Josh, regarding your hatred of bicyclists riding safely: Regular bike riders in the city quickly learn the dangers of "courteously" sharing a lane with drivers -- who are often, impatient, inconsiderate, aggressive, or just plain careless. The danger of injury, maiming, and death are tangible, and it only takes one close call to permanently terrorize you.
So, as a rider who has been frequently harrassed for doing the exact same thing that you're bitching about -- for my own safety, not to be a pain in the ass -- GO FUCK YOURSELF WITH A BANANA SEAT AND A SISSY BAR !!!
You're sitting in a God damned air-conditioned chariot and making yourself even fatter slurping on your Super Size Big Gulp, yet feel so grossly inconvenienced because you'll be CARRIED like a Raj to your destination 90 seconds later than you would like?!
Be happy that you're not getting smacked in the back of the head by a truck's side-view mirror, or breaking your collarbone because the door of a parked car flies open in front of you and sends you face-first into the asphalt (both of which have happened to me).
Seriously, man. I normally dig your rants. But you're being a total dick with this one.
I entirely endorse Matt's first paragraph. Nonbicyclists see a helmet and think that it is armor. It's not. Bicyclists are quite vulnerable.
Why was this bicyclist riding in the center of the driving lane through downtown? Maybe the only alternative, that gave enough room for cars to pass her, was the dreaded "door zone", where parked drivers fling open their doors right into the path of a bicycle that is less than 3 feet away from the parked cars.
Before I call this bicyclist a jerk, which she may have been, I would start by assuming that she chose her lane placement for safety reasons.
If that is the case, don't blame her, blame the city fathers who don't provide bike lanes on major streets or nearby access roads.
Constance, I don't blame you for endorsing only my first paragraph. By way of explanation, the next three were simply me channeling my inner Slocum. I could hear Josh laughing, not screaming in rage, as I penned them. I'm thinking he might want to hire on some writers in the near future, someone who can capture his particular je ne sais quoi. ;-)
I get that it's a two-way street, and that motorists are often shitty to cyclists.
But I never drink a super-sized Big Gulp! Come on now. It's only bitter coffee for me!
There's lots of context to living in a city that has encouraged *unsafe bicycling at the expense of cars*, and in a city where the bicyclists are synonymous with the woke. And they are.
Where I live, every single day, every single block, is a constant provocation by people like this. I'm telling you the truth. You're giving benefit of the doubt automatically to the cyclist because of your own experience. That's understandable.
But I'm *also* telling you the truth about how bicyclists behave here. I, too, have experience. I'm not lying to you when I tell you that these people are being deliberately dangerous and provocative, and that they are encouraged to do so.
Having been a bicyclist on the roads, I too, just like you, notice the danger and aggression of unreasonable motorists. Right here Matt, I'm telling you that I believe you and I know you're right.
Will you please extend even a portion of that to me? I'm not the self-entitled road warrior over nothing that's living in your mind as a stereotype.
And if you want to write for Disaffected, you've got to get the drinks right! :)
Thank you much, Josh! In the future, I'll try to be more attentive to your drink preferences and not conflate you with the pudgy road riffraff peeling out of 7-11.
The way you describe your town, I can imagine the arrogant woke entitlement, as if they think Billboard Chris is driving the car behind them, still wearing his sandwich board. But, dude, even as a sweaty pedestrian dragging my feet on a hot summer day, I don't understand these fuckers sitting in climate control, listening to music, and getting pissed off about me not crossing the street fast enough for them.
You got your troons; I got these assholes.
Thanks for your personal response. Nice to be able to shout back at you (in the black vernacular sense, not like our grandfathers did at the radio). And I'm glad you took my Slocumesque style with the good nature it was meant to convey.
Matt, how would you feel about hopping on a recorded Disaffected audio ep with me to talk about this? This is a two-way street, and you make good points. If you're up for it, let me know and I can make it happen. You can take the cyclists' side, I'll take the other side, and we can talk about how both sides need to do something different. Not a "debate," a conversation. You game?
Brother, I would be up for trying. And I'd have no problem with you discarding it if it doesn't end up being good content. I feel more clever and engaging via keyboard than live, but who knows? I can have my moments. Let's chat on the phone and you can decide if you want to procede.
I live in Barcelona, but am still a Yank, and it's a little late here already. How does this Substack machine work? Can we DM?
