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“Victim blaming as policy”: Cyclists blast “one mistake could be fatal” cycling safety campaign; Should drivers pay road tax?; ‘Cycling and driving tribalism isn’t helping us’; Snake Pass: Return to (unsafe) normality + more on the live blog

It’s Monday and Ryan Mallon is here, nursing an Amstel-induced hangover (those massive glasses are to blame), for the first live blog of the week
Mon, Apr 11, 2022 09:36
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SUMMARY

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“Victim blaming as policy”: Cyclists blast “one mistake could be fatal” cycling safety campaign; Should drivers pay road tax?; ‘Cycling and driving tribalism isn’t helping us’; Snake Pass: Return to (unsafe) normality + more on the live blogBedfordshire Police 2 Wheels Campaign
11 April 2022, 16:12
Shocking Tour of Turkey crash caused by man walking on road with back to race

A shocking one here from today’s stage of the Tour of Turkey, where a man walking along the road – seemingly oblivious that a peloton of some of the world’s best riders was approaching behind him – caused a massive crash.

Arkéa-Samsic sprinter Nacer Bouhanni was one of the riders brought down in the crash, and was later forced to abandon the race after feeling ill.

Fair play to the spectator in the hi-viz, who put himself in harm’s way to try to prevent an incident, only to be struck by a rider himself in the process. Hopefully everyone is okay.

After a tense finale, BikeExchange-Jayco’s Kaden Groves won the stage from a bunch finish ahead of Jasper Philipsen and Sam Bennett, who looks to finally have a bit of zip in his legs after a slow start to the season.

It was bad news, however, for Arkéa-Samsic, as not only did they lose Bouhanni, but the team's GC leader Nairo Quintana also crashed in the closing stages and shipped almost two minutes, effectively ending his hopes for the overall title.

11 April 2022, 15:43
Should drivers pay road tax?

Ah, road tax. That old mythical favourite seemingly rolled out on an almost daily basis by those seeking to delegitimise the place of cyclists on the roads, based on a tax which hasn’t existed in the UK since 1937.

But what if we flipped the question, satiating some drivers’ nostalgic desires to see road tax return as well as filling an ever widening hole in the Treasury?

Should motorists then pay a reintroduced form of road tax alongside the existing Vehicle Excise Duty?

Road.cc reader Cycloid thinks so. In a tongue-in-cheek forum post over the weekend, they wrote:

With the move away from hydrocarbon to electric powered vehicles fewer drivers are paying VED and the Chancellor is reaping a smaller revenue from the motoring population. The first criticism of motorists towards cyclists is the Free Rider Charge: ‘They don't pay for using the roads’. We now have the same situation with motorists – an increasing proportion of drivers are not contributing fairly towards the roads which they use.

The solution could be simple – bring back Road Tax.

All drivers will pay VED on a sliding down to zero, along with Road Tax. Clearly, reading the road.cc blog, there is a lot of nostalgia amongst motorists for this much-loved tax, and it would be welcomed with open arms as a fair solution to the problem.

The Road Tax component could be earmarked for road improvements, as the recent hike in NICs is earmarked for NHS catchup. Remember not to talk about "Road Maintenance" in this context; our roads are not fit for purpose and getting worse. Maintenance implies keeping the status quo.

When drivers receive a Road Tax bill they will be reminded that it does not give them any special rights to use the roads and that they must respect the vulnerable road user hierarchy.

Job done - Simples!

What do you think? Would bringing back road tax represent a fair solution to the changing character of our roads?

Here were some of the replies to Cycloid’s, let’s say, interesting suggestion:

I'm not a fan of "road tax" as it just feeds the stupid with ideas that they have more rights on the roads.

However, if we're going to need a replacement for VED (which would be great as I'm fed up with all the fumes put out by entitled car drivers) then it should be charged proportionate to axle weight (possibly even to the 4th power of axle weight) and possibly described as a road repair tax.

I have similar feelings about 'road tax', it was stopped in 1937 for very good reasons. If we pursue this idea we could end up with things like 'school tax', from which childless adults are exempt, and so on...

Although axle weight would be a good principle, it does allow some to bleat how their claimed need for a big vehicle is unfairly penalised. And don't forget that VED evasion has got worse since tax discs were abolished.

Reversing Rishi Sunak's latest stunt and raising the duty on fossil fuel would be an up-front, honest way of dealing with some of the problems. That way we tax the usage (consumption), rather than vehicle ownership. It may even allow us to seriously discuss important issues such as road danger, pollution - NOx, CO, particulates, noise etc - and the other serious issues created by current traffic levels. However, it doesn't address the issue of EVs which, as most now acknowledge, exist to save the car industry, not the planet.

