victim who has turned to crime out of desperation? I don't know the answer to this. I know he's not Conrad Black, but is John Smith still just another working class Joe who went wrong? Or is he an exploiter and victimizer of the people he's using to bring him bikes, a "pimp" of sorts? Either way, it doesn't change my view of what the justice system should be doing to deal with people who commit crimes. But I just felt that my earlier analysis of working class street crime maybe didn't quite fit this situation perfectly if the accusations turn out to be true.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534
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posted 22 August 2008 04:19 AM
I strongly disagree with the dismissive tone of Ms Communicate's column and even more with the opening comment, as well as the title of this thread (which poo-poos a serious environmental concern). I am not a man, and even if I were, I'd no longer be of the "raging testosterone" age. I'm a middle-aged woman, and have been a cyclist and cycling activist (vélorutionnaire) for decades. This weekend, we are inaugurating the Claire Morrissette bicycle path through the city core - something we have fought for for many, many years. I've had several bicycles stolen. None were new, and none were shiny or particularly valuable. In Amsterdam, where most people ride workhorse bicycles, bicycle theft is rampant and a serious social problem. Often, those bicycle theft caused me very serious harm, as I needed the bicycle to get around and couldn't afford any other way or to buy a new one. It is important to understand that if "working-class" people (actually lumpenised working-class people) commit such crimes, the main victims are other working-class people. The problem, and one of the main sources of anger, is the utter disregard by the police for a crime that not only causes serious harm to cyclists - no, my bicycle may not be worth as much as a car - and I don't have or want a Marinoni in the city - but it is my means of transport and one does develop a great deal of affection for it. It is not so easy to find another that is comfortable, solid and safe (too many bicycles only suit tall people)... I don't want this guy lynched or beaten up, but it is important to let authorities know that this is a crime that not only causes serious harm to a lot of people - and no, most of them are not lycra louts with too much money and too many toys - but has a very serious negative environmental impact, as it is one of the main obstacles in getting people out of their fucking pollution machines and onto bicycles (weather permitting) and creating carfree cities with intermodal use of bicycles, walking and public transport. We had a similar problem a while back with a creep who tortured and killed cats - the utter lack of sanctions or seriousness about a very damaging crime. Not all people who want to make evident the harm such crime does - this is not a matter of some junkie stealing a bicycle for a fix, it is a major network of theft - are vigilantes or machos. [ 22 August 2008: Message edited by: lagatta ]
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002
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Catchfire
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4019
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posted 22 August 2008 04:37 AM
quote: Often, those bicycle theft caused me very serious harm, as I needed the bicycle to get around and couldn't afford any other way or to buy a new one. It is important to understand that if "working-class" people (actually lumpenised working-class people) commit such crimes, the main victims are other working-class people. The problem, and one of the main sources of anger, is the utter disregard by the police for a crime that not only causes serious harm to cyclists - no, my bicycle may not be worth as much as a car - and I don't have or want a Marinoni in the city - but it is my means of transport and one does develop a great deal of affection for it. It is not so easy to find another that is comfortable, solid and safe (too many bicycles only suit tall people)...I don't want this guy lynched or beaten up, but it is important to let authorities know that this is a crime that not only causes serious harm to a lot of people - and no, most of them are not lycra louts with too much money and too many toys - but has a very serious negative environmental impact, as it is one of the main obstacles in getting people out of their fucking pollution machines and onto bicycles (weather permitting) and creating carfree cities with intermodal use of bicycles, walking and public transport.
Thank you lagatta, these are great points, and I was thinking this the other day. I was in a bike accident where a car cut me off and I went over the handlebars and did a belly flop on the pavement. My bike seemed fine, and I only had a few bruises--no broken bones, etc. (although you never really know the severity of your injuries until after, because of adrenaline and stress). So I thought, no harm, no foul, and the guy drove off, even though I had several witnesses. But, like lagatta says, this was a serious accident, and cars should realize the severity of the crime--a cyclist was killed just a block away from where I was hit, and it could have been much, much worse for me. And last month, I clipped a mirror of a BMW who stopped me and surveyed the damage (prick) before giving me a lecture. So I regret not calling the police. Bikeriders are marginalized on the road and by society, and unless bike crimes are treated as seriously by the law as other crimes, that won't change.