May 8, 2023·edited May 8, 2023Liked by Josh Slocum
Regarding the supply chain crisis.
I work at a steel mill where I process drivers who are there for pick ups and, when the situation warrants, read them the riot act. There has been a huge shortage of drivers so much so that the in-house carrier has been advertising on Spotify for recruits. Trucking is a dirty, dangerous job that takes truckers away from home for long periods of time where they are famously under such tight time constraints that they literally pee into soda bottles while driving because they simply don't have enough time to pull over and use a rest room. (That's just what I want when driving down the interstate at 70 mph; some guy driving a heavy load being distracted by trying not to accidentally urinate over the seat of his cab.)
According to the basic economic principles we're supposedly ruled by, truckers should raking the old moola in, right? But no. Exactly the opposite is true. Drivers are now being paid less. One regular, a black guy BTW, had to sell his rig because he was no longer able to make the payments. I bring up his race because Pete Buttigieg keep making everything about race but the fact is everybody is getting screwed regardless. And there are a lot of black, Indian and Hispanic truck drivers out there. (Also a lot of Russian, Polish and Ukrainian with thick accents but, since they're white who cares?)
Pete Buttigieg, I'd like to remind everyone is part of the Davos crowd where Klaus Schwab, literally born a Nazi baby (his dad worked for Hitler) has openly stated that he wants the world to be ruled, not by democracy, but by a combination of corporate and governments power (which, BTW was precisely Mussolini's definition of fascism), displacing the US as the world's superpower to make the planet more like the totalitarian nightmare that is China.
But you can't criticize him because he likes dick. And you can't criticize his policies because he's always talking about how bad blacks have it.
We live in an era in which fascists are no longer jack-booted thugs but passive/aggressive Karens. Now, I ask you: Is that really an improvement?
When you started ranting about how many questions you had to answer at McDonald's I busted up laughing thinking about the South Park episode where the Whole Foods cashier heckles him for like 5 minutes about not wanting to feed the hungry kids.
Josh, regarding your hatred of bicyclists riding safely: Regular bike riders in the city quickly learn the dangers of "courteously" sharing a lane with drivers -- who are often, impatient, inconsiderate, aggressive, or just plain careless. The danger of injury, maiming, and death are tangible, and it only takes one close call to permanently terrorize you.
So, as a rider who has been frequently harrassed for doing the exact same thing that you're bitching about -- for my own safety, not to be a pain in the ass -- GO FUCK YOURSELF WITH A BANANA SEAT AND A SISSY BAR !!!
You're sitting in a God damned air-conditioned chariot and making yourself even fatter slurping on your Super Size Big Gulp, yet feel so grossly inconvenienced because you'll be CARRIED like a Raj to your destination 90 seconds later than you would like?!
Be happy that you're not getting smacked in the back of the head by a truck's side-view mirror, or breaking your collarbone because the door of a parked car flies open in front of you and sends you face-first into the asphalt (both of which have happened to me).
Seriously, man. I normally dig your rants. But you're being a total dick with this one.
I entirely endorse Matt's first paragraph. Nonbicyclists see a helmet and think that it is armor. It's not. Bicyclists are quite vulnerable.
Why was this bicyclist riding in the center of the driving lane through downtown? Maybe the only alternative, that gave enough room for cars to pass her, was the dreaded "door zone", where parked drivers fling open their doors right into the path of a bicycle that is less than 3 feet away from the parked cars.
Before I call this bicyclist a jerk, which she may have been, I would start by assuming that she chose her lane placement for safety reasons.
If that is the case, don't blame her, blame the city fathers who don't provide bike lanes on major streets or nearby access roads.
Constance, I don't blame you for endorsing only my first paragraph. By way of explanation, the next three were simply me channeling my inner Slocum. I could hear Josh laughing, not screaming in rage, as I penned them. I'm thinking he might want to hire on some writers in the near future, someone who can capture his particular je ne sais quoi. ;-)
Good morning dipleased viewers:)
I get that it's a two-way street, and that motorists are often shitty to cyclists.
But I never drink a super-sized Big Gulp! Come on now. It's only bitter coffee for me!
There's lots of context to living in a city that has encouraged *unsafe bicycling at the expense of cars*, and in a city where the bicyclists are synonymous with the woke. And they are.