How about a separate annual tax for anyone with a current driving license that has at least six points? There would be a higher tax band for the bastards with 12 points or more, since it seems that many (all?) of them plead "exceptional hardship" and get treated almost like victims by magistrates when they should be pariahs and get ASBOs like yobs. It could be paid by Direct Debit like Council Tax, which should mean less admin cost involved in collecting it.

I'd start by making all on-road parking charged, and (so that that doesn't unfairly penalise those who can't afford it) adding an element in to the council tax calculation for off-road parking provision.

Definitely needs to be a traffic jam tax…

11 April 2022, 14:39
11 April 2022, 14:34
Stay safe, be short: Bedfordshire Police’s new bike safety slogan?

‘Ah, so you were wearing a helmet, you had a hi-viz jacket on, front and back lights, and your bike was well-maintained… You are six foot two though. Just be shorter next time, okay?’

11 April 2022, 14:13
Reckon you could be a UCI commissaire?

For those shaking their heads at the TV yesterday and claiming they would have called Michał Kwiatkowski as the winner of Amstel Gold straight away, here’s a fun test to see if you would make the grade as a UCI finish-line judge:

There’s a definite Van Aert-Pidcock situation going on between 78 and 54…

11 April 2022, 13:38
Cycling Colemanballs, part 245

Adam Blythe, with the finest piece of cycling commentary we’re likely to hear in 2022…

… which he immediately followed up with: “Oh, that sounds wrong”. Never change, Adam.

11 April 2022, 12:23
Paris-Roubaix: Let the countdown commence…

With those pesky French presidential elections delaying our cobblestone gratification for a whole week (though we did have to wait over two years for last October’s edition, and over a century for the women's race, just to add some perspective), the countdown to the Hell of the North can now well and truly begin:

Only five more sleeps!

11 April 2022, 11:52
Amstel Gold finish
Photo-finish drama and oversized beers at Amstel Gold

Amstel Gold Race rarely fails to disappoint these days, does it? Ever since the organisers started tinkering with the route almost a decade ago – in a bid to end the procession-like ride to the final ascent of the Cauberg which the characterised the race – the Netherlands’ only major classic has little by little become a fascinating, open affair, where Flanders’ finest overlap with the puncheurs of the Ardennes.

And it’s led to some pretty spectacular racing. While the 2019 race witnessed the emergence of Mathieu van der Poel as a global superstar with what remains his most impressive physical feat on the road, the last two editions have been characterised by finish-line drama.

After last year’s debacle which saw Tom Pidcock controversially beaten (insert your own inverted commas if you wish) by Wout van Aert after a dubious appraisal of the photo finish, yesterday’s race witnessed the kind of twist-laden plot normally reserved for M. Night Shyamalan films.

> "I feel so bad for him!": Amstel Gold Race photo finish drama AGAIN as Benoît Cosnefroy celebrates...only to be told result on live TV 

Poor Benoît Cosnefroy – told that he’s won the biggest race of his career, only for the photo finish judge to finally make his mind up and award the victory to Michał Kwiatkowski. As the drama unfolded on our screens, it was also taking place in real time on Cosnefroy's teammate Oliver Naesen's Twitter page:

To be fair to the AG2R Citroën rider, he took that bitter blow surprisingly well, later telling the media: “If I'm going to cry about a podium at Amstel, I should stop cycling.”

He continued: “For sure I’d have preferred to win. But when you step on the podium it’s still a big moment in a career. There were 175 riders on the start line and only three on the podium. Mathieu Van der Poel was here as one of the big favourites but not on the podium. I don’t know what I have to cry about.”

Fair play. 

It seems as if Cosnefroy’s runners-up spot was written in the stars (or at least in the race’s hashtag), according to this remarkably prescient tweet posted with well over 100 kilometres to go:

Apart from Kwiato, Cosnefroy and the impressive and tactically flawless winner of the women’s race Marta Cavalli, the other real stars of Amstel Gold were the ridiculous oversized beers awarded on the podium by, predictably, the race’s eponymous sponsors:

Every time I see those massive glasses I picture Jez from Peep Show ordering two yards of ale at Mark’s stag do… 

Speaking of beer, while Cosnefroy and Kwiatkowski downed their half pints as if there were a photo finish camera in sight, third-place Tiesj Benoot didn’t look too impressed with what was on offer.

Or perhaps he’s attempting to emulate Simon Gerrans, who in a very un-Aussie-like manner refused to finish his beer while standing on the lower steps of the podium at the 2014 Amstel Gold, only to win Liège–Bastogne–Liège a week later…

“Time and a place, mate...”

11 April 2022, 11:37
11 April 2022, 10:58
From Alpe d’Huez to Aintree

Anybody else place a cheeky cycling-related bet on Santini?

