Re: [TheThinkTank] Digression from the non-male only projectsthread.

29 Oct 2009

      Motion to remove this guy and his highly disturbing and unproductive

rant from the listserve. Do we have a moderator?
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 29, 2009, at 1:52 PM, Michael Wolfe gzuphoesdown@gmail.com

wrote:
...
last week I was at Costco buying a case of biscuits and I saw this

lady is an air force flight suit. I couldn't help but ask, "when did

the start letting women fly?"  now I'm noticing women doing all

sorts of stuff. I even saw a woman driving a public transit bus.

this to me seems dangerous.  they won't breast feed and and now we

have children without immunity all over with swine flu and I can't

even go to walmart for fear of all this sickness. now they want to

be in charge of all kinds of things and governement and the economy

and recycling and even driving the garbage truck. where does it end?

how am I to embrace my freedom?  this girl came to our ride once and

all she could talk about was how men have affairs nothing more than

high school education. this bothers me. then some wild yap about

jail and court and lawyers and such:  Who do you think I am -- some

kind of moneybag?  Here I am trying to sell my short story trilogy,

and you people hound me at every turn -- howling and moaning about

some sexist bike shops.  What kind of rotten business are you in --

that you have to hound people all over the country?
Everybody knows that the bicycle is nothing more that a money

laundering scheme, a shady, underground, organization that pollutes

the very nature of what we are about:  "rebelling against the man"

Cycling is a lifestyle choice.
What the hell are you tyring to do, anyway?  Don't you realize that

I can't work with all the war coming on us?  This atomic fallout is

God's WRATH! With the end of the world right on top of us, I can't

afford to work, let alone ride a bicycle or race cyclocross.

Haven't you ever heard of serving God and Mammon?  With all this sex

going on and people forgetting about God, how can you hound me like

this?  We're taking whiskey into our bodies all the time and drink

God's BLOOD!  I can't hold a job -- I get worried all the time and

feel half crazy ... what are you doing with all this money?  I don't

want your damn money . . . we all have a home in Heaven . . .what's

all the trouble?
You don't understand the strain I'm under:  I'm not the same man I

was a year ago.  Worrying about my work and money and fitness and

jobs all at the same time is driving me crazy!  I have to get my

work published!   Why don't you talk to some of these publishers I

know and get me an advance  so I can write a novel?  Then I'll have

money and I will be able to race every weekend.  Then I'll have

money . . .then I'll have it . . . I won't get these threats!   I

got a disease of some kind over in New Orleans and this doctor says

I'll be fine, but I worry.   Everybody thinks it's funny, but I have

to get a job.   I might be the assistant religion editor at the

Gainsville Sun pretty soon. .  . ''I'm going over there next week to

see about a job.  I had a car and somebody took it in St. Louis.

Oh, God, whats happening all the time?  Everybody wants to steal and

drink and sex and take every body's money away from people who don't

even sell anything and there's crazy atomic fallout everywhere and

war coming on.   The whole world is going crazy and  I don't even

have a job.  You've got to stop threatening me!  I'm not well -- I

have a blister on my leg and that damn disease is all over my

stomach.  I can't even think what I want to say anymore . . . this

worry is driving me crazy.
I tired to work in New Orleans and they made me quit.  If I get this

thing in Gainesville I'll be a religion editor and publish my own

book in the paper.  After that I'll have a job.
On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 11:25 AM, Boson Au instructions@gmail.com

wrote:
Some of the time it doesn't even get to the part where you can offer

cake; I heard about your cake party and erroneously assumed that

only your kind are invited to have cake (because when I peeked in

the window it's all your kind).  I then back off, secretly wondering

about cake.
also, it is apparent that when I went to the party it was a cake

party.
it's a weird cycle.  I've been told MANY times that people are

sometimes intimidated by our shop.  A lot of women told me that

they  are intimidated by the sheer amount of guys there (and while

maybe the majority of them aren't 'sexist bastards' it takes only

one and the indifference of others to reinforce this.)
I don't think advertising gender nights/ talking about trying to

level the playing field at the shop is being pushy.  Think about it;

the only types of people who would step foot in are ones who are

interested in bikes and 'bike culture.'  Even if they're just there

to get a bike to ride around town in they've already signed up for it.
On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 10:48 AM, veganboyjosh@gmail.com wrote:
Not to detract from the things offered already, as a general

discussion about how to end sexism and all the other 'isms is

important, but I may not have stated my question clearly originally.
Say your'e at a party, and there's cake. The cake gets cut and

distributed. You're taking your sweet time eating your piece of

cake. I get to the party late, after the cake has been cut and

distributed. You still have some cake left on your plate.
 How much energy is appropriate for you to put into making sure I

get some cake also? As it turns out, I'm just not interested in the

cake you're offering. I have no problems with you having some and me

not. You offer to split your cake with me. You offer to cut the cake

and let me choose which half to have myself.
 Seriously, I'm not interested in the cake. It has nothing to do

with you or your cake. It's about not wanting cake.
Does this analogy have a place in a discussion about privilege?

There are going to be some people at all levels of privilege, class,

gender, etc, who just aren't interested in bicycles or community

bike shops, no matter how accessible, open, oppression free, safe

space providing they are. How do we know we've done enough to

accommodate the community, and when we're being pushy by expecting

to have someone of every dynamic in the shop?
Again, I sincerely hope I'm not coming across as the dickhead white

male...and I would say that I personally have not and do not do

enough regularly to address the things I could. This is ABSOLUTELY

NOT me saying "enough with this accommodating already!" Just trying

to figure out where the line is between being fair and offering what

I/we have to someone who doesn't and being pushy with our interests

towards people who just don't want cake.
Hope that make sense.
Thanks for the input, everyone. Love for each and every one of you

reading this.

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Digression from the non-male only projectsthread.

Adam Schwartz