Chris Core's follow up

Several people posted a link to this. Here's the transcript

OK guys, eleven days ago I did a commentary about how more and more people are using bicycles to commute; and about how difficult it is for bike and car commuters to share the same road and how hostile I think some bikers have become. You can hear it here.

I have since received dozens of really angry emails. That's because somebody transcribed my commentary and put it in the blogosphere. Thus giving thousands of bikers the opportunity to show me their, um, lack of hostility by writing to me.

Mike called me "morally bankrupt."
Russ called me a "dumbass."
Bruce says I'm "mean and anti-social."
Joe said I "ruined his day."

The reaction was so angry that I'm devoting a full segment to the issue on my Channel 50 TV show this coming weekend.

My favorite email came from freewheeler who wrote, "Bike commuters don't tune to WTOP for traffic and weather. Did you say what you did because you're afraid of losing your captive audience?"  The answer to that is, well, yes. That's exactly why I wrote the commentary to keep WTOP #1.

Taking one for the team is a Core Value.

I think the reason he got dozens of really angry emails was that what he said was wrong, insulting and dangerously irresponsible. I'm not sure I agree with his summary of his story either.

It's telling, I think, that Chris Core sorted through the numerous emails he got, much of which I saw as well as many people forwarded their's on to me, and found only the parts that make cyclists seem combative and low-brow. He had a real chance to discuss a real issue [sharing the road] and instead he focused on the fact that some people called him names.

Then he took Freewheel's quotes out of context and cut them together to make Freewheel look crazy. These were sarcastic jokes, the substance of the letter was cut out. I knew that as soon as I heard it because I'd already read Freewheel's letter here. Freewheel questioned him on this

I read EXACTLY what was on your e-mail...I saved it. I read the first and last sentence. Trust me, the guy who called me a "dumb ass" had more to say as well. Chris

Freewheel replied

Yes - you took my first sentence (a joke) and my last sentence (a joke) and ignored the substance of my email. It's simply not honest to take words out of context and mischaracterize what someone says.

Rewriting Chris' commentary above with the same license

OK guys, eleven days ago I did a commentary about how...hostile I...have become...

Mike called me "morally bankrupt."
Russ called me a "dumbass."
Bruce says I'm "mean and anti-social."

...yes. That's exactly why I wrote the commentary...

Comments

[Tom]

Now that the "bicycle community" has taken the bait, Core will reel us in, let out a little slack and finally release us after he has pulled us into the boat (about one show's worth). This is what talk radio does.

If you guys want to be the dupes in this old and very tired game, go ahead.

[Bonzai Buckaroo]

Two cliches:
1. Don't agrue with fools.
2. Don't fight a bear in its own den.

[ibc]

Wow! Populist hack demonizes the powerless to boost his ratings amongst his "Core" constituency of mouth-breathing rubes.

In other news, "Dog Bites Man With Teeth".

One bright spot to all this is that his "Core" listenership is in it's mid-sixties, and will likely be dead within the next 5-10 years. He's an endangered species for the same reason that the end is coming for homophobes, racists, and Republicans.

Death comes for us all.

[freewheel]

I love your rewrite!

Well, all good points there in the posts about how useless and even counterproductive it seems.

There are a few good lessons here:

- Core is clearly immoral as well as a hate-monger (is this a road rage argument, if I dare ask?)

- Core has no interest in learning anything new or expanding his ever shrinking intellectual horizon. Clearly demonstrated by his lack of critical discourse on the topic. He received a number of good e-mails with substantive points which he conveniently ignored. The sign of a lazy mind, among other things.

- If a bicyclcist is injured by a car driver and a connection can be established between the driver listening to WTOP's Core and his violence-promoting comments and the aggressiveness of the driver, then Core and WTOP are on the line. Let's hope no such accidents will not happen for the sake of cyclists.

- Let's not act as stupid as Core and actually engage in comparable road rage that we experience from car drivers daily. All it makes you is a sorry and bitter person such as Core.

I liked your rewrite to. You should apply for a job at WTOP.

On a different note: I really enjoyed the ride to work today going into the wind and with temperartures just around the freezing mark.

[Jack]

When someone broadcasts accusations that the most vulnerable travelers are being rude simply for exercising their lawful rights to travel in a way that best meets their needs, and it's heard by road users who often get angry to the point of using their weapon-sized vehicles to physically intimidate anyone they perceive as rude, it's unconscionable.

But this debate has to move beyond angry emails and into the realm of organized response by groups and politicians who represent bicyclists. A good response on WTOP by the mayor of D.C. or a county police chief would help to defuse this dangerous situation. You can't argue with a Rush Limbaugh-like commentator on his own turf. You go above him.

[Eric_W.]

I wrote the post above between freewheel and Jack. Not sure why my name was not on it but I did not intend to write anonymously.

[Froggie]

Jack's got a good point. Unfortunately, a lot of the response has been of the "knee-jerk" and "rude reply" variety. And that's the type of response that'll win press over reasoned civil response.

[guez]

I would wager that if an objective outsider were to read Core's commentaries, the email responses, and this blog, s/he would find both sides to be pretty paranoid and shrill.

I guess that enlightened public discourse is indeed dead. Oh well.