By word count you’ve totally dominated.

You see my friend, we all agree with you 100%.

None of us think killing cyclists should be acceptable or that killing motorists should be acceptable.

And I think you know that.

We’re with you.

We just hear enough, “I am going to kill you Mother F***er” from motorists that we laugh at the reversed world of SpikeBike.

That’s all. Most jokes are about things that are wrong anyway (Step by step stand up comedy, Greg Dean).

I do want to point out one more time that it’s not the story in particular that irks me so much (although it does), but the fact that this community is voicing its support for it. I don’t feel like we’re any better than your garden variety road-rage motorist at this point, we’re just slightly less dangerous with less sheet metal to throw at those we’re upset at.

Once again, and let me clear on this, how would we respond if we came across a ‘Commute by Car’ website where the drivers who we loathe so much had been giving two thumbs up to a story about massacring the annoying cyclists. I don’t think we would be nearly so ‘tolerant’. But, I’m probably wrong… Hopefully.

If you don’t like a show on TV don’t you just turn the channel?

You are taking this fictional story way too seriously.

Just take a deep breath and relax. Other people have different perspectives than you, it’s not the end of the world.

I enjoyed the story, its interesting to consider what differences, if any, there are between his fictional USA where killing a cyclist will result in no punishment and the real situation.

I find that possibly the difference here is like the difference between an MLK Jr and a Malcolm X. One said, ‘regardless of what they do to us we are to walk at a higher standard than any of us are currently holding ourselves to’, and the other said, ‘They want force? Let’s give it to ‘em!’. I understand that CBB is *not advocating that we all arm ourselves and take vengeance on motorists by linking to these stories; what I *am saying is that it’s inappropriate regardless to even find this kind of thing funny when what we are explicitly striving for is a world where Bicyclists and motorists can cohabitate the roads in peace and safety. Publishing this sort of thing or giving it the thumbs up simply gives motorists more of a right to say, “See? They’re unreasonable any way! Look at what they think of us!”. I for one don’t want any blood on my hands in this conflict. If a driver chooses to hate me or find me to be irrational or unsafe, I don’t want it to be because I laugh at stories about people who drive being killed or anything else that I’ve done, I want it to be because he is ignorant or irrational himself. I would hope that’s how we all think. I don’t think this story pushes that goal forward.

Also, I’ll easily concede the point that it’s less graphic than a lot of television (let alone movies). I don’t think that has any bearing on the discussion though, as saying something should be ok because it’s not as bad as something else that’s going on is a logical fallacy. The standard is outside of the general context and has to be so or else nothing can be reasonably expected on either side.

I’m in firm agreement with you that we ought to treat humans as humans and more so, be the change we wish to see in the world. But writing and reading a daydream story like this and actually committing the criminal behaviors described are completely separable acts.

By the way, I think the story is less graphic than most prime time television.