{"id":100,"date":"2014-01-17T21:55:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T21:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ssgc.co\/2014\/01\/apparently-were-human-too\/"},"modified":"2014-01-17T21:55:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T21:55:00","slug":"apparently-were-human-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/singlespeedgoldcoast.com\/2014\/01\/17\/apparently-were-human-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Apparently We’re Human Too"},"content":{"rendered":"
People have an in-built need for hatred it would appear. Why else would you vilify someone else based only on differences of religion, colour or sexuality? (Football team perhaps, yes.) People will pick up on any difference, no matter how small, and tell you that it presents a valid reason for hating the other. Somehow, this same bigotry has been applied to choice of transport. And it’s bikes they hate.<\/p>\n
According to the rules of hatred, the reason they hate us is because we’re getting an unfair advantage. We’re not following rules. We’re not paying for the roads. We’re the sole reason they’re stuck in traffic and not zooming through town like in those infantile car commercials. <\/p>\n
Same thing with black fellas. People carping on about how they get so much money from the government or fishing rights or some other damn thing, doesn’t take into account the poor health and education outcomes for our indigenous population.<\/p>\n
The problem for the sophisticated urban gentleman is he doesn’t know any black fellas, he’s come to terms with his gay mates, he’s not even religious himself. He’s come to terms with difference and celebrates it, takes in half a dozen culinary cultures per week, watches SBS, calls soccer “football” instead of “wogball”, has mates with backgrounds hailing from every part of Europe, and every continent. But still has that hatred itch to scratch. “So,” he asks himself, “Where’s that fucking cyclist got to? I’ll hate him now.” He knows cyclist are cheating him because he sees them beating him in the traffic every single day. How can some dickhead loser on a $500 single speed beat an Audi Quatro if they’re not cheating? <\/p>\n
You can’t just run people over though. We know that. Not real people anyway. You have to dehumanise them first. Same way we have for centuries when the existence of other populations has proven inconvenient. (My favourite, using something as bogus as phrenology<\/a> to try and prove that other races were inferior. Just who was the stupid one there?) The modern mind is no different. You dehumanise the cyclist. Then you can run him and his stupid contraption right off the road.<\/p>\n Of course, having your most vulnerable treated with contempt and open hatred isn’t conducive to public safety. This is why the Kiwis have launched a national campaign to re-humanize the cyclists. The campaign is along the lines of, this obnoxious prick you hate so much could be a father, a daughter or a sibling. Or a son:<\/p>\n