Simplicity is the Key to Successful Living...

sigh....

whats up darling?

I should mention, big cities in China are dominated more and more by cars in these times, it's not be best example.

I've been in Beijing all week. Rush hour traffic jams are the norm these days as car ownership is increasing at a startling rate. I saw plenty of cyclists but nowhere near as many as I was expecting. A colleague I was with first visited China 12 years ago and he's amazed, and saddened, by the rise of car usage and the decline of cycling.

“I hope that America is entering a post-’greed is good’ period. I can’t think of a single step that would change the nature of our society more than everyone abandoning their automobiles and cycling instead. There would be less dependence on oil, obesity levels would drop dramatically, and reflective bike clips would replace fancy ladies’ purses as the current must-have fashion accessory.”

• Nick Dewar
  
  
  

just found this in ReadyMade magazine and thought you folks might appreciate it as turning to this page did bring a smile to my face, the article is online here, and you can download the poster in pdf... it should be a fixed bike if he wants to chat simplicity, but hey, works for me ;)

http://readymade.com/article/poster_children/P2/

www.nickdewar.com

dewar forgot to add how much happier/less stressed everybody would be! plus all the internet friends they could make.

Katt, you are a gem. Just what I needed after a shitty Friday.

Mandywaffle n dfp, your missing the point it doesn't matter if car culture will cease or if everyone rides bikes in utopia.

Conditions change, peoples mindset can change. I don't know if you live in London but cycling here know is becoming massive. If the amount of people that are still riding in this shit weather and the amount coming in my shop is anything to go by people are minds are changing. Cyclings even got it's own primetime tv commercial.

Whats more is I don't belive that this boom is isolated in this city.

Besides it's given me a great idea.

In the words of Stevie wonder " haters keep on hatin, lovers keep on lovin".

Thanks again Katt.

no where's that?

i don't think he, or i, am saying that every person in the western world is just going to stop driving and cycle everywhere. but more and more people are starting to cycle, even if they still drive their car to the store, maybe each week someone who is not an avid cyclist will cycle 20 miles they would have driven, and drive everywhere else. that shit does add up. it doesn't have to be all or nothing, obviously it's not gonna be. plus, i like the poster.

The fact that it's good that people are cycling more was never in question...i was referring to the specific article you posted. Which is undoubtedly over optimistic and unrealistic.

I've been in Beijing all week. Rush hour traffic jams are the norm these days as car ownership is increasing at a startling rate. I saw plenty of cyclists but nowhere near as many as I was expecting. A colleague I was with first visited China 12 years ago and he's amazed, and saddened, by the rise of car usage and the decline of cycling.

The use of vehicles with at least 4 wheels, is encouraged by the governments of these places too, as they see it as being more modern and less congested than the diorganised mess of Bikes/motorbikes etc.

Plus automotive companies have been pushing hard to get asia more into cars.

But thats besides the point, just saying people riding bikes does not equal the great utopia some people assume, nor is such a thought in a relevant context to many places (USA) The world is more complicated.

@furious tiles....i didn't miss the point...i responded to the specific article in question.
The thread wasn't asking if it's a positive thing that more people are cycling now.
I obviously agree that it is...but again...my response was to one specific thing.

Great post, Kattt! Ignore the 'Bah, humbug' naysayers...

Was he also wearing rose tinted spectacles when he wrote the article?

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, innit?

But thats besides the point, just saying people riding bikes does not equal the great utopia some people assume, nor is such a thought in a relevant context to many places (USA) The world is more complicated.

No shit sherlock. I somehow think the OP knows that too, but was merely posting a pleasant piece of literature/thought as just that - a pleasant concept. I would think that suggesting that 'some people assume' bicycle riding = utopia, and is therefore unaware of the complexity of the world is a bit condescending.

“I hope that America is entering a post-’greed is good’ period. I can’t think of a single step that would change the nature of our society more than everyone abandoning their automobiles and cycling instead. There would be less dependence on oil, obesity levels would drop dramatically, and reflective bike clips would replace fancy ladies’ purses as the current must-have fashion accessory.”

What he's suggesting isn't as simple as he's making it out to be though...he's ignoring the bigger picture and the knock on effect that simply abandoning their automobiles and cycling instead would cause.
I know i seem to be coming across as completely negative....but i'm just questioning the specific article here.
I'm fully aware of what different scenarios there could be if people did this and that....but i'm merely pointing out that things aren't anywhere near as simple as this guy is making out.
There are plenty of positive things people can do in this world...but what he presents in his quote is just a bit too naive and sweeping....hence why i wasn't so excited by it as some people are.

