Monday 27 June 2011

An idiot, a cretin, and a stain on society.

What follows is a conversation I have had recently on youtube. The 'chap' has written this in a public place and so is obviously happy to have his views published for all to see, so I see no issue in republishing them here.
I have, however, anonymised the comments (he isn't called 'youtuber', although they remain on the video if you care to search for them) as I don't want a flame war. I am genuinely interested in why what I do can inflame such hatred and scorn, and this 'chap' obviously hates me. However, unusually he didn't start off with the name calling and wishes for me to get injured and suffer pain. That kinda developed. Whilst I was a wee bit naughty in tricking him with his own logic, I think I was reasonable in my responses.

My blog is from the mind of a Helmet Camera Cyclist. This conversation is from the Mind of a Helmet Camera Cyclist hater.....


The cycle lane was fine. You could easily have a) been further over to the left, with no complaint about the pass (he was to the right of the lane), or b) taken primary, since you knew there was a road hazard/traffic controls ahead. This was totally avoidable. Stop looking for videos and use your head for once. Did he hit you? No. Could you have acted differently to have avoided this? Yes
I ride as much as (if not more than) you, but have less issues on the road. Nuff said? I think so
youtuber 1 week ago


PS. Why do you feel it so important to always say "I've got a camera". What difference does that make? Does it make you more self-righteous than everyone else?

Grow a pair

youtuber 1 week ago


@youtuber No it wasn't. Well below minimum requirements on width, randomly stops and starts, and has numerous potholes in it. Also varies in width as it goes along. Oh and there is plenty of room to pass if the driver is competent enough. Mind you he did get to the queue a few seconds early......As for did he hit me? So you are suggesting that if a driver doesn't actually hit a cyclist, then it's ok? As you say in your other reply.. grow a pair...a pair of brain cells....
magnatom 1 week ago


@magnatom No- I'm suggesting if you are clipped, you'll have grounds for complaint.
If you've got problems with that particular lane, then DON'T USE IT! Sure as hell don't move in and out of it- a prominent primary here would have avoided the pass- you've said it yourself a thousand times. Stop being hypocritical and looking for a fight.
One day you'll shout your mouth off at the wrong guy and you'll get a knife through the heart. You'll be wishing you grew those brain cells then!
youtuber 6 days ago


@youtuber Yes I'd have ground for complaint, but I could also be seriously hurt. I'd rather avoid that thank you.
I don't go in and out of this lane. I stay out of it on this section. In fact it is the presence of this lane that makes it difficult to take a proper primary. It removes your negotiating power. Google 'Get in The Bloody Cycle Lane!!' I explain this in detail here.
I can assure you I don't look for fights, nor do I need to. Come up to Glasgow and try cycling here for a while.
magnatom 6 days ago


@youtuber I am also in the process of building a case up for the council from previous videos for significant changes to the road layout in that area. It seems that I might be putting those brain cells to good use. How about you?
magnatom 6 days ago


@magnatom I've had a pothole repaired that caused me to crash, receive stitches in both legs and left me immobile for 2 weeks in Feb; as well as helping my local council change the traffic controls at a junction where a car pulled out in front of me, wrote off my bike, cracked my helmet, and left me with nasty, permanent facial scarring last May.
I've used my other brain cells to ride safely and sensibly, and not like a total jerk- something you struggle to do it would seem. You should try it.
youtuber 5 days ago



@magnatom If you'd rather avoid it, learn to ride properly.

Plus, I never said you look for fights- I said you'll shout your mouth off at the wrong guy and end up paying for it. I live in Paisley, so I know to keep my mouth shut if something happens on the road. I have cycled all around Glasgow and the surrounding area, and have never had the trouble you seem to have. Funny that...
From the video, you're neither clearly in nor out of the lane (cycle or other) so you're encouraging passes.
youtuber 5 days ago


@youtuber Perception is a funny thing. In this case the perception is that I have lots of incidents. Lets look at that a little more closely. I now have 170 videos. Of those 76 are actual incidents where another road user has increased my risk. Now consider that is over 5 years (how long I have videoed my commutes). Over that time I have probably commuted 45 weeks a year at an average of 4.5 days a week. So I have commuted on about 1012 days. Therefore, I have an day incident rate.....
magnatom 4 days ago

 
@youtuber ...of about 7.5%. Now that is actually two commutes a day, so in fact it is about 3.7% of commute. Now consider that the vast majorit of them are not serious in nature, i.e. my life was not in danger, but my risk was unnecessarily increased. Out of the 76 videos there are perhaps 2 or 3 videos which were very serious in nature. Had I not videoed the less serious incidents I would have forgot about them. So serious incidents occur at a rate of 0.2% per commute or 0.4% per day.
magnatom 4 days ago

@youtuber I can understand that looking at my videos it can seem I am involved in a lot of incidents, in fact I have not. I actually think my rate is quite low considering the number of interactions I have on the road each day. Don't you?
magnatom 4 days ago


It's also interesting. I've not had any serious incidents needing medical attention or had any crashes with cars in that time. You have. Funny that.......
magnatom 4 days ago


@magnatom Was gonna give you the benefit of the doubt- until you proved everyone who has ever said anything negative about you as a person 100% right. Don't you ever dare think you're better than me because you've never had a bad crash. You really one sad individual if you think that's clever.
When you do crash (and you will) you'll realise you're an idiot- as you bleed from every part of your body. And I hope you feel pain. You deserve it after that retort.
More important.. LEARN YOUR LESSON!
youtuber 4 days ago


 @youtuber Oops! I don't think you saw what I did there! You said, 'I have cycled all around Glasgow and the surrounding area, and have never had the trouble you seem to have. Funny that...'. The logic in this statement is a bit daft, so I thought I would demonstrate this with a little word play, i.e. I reversed the statement back to you. So I wrote 'I've not had any serious incidents needing medical attention or had any crashes with cars in that time. You have. Funny that.......
magnatom 4 days ago

@youtuber Do you see what I did there? I used YOUR logic back at you to show you how flawed your logic was. You didn't get that. Instead you revealed the workings of your own mind by suggesting that such a statement suggests a feeling of superiority, thus revealing that you feel superior to me. Your statement about 'giving me the benefit of doubt' also suggest this.  You now resort to wishing me pain. That is stooping pretty low. You obviously feel superior to me, and disagree with...
magnatom 4 days ago

@youtuber ...what I do and write, but I would never stoop so low to with you pain.

