Huge abuse from bicycle haters

Report from an Australian bicycle-rider below.  Bicycle riders irritate me too at times but I don't agree with anybody obstructing them or anybody else. 

The issue here however is what should be done (if anything) about abusive comments on blogs etc.  I get plenty but they are like water off a duck's back to me.  I see no reason why I should be bothered by what mental midgets say  -- and the abusive comments I get are invariably from people who clearly don't know what they are talking about.  I am rather of the view that only emptyheads resort to abuse.  It's a poor substitute for rational argument.

Still, I do understand that many people are distressed by abuse.  And I can see that political commentary and personal abuse are  different issues.  I would not be too disturbed if personal abuse were treated as a form of libel

To recap. I'd just filed last week's column on cycling. It was a nice day, and I took a ride up the bike path to Rushcutters Bay. After three major whole-path blockages I said, to truck driver No.3, "nice place to park". No abuse. No anger. Just that.

Had he said, "sorry love, won't be long", I'd have thought nothing more, dismounted, walked around. But he became immediately aggressive, insisting on his right to block the lane (but not the road) and dissing bike lane-loving lord mayor Clover Moore for being "an educated woman". As he stalked off I took a couple of pics of his unmarked truck and posted them on my blog.

I was a bit miffed, but not angry. Had no desire he be fined. (As if.)

My point was simple: why does everyone seem to think it's OK to block bikes but not cars?

Anyway, all hell broke loose. By breakfast, my humdrum little blog had 50 comments and a thousand hits. By day's end, almost 4000.

I was called a pompous prat, a rude and viscious (sic) idiot, an incredibly stupid woman, a small sad person, a pompous git, an old commie bat, an absolute wanker, a poor little suffering Doctor princess pet, a moron, an imbecile, a pestiferous little idiot, a selfish fool, an arrogant conceited woman, an old tart, an old fart, a dolt, lord of the bicycle paths, a wowser, pathetic, despicable, weak, dishonest and a complete f---wit.

I understand the truckie didn't like being outed. But it's that old privacy thing: if you wouldn't want it known, don't do it. If it was OK for him to do it, it was okay for me to say so.

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