Admit it Mr Waffle; you hate bicycles don't you? You hate bicycles and the people who ride them and you always have. You'll only be happy when every bicycle path in Britain is paved with the crushed bones of cyclists and you can ride up and down those bone-paths in your 4x4 shouting Fuck you dead cyclists I spit on your memory!
Isn't that the truth of the matter, Mr Waffle? If that is your real name?

Obviously you're free to think what you like Wigan..assuming that IS your real name?
But sorry to disapoint you...i've been a cyclist all my life...and have never driven a car.
I just happen to think that article is over optimistic.
No offence intended to anybody who agrees with it as the solution to all the worlds problems though.

Mr Waffle: admit it; you've murdered cyclists haven't you? You've beaten them to a mass of blood stained high quality Rapha clothing using half a cow catcher taken from the front of your sports-tuned Suzuki jeep. And you've laughed while you did it, a loud crazed laugh of glee and derision. Isn't that the truth Mr Waffle? I think it's too late for denials.
If you aren't a petrol sniffing cyclist killing madman then why else would you fail to be moved to tears by possibly the finest article ever written, possibly the finest piece of writing, full stop? A piece of writing that, in it's uplifting tone of hope and joy makes the Gettysburg address sound like the suicide note of piss stained alcoholic?
Wouldn't you just feel better if you stood up now, in your living room or kitchen or conservatory or wherever it is you type out your hate filled anti-cyclist death threats and said "I am a killer of cyclists. I beat them to death and I am sorry". Wouldn't that be a relief?

BTW; sometimes I make my point by saying the opposite of what I really mean. :)

You calling me a troll? No one calls me a troll.
BTW; what's a troll?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)
I meant Mandy.

I know. You're easy :)

I'm very easy. Whatcha doing after this?

Experiencing feelings of shame and regret probably.

That's a really nice attitude to have....thanks.
So i get labelled a troll simply because i don't share the same views on a certain topic as some other forum members?

Good to have ya back, Will... :D

I just happen to think that article is over optimistic.

best to be over optimistic than over permisstic frankly, how shitty would our lives would be if everything's permissitc? "oh there's no way cycling going to catch on, the earth's doomed, pollution gone through the roof, lots of species of animal's dying" etc.

even if only affect one person, it still managed to affect someone at least.

I mean, remember the slogan "Make love, not war"? that was over optimistic, too simplified and almost naive, but even so it did helped make a difference, even if it is quite small.

it's interesting to look at it in context, too, because the magazine is a creative/crafts/diy lifestyle type of dealy and they asked some artists to make posters in the style of the first great depression (yikes) that had little solutions i guess you could say to some of the mess we are in as a global society which i interpret as being social, environmental, financial, etcc.... so there is a poster promoting local food, one promoting involvement in the arts, etc.. it's a holistic thing you know, but i think furthering this type of ideology is really working because i am seeing attitudes changing all the time - i mean it's become trendy for food to be organic and paper products to be recycled! and you know, if it takes "trendiness" for the mass populus to latch onto something that is good overall - then fine by me. i think the world really is changing. so yeah , blah blah blah, i could go on, but i can be a little too optimistic for my own good sometimes, so my view may be skewed.

best to be over optimistic than over permisstic frankly, how shitty would our lives would be if everything's permissitc? "oh there's no way cycling going to catch on, the earth's doomed, pollution gone through the roof, lots of species of animal's dying" etc.

even if only affect one person, it still managed to affect someone at least.

I mean, remember the slogan "Make love, not war"? that was over optimistic, too simplified and almost naive, but even so it did helped make a difference, even if it is quite small.

It's best to be realistic and make positive changes than to dream too.
You seem to be assuming that because i think his idea is too simplistic and flawed that i've given up....again things are never that simple...i haven't given up and i'm not being pessimistic...i'm being realistic.
And as for make love not war...that isn't over optimistic....it's a simple suggestion.
It's not somebody telling about a whole big future where there's no fighting or arguing ever...it's a simple suggestion.
People are getting so hung up on these honeyed dreams of a perfect world where cars don't exist and everybody rides bikes and forgetting that my original point was based solely on this guys far fetched and not very well thought out vision.
The world can and will change...but it will be in a realistic way and one step at a time...it will be planned. What he suggests sounds more like a miss world spaech than a realistic plan for the future.
Anyway...i seem to be annoying people on here already, as my differing opinions have already caused those with nothing worthwhile to say to label me a troll...so i'd better leave it there.
Again...i apologise if my opinions offend anybody...but i won't apologize for seeing things in a different way.

The world is a messed up enough place already without having to be abused on a bike forum simply for having a different view to others.

For now i'll continue with one foot on the moon and one in the gutter.
Good night.

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