Where I live, every single day, every single block, is a constant provocation by people like this. I'm telling you the truth. You're giving benefit of the doubt automatically to the cyclist because of your own experience. That's understandable.
But I'm *also* telling you the truth about how bicyclists behave here. I, too, have experience. I'm not lying to you when I tell you that these people are being deliberately dangerous and provocative, and that they are encouraged to do so.
Having been a bicyclist on the roads, I too, just like you, notice the danger and aggression of unreasonable motorists. Right here Matt, I'm telling you that I believe you and I know you're right.
Will you please extend even a portion of that to me? I'm not the self-entitled road warrior over nothing that's living in your mind as a stereotype.
And if you want to write for Disaffected, you've got to get the drinks right! :)
You did get the tone right, though. Capital job.
Thank you much, Josh! In the future, I'll try to be more attentive to your drink preferences and not conflate you with the pudgy road riffraff peeling out of 7-11.
The way you describe your town, I can imagine the arrogant woke entitlement, as if they think Billboard Chris is driving the car behind them, still wearing his sandwich board. But, dude, even as a sweaty pedestrian dragging my feet on a hot summer day, I don't understand these fuckers sitting in climate control, listening to music, and getting pissed off about me not crossing the street fast enough for them.
You got your troons; I got these assholes.
Thanks for your personal response. Nice to be able to shout back at you (in the black vernacular sense, not like our grandfathers did at the radio). And I'm glad you took my Slocumesque style with the good nature it was meant to convey.
*Best,*
;-)
Matt, how would you feel about hopping on a recorded Disaffected audio ep with me to talk about this? This is a two-way street, and you make good points. If you're up for it, let me know and I can make it happen. You can take the cyclists' side, I'll take the other side, and we can talk about how both sides need to do something different. Not a "debate," a conversation. You game?
Brother, I would be up for trying. And I'd have no problem with you discarding it if it doesn't end up being good content. I feel more clever and engaging via keyboard than live, but who knows? I can have my moments. Let's chat on the phone and you can decide if you want to procede.
I live in Barcelona, but am still a Yank, and it's a little late here already. How does this Substack machine work? Can we DM?
Cool. Email me at us@disaffected.fm. We can exchange numbers/platforms to call that are free. Sleep well and we'll catch up this week.
Regarding the supply chain crisis.
I work at a steel mill where I process drivers who are there for pick ups and, when the situation warrants, read them the riot act. There has been a huge shortage of drivers so much so that the in-house carrier has been advertising on Spotify for recruits. Trucking is a dirty, dangerous job that takes truckers away from home for long periods of time where they are famously under such tight time constraints that they literally pee into soda bottles while driving because they simply don't have enough time to pull over and use a rest room. (That's just what I want when driving down the interstate at 70 mph; some guy driving a heavy load being distracted by trying not to accidentally urinate over the seat of his cab.)
According to the basic economic principles we're supposedly ruled by, truckers should raking the old moola in, right? But no. Exactly the opposite is true. Drivers are now being paid less. One regular, a black guy BTW, had to sell his rig because he was no longer able to make the payments. I bring up his race because Pete Buttigieg keep making everything about race but the fact is everybody is getting screwed regardless. And there are a lot of black, Indian and Hispanic truck drivers out there. (Also a lot of Russian, Polish and Ukrainian with thick accents but, since they're white who cares?)
Pete Buttigieg, I'd like to remind everyone is part of the Davos crowd where Klaus Schwab, literally born a Nazi baby (his dad worked for Hitler) has openly stated that he wants the world to be ruled, not by democracy, but by a combination of corporate and governments power (which, BTW was precisely Mussolini's definition of fascism), displacing the US as the world's superpower to make the planet more like the totalitarian nightmare that is China.
But you can't criticize him because he likes dick. And you can't criticize his policies because he's always talking about how bad blacks have it.
We live in an era in which fascists are no longer jack-booted thugs but passive/aggressive Karens. Now, I ask you: Is that really an improvement?
Cool. Will do.
Bona nit.
When you started ranting about how many questions you had to answer at McDonald's I busted up laughing thinking about the South Park episode where the Whole Foods cashier heckles him for like 5 minutes about not wanting to feed the hungry kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KT9IUd_Cnc
For your edification. Please to enjoy!
https://twitter.com/NoContextHumans/status/1656625109895979008