Public Address | Cafe | Up Front: Why a Woman is Like a Bicycle

Joe Wylie

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 19:23:13 +1300

Reading all the about page leaves me wondering which of what they publish is real news, and what’s been manufactured to order.

Wondering if it's a wise move on the Spinoff's part to run a picture of what purports to be their actual production line. A bit like hot dogs,…

Joe Wylie

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 08:38:36 +1300

The Dim Post link will take you to the same place.

Later, I shall post photos of abandoned American shopping malls.

Everything's getting hoovered up by The Spinoff.
https://youtu.be/jNEjzw3UqSo

Kumara Republic

Sat, 10 Mar 2018 15:54:47 +1300

The Daily Galaxy is talking about all the human on robot assaults going on around the streets of San Francisco. The driverless cars in particular!

Just wait till people start resorting to blockades.

Joe Wylie

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 10:24:17 +1300

SQUEEEEEEE!!

Ah yes! "I love that squeeeeee sound they make when ya hurt 'em!"

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 08:02:36 +1300

human on robot assaults
SQUEEEEEEE!!

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 17:03:54 +1300

Putting the ACT amongst the pig ions…
Little Davey Seymour (using his Trumpian nom de politics) really takes the cake with the risible ‘defence’ of his, ‘#meattoo’ stance on the radio recently – and his tweet calling Susie Ferguson an ‘amateur’ shows how little he understands the nuances of civil…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 01 Mar 2018 11:21:18 +1300

CERN is where the World Wide Web was born. But the United States military often gets the credit.

I guess it is the confusion between the networking structure which arguably ARPANET set up, but it was Berners-Lee who opened it up with the protocols and interface free to all...
(I…

linger

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 17:51:26 +1300

Draper's story was intended as satire, but it's more than a little chilling to read:
The process of education consisted solely in learning how to tap the Rx for knowledge when needed. The position was well put indeed in a famous speech by Jzbl to the graduates of the Central…

linger

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 17:25:38 +1300

… ending with a plea for recovery of that too-quickly-forgotten past of daily practices and long-term thinking: how we used to communicate, research, write and work. It wasn’t that long ago.Even so, it may already be too late for intergenerational propagation of pre-internet information-processing systems. My current students __have never…

Sacha

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 19:12:59 +1300

That's a great example of what Twitter does well.

Aotearoan

Sat, 03 Feb 2018 15:01:55 +1300

This debate takes me back to 1981 & the Springbok tour. I, female, was active on the front line as were other men & women. I was surprised and gratified to hear one burly hard-man, scars on scars, say he'd never faced such fear, violence & hatred in his life...and this was the…

SHG

Fri, 02 Feb 2018 09:06:37 +1300

I delete all my social media channels over xmas and haven't regretted it once. every day is better without socmed in my life.

Paul Campbell

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 14:42:09 +1300

I lived at Purakanui for a year – ever since they got rid of the morning rail-car to Osbourne, and then later the bus, it stopped being practical without a car.

It would be a horrible slog up that hill either way

Riding across the top of the hill on…

Grant McDougall

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 14:14:36 +1300

Some time ago I suggested to Andrew Geddis on PA that he might like to try cycling for this exact reason and his response was "no, not convenient".

Given that he lives way the hell out at Purakanui, from a purely practical view, it actually isn't for him.

I expect…

WaterDragon

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 13:41:44 +1300

So I have a don’t-look-at-social-media day or two, and by hokey, the doo-doos hit the wotsits on that platform! I missed the stoush and don't really want to come in late with the comments.

Sam F

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 10:30:46 +1300

One further area of similarity, which seems germane to the response to the tweet itself too: no matter how many people threaten, abuse or intimidate you (online or in person), you must never, ever appear angry yourself, or you’ll become One Of Those Types and everything you say will be…

JC Carter

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 07:11:25 +1300

I would agree.

What would a motor-scooter be closest to? I have ridden real motorbikes, pushbikes and scooters over the last 30 years, and find for some reason riding a little 50cc scooter as the most antagonistic of the bunch.
Even when riding at clearly illegal speeds (derestriction makes the…

Ben Boo

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 22:03:54 +1300

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And I'm a straight white middle class middle age guy.

My point is though, that I don't have an actual choice about riding the bike. The thing finally got me off the cigarettes and that way probably saved my life.