It’s just a pity Alaphilippe (the horse that is) wasn’t racing on Saturday…

11 April 2022, 10:28
“Victim blaming as policy”: Cyclists blast Bedfordshire Police’s “one mistake could be fatal” cycling safety campaign

After last week’s questionable and low-res cycling safety tweet from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, it’s now Bedfordshire Police’s turn to come up with a dubious take on the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s ‘2 Wheels’ campaign.

The NPCC’s 2 Wheels campaign focuses on ensuring the safety of cyclists and motorcyclists on our roads, by raising motorists’ awareness about the dangers of close passes and carless driving, as well as educating riders on their own safety.

However, local police forces have been slammed for ‘victim-blaming’ during the campaign, by focusing solely on the ways in which cyclists can keep themselves safe, such as wearing a helmet and hi-viz clothing.

Promoting the 2 Wheels initiative, Bedfordshire Police tweeted: “Even if you’re an experienced cyclist, there are things everyone needs to remember when setting off on their journey. There were 33 cyclists killed or seriously injured on Bedfordshire roads last year. One mistake could be fatal.”

Unsurprisingly, the link between cycling fatalities and ‘mistakes’ made by cyclists was heavily criticised online:

11 April 2022, 09:40
11 April 2022, 09:37
Snake Pass: Return to (unsafe) normality

Ah, just as the seasons change, friendships come and go, taxes are paid and Manchester United lose, one of life’s inevitabilities is that cars would one day return to Snake Pass, restoring the A57 to its former status as a scene of white-knuckle, motoring mayhem:

All is unsafe with the world again…

11 April 2022, 08:58
‘Nobody who has used a bike could have designed this’

Maybe they had some of our favourite cycling action sequences in mind during the design process?

11 April 2022, 08:11
‘Cycling and driving tribalism isn’t helping us’, says Oxford cycling campaign group

Cycling and motoring ‘tribalism’, where groups of bike riders and drivers coalesce online to defend their ‘camp’ and demonise the ‘other’, is only hindering progress when it comes to road safety, says Oxford cycling campaign group Cyclox.

Cyclox has been one of the driving forces behind the campaign to increase road safety in the city by calling for the installation of protected cycle lanes and a reduction in speed limits and traffic. Five women have been killed cycling in and around Oxford since 2017, including two – Ellen Moilanen and Ling Felce – who were killed after being struck by lorries while riding their bikes in the past two months.

One of Cyclox’s trustees, Jake Backus, has published a piece in the Oxford Mail over the weekend, arguing that the apparent tribal conflict between motorists and cyclists is a barrier to securing immediate changes on our roads. 

> MP urges the government to help make Oxford’s roads safer for cyclists 

Like the tribes that formed in the wake of dramatic political events such as Brexit, sparking prolonged waves of often anonymous online vitriol, Backus writes that “people who prefer to cycle and people who prefer to drive have formed their tribes.”

Those tribes, he says, are based on stereotyping the ‘other’: “Cyclists are annoying and don’t obey the rules, and drivers are dangerous, take up a lot of space and cause pollution. Consequently, “cyclists” go through red lights (although not all cyclists go through red lights), and cycle without lights and a helmet. “Vehicle drivers” speed, use their mobile phones (although, again, not all drivers speed or use their phones).

“But the reality is that many people both cycle and drive, and ultimately, some people are just badly behaved (let’s call them idiots).

“You get idiot cyclists and idiot drivers (although idiot drivers tend to be more dangerous to others, while idiot cyclists are most often a danger to themselves).

“So, the debate goes around in circles with little compassion or empathy for each other. Ultimately, we share the same space, and we need to be considerate of one another.

“At the basic level, do we believe in “survival of the fittest” or “survival of the friendliest through cooperation”?”

> Campaigners call for “immediate changes” after cyclist was killed in Oxfordshire 

He continues: “Where is the debate about what is best for society, best for the health and safety of our children and old people, and what is socially equitable and inclusive?

“Ultimately, if we want things to get better, we will need to make changes, since by definition, something needs to change to get better (unless of course you think that others should do all the changing).

“How flexible to change are we? How adaptable are we to alternative futures?

“Whilst it may generate engagement and conflict online, tribalism isn’t helping us to make any progress.

“Maybe one day cyclists and drivers can have their own segregated space, and if more people cycle, then vehicle drivers will also benefit with less congestion. A win-win. Meanwhile, the eighth woman has been killed in Oxford in recent years whilst cycling.

“Let’s make the health and safety of everyone the key priority, share the road considerately, and discuss things in a moderate and empathetic way so that we can agree how best to move forwards – literally.”

What do you think? Is online tribalism one of the main barriers to securing safer roads for everyone?

Ryan Mallon

Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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78 comments

Avatar
eburtthebike replied to Clem Fandango | 2 years ago
6 likes

Clem Fandango wrote:

Classic of the genre.