I receive threats of death etc daily. What for? For showing what happens to me on the roads. I actually entered this debate with you as you seemed reasonable in your initial discussion. However you have dropped to the level of the abusers which is shame.
magnatom 4 days ago


@magnatom You're right- I do feel superior. But not why YOU think I do. I know I'm not perfect, whereas you seem to think you're whiter than white. I'm not self-righteous and up myself, as you seem to be. Also, because you ride like an idiot, are a cretin, and a stain on society.

You think you're serving and doing good by people on bikes. But what you fail to realise is that the only thing you're achieving is fuelling your own massive ego. Which is just a little bit sad. You're a sad little man
youtuber 11 hours ago


@youtuber OK, so where have I said I am perfect? Please feel free to search everywhere I have written anything on the net over the last 6 years or so. In fact, if you bother to actually read anything I have written (my blog is a good place to start), I go out my way to stress that I am not. I have made and still make mistakes. In fact I go out my way to post videos of them on here. Do you publicise your mistakes willingly?

As for serving people on bikes? I do my best. I at least try...
magnatom 6 minutes ago


@youtuber ..and you'll find a lot of cyclists do actually thank me for what I do. Just today I have read two comments (one on my blog and one on a forum) that have thanked me for these videos. Not for being perfect, but for just showing people what happens on the roads to cyclists, what to look out for, and to learn from my experiences.

Of course some will not agree with what I do, or how I do it. There is nothing wrong with that. Through debate we make progress. Just recently I have....
magnatom 4 minutes ago


@youtuber ...had a big change of mind. I am a vehicular cyclist and have pushed for more vehicular cyclists. However, I have come to realise that to gain mass cycling, most will never 'mix' with traffic, so we need good quality cycle infrastructure. Something that I feel can be divisive (read my blog) if not done properly.

Good for you for feeling superior. If that makes you happy, great. However, I am far from sad. Have a look at my blog's about me page. You'll see I very much have a life!
magnatom 10 seconds ago

6 comments:

  1. :-D That was an epic retort, I can almost imagine him sitting at his keyboard (possibly in his mum's basement....) with smoke coming out of his ears at that point!
    As you say and as I experience having a helmet cam does tend to show the more negative side of cycling. After all most of my "incident" video's are the most popular, although the Silly Cyclists ones are catching up!

    For me having the camera is a learning process. Hindsight is a wonderful thing as is other peoples critique and opinion. Take my CS8 clip for example, looking back on it now from a non-cyclist point of view and it's rather shocking! Racing along a busy road, close passes to other cyclists and undertaking vehicles! I've had comments on some videos suggesting things I could have done better and in general I'll agree and have adjusted my riding since getting the camera.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What the, no Hitler comparison? Usually Godwin's law comes into play way sooner...!

    Nicely done, I would have gotten lazy and stopped responding after the second reply or so.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Mark S:
    Every day I perform close passes to other cyclists, out of necessity (commuting at a pace of about 10-12km/h would take me far too long ;) ). Of course, I do live in Holland, where cycling is basically learned from the moment one starts walking.
    Also, the dedicated cycling routes are often wide enough to allow two bicycles to ride side by side, with approximately 30cm of space inbetween (and that's just for a oneway street).

    Performing a close pass can be done safe enough if you moderate your speed a bit, keep an eye on the behaviour of the person you're overtaking and ring your bell as a heads up.

    Oh, and of course: keep in mind that it's possible for you to make a mistake yourself ;).

    ReplyDelete
  4. It smacks a bit of victim blaming. According to them you should have been either more left or more right, and cause you weren't then it was your fault the driver was idiotic. Not sure I can subscribe to that. Plus it sounds like they were having a particularly bad day making them cranky ;).

    I havn't heard the audio (work), but I can imagine you gave him some verbal when you caught up. I tend toward the same, as its very hard not to when your blood is pumping from cycling and pumping even more from anger. Though, I've been trying the last while to contain myself and be as polite as possible while still trying to educate the driver - don't always quite succeed on the polite part ;). Trying to do so because I don't want to descend to their level, I want to try keep the high ground and avoid any bad impressions of cyclists on the driver concerned or the others around...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just wonderful! I love flamers/trolls with a low IQ! (is there any other kind?!)

    Lee

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think YouTuber is cranky because he sits in the queue in his oversized tin can breathing exhaust fumes and putting on weight, while jealously watching you glide past him with your slim, athletic physique. I've watched a lot of your videos, and read the comments-some call you an elitist. That's because having a strong physical appearance and intelligence puts you in an elite category, so they try to bring you down to their level by threatening you with their car and making comments on YouTube.
    YouTuber is his own worst enemy. He should be doing what he can for himself instead of tearing you down.
    Any time I read these negative comments, I think that person should get on their bike, then they'll catch some of that joy for themselves, and the world will be a happier place.

    ReplyDelete