From: On the heather | Registered: Apr 2003
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Boom Boom
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7791
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posted 22 August 2008 04:45 AM
quote: Originally posted by Catchfire: Bikeriders are marginalized on the road and by society, and unless bike crimes are treated as seriously by the law as other crimes, that won't change.
Right freaking on! Bikes are taken seriously in some countries. I recall reading one city (or country?) in Europe started making bikes free for all, by puttting them on street corners - if you want to ride, just take one, and leave it someplace for the next rider. I'm racking my brain, but I can't remember the locale. The downside to this scheme is the possibility of someone simply piling all these bikes into a truck and selling them elsewhere.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004
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Boom Boom
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7791
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posted 22 August 2008 09:48 AM
From 2007: Paris Embraces Plan to Become City of Bikesexcerpt: By the end of the year, organizers and city officials say, there should be 20,600 bikes at 1,450 stations -- or about one station every 250 yards across the entire city. Based on experience elsewhere -- particularly in Lyon, France's third-largest city, which launched a similar system two years ago -- regular users of the bikes will ride them almost for free. Comment: it's a PPP scheme, so I'm a little wary of it, until I know more details.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004
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martin dufresne
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11463
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posted 22 August 2008 10:02 AM
Hi Lagatta, I feel compelled to respond to your generally excellent post. About the title of the thread - I think it encapsulated the attitude of Ms. Communicate's correspondent and that of the lynch mobsters who are asking for six months in jail per bike stolen (while disregarding much worse acts of thievery). But you are right, there are many women cyclists with much better values than the "lycra louts" which you lampoon - Claire M. was one and a personal friend. I don't think that pointing out such men's elitist/individualist investment - and their resultant attitude to thieves - is pooh-pooing the environmental value of cycling. I wrote this as a bike rider myself. As Ms. Communicate points out, the man on trial in Toronto may or may not be guilty; if so, he may be at the top of an operation - as Michelle suggests - or simply an intermediary fence. I heard much of the extreme hostility in bicycle crusader's letter and some of the posts here as levelled at thieves, not their accomplices (who make most of the money). Regardless, it seems kind of unfair to make him a scapegoat for all the aggravation felt by bilked bikers. My impression of bicycle thievery is that it's a petty crime for most perps, although organized networks do exist. Indeed, I wonder whether anyone who buys a bike wheel from a shop isn't suspicious of its origin: it's a system. Why isn't the police harder on it? Are bikes really getting specific negligence? I think a lot of other commodities are not getting recovered - I never expected the wheels of justice to bring back my computer ten years ago - and very few fences seem to be prosecuted: these are not the easiest crimes to prove, especially when bicycle serial numbers are not recorded through proper liciensing. Another justification for the thread title: Are bike-riders really "marginalized" by something more than their low visibility to car drivers, or is it a case of many male bike enthusiasts marginalizing themselves and their security and civic credibility with what is generally an ultra-libertarian riding style (what red-light?), one that gets them little sympathy from pedestrians and police officers? (Claire and the Monde à Bicyclette folks were quite critical of that pattern.) If the notion of "bike crimes" is to be entertained, a lot of bikers will be the first facing hefty fines.[ 22 August 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
From: "Words Matter" (Mackinnon) | Registered: Dec 2005
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lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534
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posted 22 August 2008 10:05 AM
Oh, lots of Parisian cyclists and ecologists are wary of it too, because it involves a publicity firm, but unlike PPPs in health, education and highways, it doesn't replace an existing service, so I'm not quite so hard on it. I do see it as a transitional measure that will normalise cycling in what had been a very bicycle-unfriendly major city, and due to the Parisian style profile, will go a long way in making cycling "chic" and not geeky, raising the appeal to a mass base of office workers etc. Ideally, most Paris residents would use their own bicycles - AND BICYCLE THEFT, A MAJOR OBSTACLE TO THIS, WOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. (Yes, I was shouting). But municipal bicycle rentals will always be an important amenity for people living in distant suburbs and towns (who commute by train) and non-Parisians. Still, Paris can be a tipping point for reintroducing practical, urban cycling, in urban clothes. It is a huge progress, despite all our misgivings about PPPs and other aspects of the scheme.
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002
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