should politics be banned on the forum?

Use this board for general non-cycling-related chat, or to introduce yourself to the forum.
Post Reply
Tangled Metal
Posts: 9505
Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by Tangled Metal »

So cycling is political? Well when they ban political threads on here in guess there will be nobody explaining to a new poster what a limit screw is or others discussing which wheel makes and models are impossible to get marathon pluses onto when on a ride. Other technical topics are available.

I think some on here seem to apply politics in a way too wide definition. I think the majority on here see politics threads as being the ones which cause division because it breaks down into criticising or supporting one political party or another. Or applying labels to people based on the perception of their political position. I do not see straight forward topics covering technical baspects of cycling or someone's cycling activities.

If you're discussing a political party then you've moved into political even if it starts off talking about cycling or cycling infrastructure.

I think this thread land grab by the pro politics lobby on here is a bit defensive. They see how divisive politics threads are but they defend it by claiming it's all political. It's not but claiming it is means banning political threads is not possible. A strategy but not right imho.
Bonefishblues
Posts: 11010
Joined: 7 Jul 2014, 9:45pm
Location: Near Bicester Oxon

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by Bonefishblues »

Ben@Forest
Posts: 3647
Joined: 28 Jan 2013, 5:58pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by Ben@Forest »

Psamathe wrote: 6 Apr 2021, 12:40pm Would that be the Johnson who lies about the ficticious theft of his bike made-up for political purposes?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-bike-stolen-parliament-sadiq-khan-london-tory-leadership-a9008231.html wrote:Boris Johnson claimed his bike had been stolen after previously saying it broke
The former foreign secretary told a Tory leadership debate on Monday that the last time he cried was when his cycle - nicknamed “Bikey” - was stolen from outside parliament.

And he used the anecdote to take a swipe at his successor as London mayor, claiming that the bicycle had been chained to railings across the capital without incident during his time in office, only to be stolen after Sadiq Khan entered City Hall.

Using the tale to bolster his call for 20,000 new police officers
...
However, doubts were raised over the anecdote by a column written by the would-be Prime Minister in 2014, in which he said that Bikey had been written off after its frame snapped when he rode it into a pothole concealed by a puddle during a storm.
One version or the other is a lie.
I read (in a newspaper) some years ago he'd had a number of bikes stolen, but had a habit of leaving them either unlocked or poorly locked in London - I can't remember who wrote it but it wasn't Johnson. What I really remember taking from it was that here was a man who didn't really mind having to shell out to replace bikes. I don't know whether he bought bikes that cost £300.00 or £800.00 or.... but it is a different world compared to most of us.

Furthermore in some 'puff piece' Corbyn was asked what bike he'd really like. The cost of the bike he selected was a few hundred £ cheaper than the model he already owned. You can only surmise that whatever it was £499.00 rather than £799.00 'sounded better' to the common man.

I guess politics is one man able to afford any number of bikes and another deliberately downgrading how much he'd spend on one..... :D
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20308
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by mjr »

Tangled Metal wrote: 6 Apr 2021, 1:31pm So cycling is political? Well when they ban political threads on here in guess there will be nobody explaining to a new poster what a limit screw is or others discussing which wheel makes and models are impossible to get marathon pluses onto when on a ride. Other technical topics are available.
Well, yes, as limit screws should be adjusted and wheel/tyre compatibility advice should be given by employed workers of properly insured limited liability companies in exchange for money. Anyone trying to give explanations away for free on here is some sort of champagne communist destroying value that the working classes have accumulated over time in an attempt to force them into their assigned jobs in some new world order, aren't they?
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
mikeymo
Posts: 2299
Joined: 27 Sep 2016, 6:23pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by mikeymo »

mjr wrote: 6 Apr 2021, 2:03pm
Tangled Metal wrote: 6 Apr 2021, 1:31pm So cycling is political? Well when they ban political threads on here in guess there will be nobody explaining to a new poster what a limit screw is or others discussing which wheel makes and models are impossible to get marathon pluses onto when on a ride. Other technical topics are available.
Well, yes, as limit screws should be adjusted and wheel/tyre compatibility advice should be given by employed workers of properly insured limited liability companies in exchange for money. Anyone trying to give explanations away for free on here is some sort of champagne communist destroying value that the working classes have accumulated over time in an attempt to force them into their assigned jobs in some new world order, aren't they?
OMG!! That's absolutely hilarious!! Funniest thing I've read in years!! You're wasted as a computer programmer, you should go on the stand-up comedy circuit with material like that.
Tangled Metal
Posts: 9505
Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by Tangled Metal »

And political comments should only be made by professional politicians for similar reasons. Think of the poor politicians and ban political threads on cycling forums.
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20308
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by mjr »

Tangled Metal wrote: 6 Apr 2021, 4:31pm And political comments should only be made by professional politicians for similar reasons. Think of the poor politicians and ban political threads on cycling forums.
Politician isn't a profession because most of them claim to actually believe in what they do and not be simply professing views for payment.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Tangled Metal
Posts: 9505
Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by Tangled Metal »

Certainly not professional where politicians are concerned. Neither is cycle salesman or mechanic a profession more a trade.
User avatar
661-Pete
Posts: 10593
Joined: 22 Nov 2012, 8:45pm
Location: Sussex

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by 661-Pete »

mikeymo wrote: 6 Apr 2021, 2:30pm
mjr wrote: 6 Apr 2021, 2:03pmWell, yes, as limit screws should be adjusted and wheel/tyre compatibility advice should be given by employed workers of properly insured limited liability companies in exchange for money. Anyone trying to give explanations away for free on here is some sort of champagne communist destroying value that the working classes have accumulated over time in an attempt to force them into their assigned jobs in some new world order, aren't they?
OMG!! That's absolutely hilarious!! Funniest thing I've read in years!! You're wasted as a computer programmer, you should go on the stand-up comedy circuit with material like that.
Have you read Sebastian Faulks' novel Engleby? If not, get a copy and read the first couple of pages of chapter 9. You may find it mildly amusing too (read the rest of the book while you're about it!).

