John Kass Chicago Tribune Article - Email Him and Show Him Some Cyclist Love!!!!

I emailed John Kass (as I've done before, with no reply ever received, of course) this morning and asked that he set up a time to meet with me and discuss cyclists and cycling. Regardless of his less than friendly view of cycling and cyclists, I would love to see him be better informed an perhaps change his tune a bit.  I also invited him to go for a ride with me, as I've done before.

Maybe if many of us dropped him a line and invited him to have a discussion and go for a bike ride with us he'd eventually give in and understand better who we are and our community.  Don't slam him, don't insult him, don't denigrate him -- show him some cyclist love and get him to support us.

Grazie, Bill

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0509-2013...

jskass@tribune.com

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Permalink Reply by rb on May 10, 2013 at 1:30am

I dont know Kass, but I don't think he is interested in any sort of detente with the biking community.

He is in quest of readers, and page views. The Trib has to sell ads. Since Daley left office Kass needs to find a target. It seems to be bike people. Any sort of "conflict" he can drum up will driver readership and paywall web traffic.

It would be cool to get a pic of him on a bike somehow- I can see how that may be useful.

Permalink Reply by Bill Nedza on May 10, 2013 at 1:37am

I agree with you, the Tribune needs/wants more readers and page views, and I also agree he's probably not interested in cozying up to our community -- but you never know, maybe he'll hop on a bike at some point and have a bit of a change of heart.  I know, and maybe pigs will fly out my a$$ -- but you never know........

Permalink Reply by WillG on May 10, 2013 at 1:57am

I have tweeted at him before, he responds to those.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on May 10, 2013 at 2:46am

Not only does clicking on the link to his article feed the troll, mentioning the name does as well.  You know they use those automatic things to find mention of the name.  The man does not warrant attention.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 10, 2013 at 2:49am

If I read John Kass' column, I would look forward to seeing your emails and letters in one of his future columns. Your belief that John Kass is able to frame the debate on this or a host of other issues surprises me. If you have issues with proposed legislation, you should lobby aldermen. On balance, I view this proposed ordinance as being a positive for bicyclists.

Permalink Reply by Bill Nedza on May 10, 2013 at 3:00am

I don't have issues with the proposed ordinance or legislation, I have issues with how John Kass presents certain subjects, specifically cycling.  I'd be surprised as well if he accepted an offer of meeting or going for a ride, but what harm is there in asking?  Would you rather have someone be an opponent or a proponent?  As far as not him warranting attention himself, I might agree, but as far as the column, I think that does indeed warrant attention, as does the entire subject.  This isn't about John Kass personally.  If the article was written by "anonymous" I'd feel the same way.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 10, 2013 at 3:56am

I agree.

Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:

Not only does clicking on the link to his article feed the troll, mentioning the name does as well.  You know they use those automatic things to find mention of the name.  The man does not warrant attention.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 10, 2013 at 3:57am

Thank you!  He deserves to be ignored, not given more attention.

Cameron 7.5 mi said:

Engaging Kass is like engaging a toddler throwing a fit. There's no reasoning with him, but as long as you keep trying to reason with him he'll keep screaming. Ignore him and he'll cry himself out and move on to a new topic where he can get a rise out of people. I'd wager that if he wrote a column about bikes that didn't get a single letter, tweet, or noticeable rise in page views it would be the last column he ever wrote about bikes. The silent treatment is the worst thing that can happen to a guy like Kass.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on May 10, 2013 at 4:08am

I appreciate your position, but I think it assumes that 1) he is a reporter and 2) that anyone thinks he is a reporter.  He is not a reporter and I would be surprised to hear that anyone thinks he is one.  If he were a reporter, his column would not be behind the pay wall on the paper.  As Cameron said, he presents issues in the way he does because it gets reactions from people.  This is true whether he is writing about cyclists and cycling or any other topic.  He is of no use to the paper if people do not read and react to his column.  I choose not to read or react to his columns, no matter what he is writing about.
 
Bill Nedza said:

I don't have issues with the proposed ordinance or legislation, I have issues with how <snip>presents certain subjects, specifically cycling.  I'd be surprised as well if he accepted an offer of meeting or going for a ride, but what harm is there in asking?  Would you rather have someone be an opponent or a proponent?  As far as not him warranting attention himself, I might agree, but as far as the column, I think that does indeed warrant attention, as does the entire subject.  This isn't about <snip> personally.  If the article was written by "anonymous" I'd feel the same way.

Permalink Reply by Bill Nedza on May 10, 2013 at 4:25am

And I appreciate everyone else's position as well.  It's probably true that if he's ignored he'll stop writing columns that are negative about cyclists, and perhaps my attempt is/was futile -- damn my idealistic bent!  

Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:

I appreciate your position, but I think it assumes that 1) he is a reporter and 2) that anyone thinks he is a reporter.  He is not a reporter and I would be surprised to hear that anyone thinks he is one.  If he were a reporter, his column would not be behind the pay wall on the paper.  As Cameron said, he presents issues in the way he does because it gets reactions from people.  This is true whether he is writing about cyclists and cycling or any other topic.  He is of no use to the paper if people do not read and react to his column.  I choose not to read or react to his columns, no matter what he is writing about.
 
Bill Nedza said:

I don't have issues with the proposed ordinance or legislation, I have issues with how <snip>presents certain subjects, specifically cycling.  I'd be surprised as well if he accepted an offer of meeting or going for a ride, but what harm is there in asking?  Would you rather have someone be an opponent or a proponent?  As far as not him warranting attention himself, I might agree, but as far as the column, I think that does indeed warrant attention, as does the entire subject.  This isn't about <snip> personally.  If the article was written by "anonymous" I'd feel the same way.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on May 10, 2013 at 4:37am

Well, the world can always do with some idealists. :-D
 
Bill Nedza said:

 . . . . .damn my idealistic bent!  
 

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on May 10, 2013 at 5:04am

Kudos to you, Bill. I could give a flip about Kass and what he says, but it at least takes some balls to try to honestly set up a meeting with him to discuss cycling. Like others have said, you're not likely to win this battle, but as long as you're aware of that I don't think there's any harm in doing what you're doing. He doesn't take cycling or cyclists seriously, so don't give him that benefit. 

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