Mrs 5 has a role…

Walter Nicholls

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 21:55:57 +1300

I'm a middle class straight white guy with a bike I hardly ever ride ... so I can only nod in clueless agreement and keep to a simple "thanks" also. I did feel the need to read this post (and some of the comments out loud) to the entire family,…

81stcolumn

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 21:37:16 +1300

But this doesn’t work because men can get off their bikes.

I would like to point out in my defence, my personal point, though poorly articulated, was that as a bloke I was glad to have the privilege(?) of getting off.

Proper thanks for sharing though, stuff like this always…

Moz

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:45:20 +1300

overrepresenting extreme reactions, & especially at the negative end of the bell-curve of opinion

Very much so. And especially because the positive end are more likely to say "hmm, could this be misinterpreted? Perhaps I should tone it down". I could easily have responded to Emma by professing undying love and…

linger

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:36:15 +1300

managed to avoid twittercf. Ben Goldacre's graph representing the "bell-end distribution" of online comments (i.e., overrepresenting extreme reactions, & especially at the negative end of the bell-curve of opinion)

Moz

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:26:43 +1300

On behalf of "all cyclists", I would like to say you shouldn't claim to speak for all cyclists.

What's that, you didn't? Well... um... good.

Emma Hart

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:21:34 +1300

I have also been told off for "speaking for all women". By men.

Moz

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:18:34 +1300

I'm sorry. And also somewhat sorry that I asked.

But... not sorry that I have managed to avoid twitter for the most part.

Emma Hart

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:06:16 +1300

Has anyone objected on the grounds that it's appropriation? You just can't know what it's like to be a woman merely by riding a bike...

Oh dear gods yes.

Moz

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:59:20 +1300

so many people think the tweet is about cycling.
So much so that you get anti-cycling responses.

Has anyone objected on the grounds that it's appropriation? You just can't know what it's like to be a woman merely by riding a bike...

Emma Hart

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:14:55 +1300

I’d tweet it but you might not get it in all the viral popularity.

Thanks, Jessica. The thing that gets me the most about the response (because once the abuse gets to a certain level I just can't take it seriously any more) is that there IS lovely stuff in…

Bart Janssen

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:09:21 +1300

What I think is interesting is so many people think the tweet is about cycling.

So much so that you get anti-cycling responses.

JessicaRose

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 16:06:53 +1300

I’m a woman and I also ride a bike. Your analogy speaks my truth. Just in case you needed some straight up “shes right you know” support. I’d tweet it but you might not get it in all the viral popularity.
Also bloody good blog, 10/10, I’ve had to read…

andin

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:52:57 +1300

there's a large percentage of the population that wants to keep its figurative foot on the accelerator. Obviously, they dont see the Dead End sign or seem to care about who their words, thoughts or actions affect. Fuckers.

Moz

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:39:01 +1300

I'm glad you've (re)popularised this, it bears repeating.

Some time ago I suggested to Andrew Geddis on PA that he might like to try cycling for this exact reason and his response was "no, not convenient". But it's something I regularly suggest to men because it really does give you…

Emma Hart

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:22:16 +1300

I've been told some people aren't seeing the tweet embedded in this column, and I'm having a bit of trouble with the back end right now for some reason, so in the meantime I'll pop the image here.

Damian Christie

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:19:47 +1300

Wow. "Congratulations on your 47,000 star tweet" is something I think I'd be fucking scared to be seeing in response to anything I wrote, whether it was joking, scathing, insightful... wow.

It was a bloody good tweet though, I thought so when I first saw it.

Patrick Morgan

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 14:42:59 +1300

Great column Emma. Sure mades me think, and I'm a male cycling advocate who often rides in Island Bay.

John Holley

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 14:30:54 +1300

I got a little of the insight when watching Julius Caesar at the Pop Up Globe. It was confronting as a guy to see men consigned to bit parts and *clearly* dressed as property (sack cloth and shackles). I stood there thinking "this is what it is like for women…

Emma Hart

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 14:05:05 +1300

Just to note that I forgot to mention the weirdest reply I saw to this tweet. I got a sound telling off from a feminist for denigrating the bicycle, which had been such a boon for women.

I... got nothing.

BenWilson

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 12:33:54 +1300

When I first saw the tweet it was an instant "Yup, that's pretty much fair, and very well put". Seeing it had skyrocketed into cray today was bizarre. But then I think that the right to kill with a motor vehicle is like a first amendment mentality thing, and brings…

Public Address

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 12:33:54 +1300

Discussion from blog post.