And also there's that 'philosophers' scene from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. :lol:

Happily, demarcation disputes are not so common nowadays - or are they? There's a political topic to raise hackles!
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20308
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by mjr »

markjohnobrien wrote: 4 Apr 2021, 12:33pm The term “Gammon” is a racist phrase used by the left to attack white people whose views they dislike.

I.e, when white people get angry, their faces go red, and it is at the very least a highly loaded term.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammon_(insult)
...is the wrong answer. It's a term by Charles Dickens for someone who does "grow a little too fervid, or perhaps even hyperbolical, in extolling my native land." (in Nicholas Nickelby, near the end of Chapter 16).

It is not about the starting colour of one's skin, but about causing it to redden through nationalist fervour. Some colours may mask it a bit, but do you think people with other skin colours don't have red blood that can rush to their face, or something? Now that would be racist!

It's also pretty ironic that most of the people objecting to this Dickensian language would probably suggest that he is one of the great English authors that everyone should read, even though they themselves seem ignorant of his work.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Tangled Metal
Posts: 9505
Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by Tangled Metal »

Wrong answer. If wiki can be believed. Not checked the source but I doubt Dickens came up with it just used a commonly used word used in this way at the time.
In 1604, John Marston wrote "Your devilship’s ring has no virtue, the buff-captain, the sallow-westphalian gammon-faced zaza cries" in The Malcontent
User avatar
661-Pete
Posts: 10593
Joined: 22 Nov 2012, 8:45pm
Location: Sussex

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by 661-Pete »

Oh dear! Perhaps I should never have mentioned the G-word on this thread (I think it was I who started it :oops: ). I didn't think it would give that much offence! But OK - sorry.

But I will say this. As an avowed (moderate) left-winger, I don't get bothered if someone labels me a 'leftie' or even a 'trot' (though I always thought the latter word, in the plural, pertains to a type of gastric issue.... :lol: ). To me, these words say a lot more about the person using them, than about the person targeted.

And that's not to say I'll never take offence at anything. Though I do try not to....
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
Mike Sales
Posts: 7883
Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by Mike Sales »

Politics and cycling have collided in the USA.
Joe Biden's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has committed to trying to build a "culture of cycling" in the US during his time in office and was leading from the front with this spin to a cabinet meeting at the White House. Another video showed Buttigieg returning to his office, half an hour away from the White House, also by bike.

Despite being debunked by Snopes and the video being "clearly from the Department of Transportation" car park, plenty of Trump-supporting critics were less convinced and claimed he'd been dropped off next to his destination for a cheap photo opportunity...

Conservative commentator Dinesh S'Souza published a story headlined, 'Buttigieg CAUGHT Faking Green Lifestyle, Rides Bike to Work After Car Drops Him Off Near Destination'...

While another Twitter user described it as "Pete Buttigieg’s dog and pony show. Use an armoured Suburban to bring a bike within a short distance of the destination. Unload it and ride in with a security detail in tow, pretending to save energy."

Snopes (link is external) contacted the US Department of Transportation and a spokesperson confirmed he had cycled his six-mile commute to the to the cabinet meeting and back again.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
Ben@Forest
Posts: 3647
Joined: 28 Jan 2013, 5:58pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by Ben@Forest »

661-Pete wrote: 9 Apr 2021, 9:07am But I will say this. As an avowed (moderate) left-winger, I don't get bothered if someone labels me a 'leftie' or even a 'trot' (though I always thought the latter word, in the plural, pertains to a type of gastric issue.... :lol: ). To me, these words say a lot more about the person using them, than about the person targeted.
As the 'People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs' Trotsky had a lot of people shot, including those who were nominally 'on his side'. In the Kronstadt Uprising several thousands were executed (rather than killed in fighting) and prisoners continued to be killed for years afterward. I'm not sure I'd like to be associated with being a 'Trot'.
markjohnobrien
Posts: 1037
Joined: 4 Oct 2007, 8:15pm

Re: should politics be banned on the forum?

Post by markjohnobrien »

Trotsky was a bloodthirsty monster, as were his Bolshevik contemporaries, as he had no respect for any human life and his infamous words were:

“We must put an end once and for all to the Papist-Quaker babble about the sanctity of human life”.

Morally, he was of the same stripe as Stalin and Hitler rather than leaders of democracies.
Raleigh Randonneur 708 (Magura hydraulic brakes); Blue Raleigh Randonneur 708 dynamo; Pearson Compass 631 tourer; Dawes One Down 631 dynamo winter bike;Raleigh Travelogue 708 tourer dynamo; Kona Sutra; Trek 920 disc Sram Force.
Post Reply