How Can We Share Our Viewpoints And Win Others Over?

With all of us being on bikes, I am sure this comes up for us a lot. It's a big question.

How do we succeed as advocates in our community? How do we bring about much-needed change? 

As cyclists we all see resistance to what we are doing:

- Rolling into work on a cold/rainy/snowy day with co-workers telling us we are "crazy"

- Struggling to share the road and claim our space in the bike lane on our streets

 - Members of the West and South communities with much needed infrastructure and support, getting ticketed more than those from other communities

- In the media, when there's a tragedy in our community - whether it is the coverage and/or the comments people leave, it can be disheartening to put it lightly

We have an uphill battle. This morning a FB post meant to promote the t-shirt and pint glass sale quickly turned ugly because I included a photo of Chainlink members posing with bike cops. We took the photo during the Ferris fundraiser for WBR and they were watching over a peaceful protest taking place near the Flamingo. We talked about what we were doing with the scavenger hunt and they were kind and encouraging, calling it "cool" and taking an interest in hearing about it. From my perspective, having bike cops living what we experience on the roads is a helpful step to having our officers truly understand the dangers we live with. I was not intending to make a larger statement by the photo, there was no comment in the photo but whether or not I intended it, that's not how it was received.

So I was accused by a fellow minority as an "ignorant and clueless white person" "pushing a white supremacist agenda". And being called an "a**hole* on Twitter. Ouch. The words meant to hurt me and they did.

Ultimately, I decided to take the photo down, blocked the user, and took my heated exchange offline. I was pretty hurt and upset mostly because some pretty serious assumptions were being made about me and wildly inaccurate at that. I don't pretend to know all of the difficulties all of our communities face so I try to keep my ears open and help when I can but I try hard not to name-call because I worry it will not help me accomplish any end-goal successfully. I don't always succeed - I think I fall on my face relatively often and then I get up, dust myself off and try to be more thoughtful the next time and I apologize and try to own my mistakes. Since taking over CL, I have changed my approach significantly because I realized no matter what, if I comment, to some it carries more weight than I wish. Mostly, I wish I could comment as myself without the weight of that so that people weren't afraid to disagree with me. So I comment less now and try to save it for comments that go unchallenged that may impact a group on our site e.g. it's important to make sure women feel comfortable commenting, asking questions, and participating. The goal is to have The Chainlink be a place all cyclists can visit and talk about their concerns, needs and wishes. We all share a common goal to have a supportive cycling community that can ride safely. 

So I challenged the person this morning and now I am challenging myself - am I working towards accomplishing the goal I feel is important to accomplish? Am I alienating with my words rather than illustrating a different point of view, is that person shutting down/off because my message came on too strong? 

What else comes to mind? Spitting on pedestrians, carrying rocks in our panniers (to hurl at cars), disrespecting pedestrians, motorists and fellow cyclists in the way that we ride, sitting on or damaging cars, insulting/name-calling when someone says something we feel is wrong-minded. All of these things aren't helping us achieve our goals. We have a pretty amazing infrastructure that's growing so quickly. Granted, the West and South communities are lacking that same support and we need to work on that as a bike community. How can we help achieve this support and growth? How can we help our cause and contribute to make biking more safe for all of us than it is? I'll continue to work on my message and my own representation of our bike community (and really work hard not to swear when I get cut off by a motorist). The goal is to have The Chainlink be a place we can talk about these issues in a thoughtful way. How can we work towards more positive change?

p.s. I posted this in hopes of turning a negative experience into something positive. 

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on August 12, 2017 at 5:01am
Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on August 12, 2017 at 5:07am

yup. Every day. :-)

Permalink Reply by David Henri on August 12, 2017 at 9:04am
Yasmeen, I'm not on Facebook so I haven't seen the photo, but speaking for myself, I'm happy when I see cops on bikes. With all of the misunderstanding going on, I'm happy to see law enforcement walk in our shoes. I think it helps build community.

As far as the racist comments from others go, you have to learn to let that crap go. Consider the source and move on to what matters. In your heart, you know what is right. Don't rely on the opinion others for justification.
Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on August 12, 2017 at 1:54pm

Yasmeen, just so you know, anyone who would criticize your intentions or accuse you because of that photo is really, really ignorant.  So don't let it get you down.  If people I respect have a problem with something I'm doing or saying, I take that seriously.  Don't be bothered by the opinions of people who are just mindlessly ranting on social media.  

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on August 14, 2017 at 3:06am

Sorry you had to experience such nastiness. :(

Permalink Reply by Maurice on August 14, 2017 at 10:12am

I didn't see the FB exchange, so no comment on that.  I too hoped that cops on bikes would be useful allies, but that hasn't been my experience. They usually ignore cars parked in bike lanes and salmon with abandon. They're assigned to "watch over peaceful protests" so that they can use the bikes as mobile pedestrian barriers. I've seen them use the bikes to strike peaceful protestors.  YMMV

Permalink Reply by David Barish on August 15, 2017 at 2:52am

The difficulty with an online community or a social  media platform is they are open and large. Many voices and many viewpoints participate.  You are going to thrill some,  annoy some and bore others.  There is no way around that.  Find what you believe in and hold your head high expressing it. Of course, the way we express things is a huge issue.  I see lots of people say right  things in  the wrong way.  I also see lots of  people think their opinion  is the only  one. On many issues there are a lot of potential solutions, roads, outcomes, tactics etc.  When you run  a community,  as  you  do,  or  when you  express opinions,  as many of us do, you are  going  to get disagreement and  that disagreement can be thoughtful or just  plain  disagreeable.  You have run into a lot of the latter and that can be frustrating.  

For some the mere image  of the police is conveys a negative message. In  the context of  an event where police  misconduct led to  a  citizen  being harmed  I get it.  In the  context  of cyclists saddling up to  the local protectors I do  not  get it.  I see  a  logical progression  that  goes in a poor  direction if the  mere image of police is toxic.  Are all  police  out  to harm citizens? Of course not. If so,  are all[insert a social,  religious  or  racial  group here] [insert negative stereotype here].   Having  said that I have  a  hard  time seeing  the  amalgamated  haters who marched in  Virginia last  week in  any light but evil but have to  assume they have  mothers and fathers and beneath their veneer of hate some semblance of humanity.  None of  this excuses any of the  bad police  behavior that  has plagued us for many years but has been more  newsworthy in  recent years.

some random thoughts on  an open  forum-

We must allow thoughtful discussion  of all viewpoints. This does not mean accepting trolls but  does  mean hearing opposing  viewpoints. I would  invite discussion  with anti bike viewpoints or pro car  viewpoints but be intolerant of the type  of discussion  that  follows every crash  story on  DNA Info.

Allow members  to  freely attack  ideas but not  to attack  the people who express them.  Alas,  we cannot have,  "Jane you ignorant slut" as a model  for  discussion. 

Consider  allowing  an  original poster  to  set  ground rules  for a thread. If a thread is sensitive it may not be  a good one for  the open  discussion  I  mention. Let the original poster  limit who and  how with replies.   For example we  have had threads discussion female issues  and I  am happy to  keep  any ideas  to myself. Frankly,  I  would not have  a problem if  I could not see that  discussion  if it  was deemed that sensitive. The only concern  I  have with that is what if  somebody put  a thread that did not  allow Jews, or whites or  blacks or  Muslims etc?  That might be a slippery  slope.  Another way to do this might  be to simply allow the  original poster  to set the atmosphere for the thread- ie setit as "anything goes" that would allow unfettered chatter that  could get  rough or  set it for  some kind  of  "best behavior" sensitivity.   

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