As a cyclist myself.....

Yes, and about as obviously a lie.  Another low number poster being blatantly provocative, but so blatantly that responding is futile.

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wycombewheeler replied to eburtthebike | 2 years ago
1 like

eburtthebike wrote:

Clem Fandango wrote:

Classic of the genre.

As a cyclist myself.....

Yes, and about as obviously a lie.  Another low number poster being blatantly provocative, but so blatantly that responding is futile.

Well, when someone is so blatent as to actual use a troll as their avatar. Just believe them.

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hawkinspeter replied to jackojackson05 | 2 years ago
10 likes

jackojackson05 wrote:

As both a cyclist and a driver I totally agree with tribalsm is not helping. Let's start with Jeremy Vine shut the f##* up with the constant whinging and whining. Does not help.

The quickest way to get him to shut up would be to stop drivers from cutting him up and close passing him. There's nothing that cyclists can really do to stop him feeling aggrieved.

By the way, you can just ignore him if you don't like what he's saying - I don't follow his tweets etc. so my only exposure is from the occasional live-blog mentions here which are easy to skip over.

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dreamlx10 | 2 years ago
0 likes

Adam Blythe is a nightmare at commentating, the number of times he's forgotten who a rider is or what team he rides for is unbelievable

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brooksby | 2 years ago
6 likes

You could do all of those things that Beds Police are recommending, and it won;'t help you one little bit when a driver runs their flatbed lorry into the back of you because "The Sun Was In Their Eyes"... surprise

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Hirsute replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
5 likes

Espcially when heading north and not having a roadworthy vehicle.

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GMBasix replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
11 likes

brooksby wrote:

You could do all of those things that Beds Police are recommending, and it won;'t help you one little bit when a driver runs their flatbed lorry into the back of you because "The Sun Was In Their Eyes"... surprise

<BBC neutrality> Other newspapers may also be spread across the steering wheel </BBC neutrality>

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eburtthebike | 2 years ago
11 likes

“Victim blaming as policy”: Cyclists blast Bedfordshire Police’s “one mistake could be fatal” cycling safety campaign"

I was interested in what the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s ‘2 Wheels’ campaign actually said, so googled it, and was quite surprised at the results, the oldest being 2019; one might have hoped that they'd learned not to blame the victims by now.

Most of the language used was the same, so obviously just cut and pasted from the NPCC, and all of it mentioned that it was aimed at drivers as well as motor-cyclists and cyclists.  Almost all of the stories said that that particular police force was going to take some action on advising cyclists, but only one mentioned doing anything about dangerous drivers, by running a close pass operation.

It seems to me that the fault isn't Bedforshire Police; it's the NPCC, which isn't giving sufficient direction to individual forces to tackle the cause of the problem, not the symptoms.

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Daveyraveygravey | 2 years ago
18 likes

67 people a day are killed or seriously injured on our roads.  By drivers.  I routinely have to put up with office "banter" about being a lyrca warrior that deserves to be run over/pushed into a hedge/pissed all over.  Drivers see other drivers being arseholes, and think they themselves are not like that.  They see one cyclist go through red light and instantly that's how they see all cyclists.  Forever.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Daveyraveygravey | 2 years ago
3 likes

When I was sorting out the links for the UK Dashcam video, I was being pushed a channel called London Dash Cams. It appeared to be the Evil Ogmios with him calling out mostly cyclists  whilst ignoring the two times he close passed some. Of course the comments were along the lines of various physical abuse against cycling, licenses, tax and lots of other bingo phrases. 

I thought at first it was a taxi driver but not sure if not just a black car. 

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HarrogateSpa | 2 years ago
9 likes

The false equivalence in Jake Backus' argument is unhelpful.

The clue is in the fact that since 2017 drivers have killed 5 women who were riding bikes in Oxford. No one in a car has been killed by a cyclist.

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AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

A couple of cycling related ones from UK Dash Cams last night.

Awful looking left hook in this one which the cyclist seemed very lucky on. Note the three other vehicles who stopped to help the cyclist (my take here that the world is caring).

And then this one where the dashcammer actually films himself being an arsehole and the majority of the people in the comments called him out for it (as of last night). Only one person seemed to think there were two lanes all the way through and the cyclist "encroached" on the car lane. 

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Hirsute replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

I saw that too - the wheel looked mangled from the left hook.

Second one was white lines means it's ok to be mm away from you.

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nosferatu1001 replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
2 likes

It was the comments suggesting the cyclist should have indicated right...at a straight ahead junction... yikes 

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Hirsute | 2 years ago
4 likes

Came across this at the weekend

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/people/gosport-drivers-dash-cam-catche...

Lad does daft thing shocker.

Something like 70/30 on the lad but when the driver says

‘I see this kid on the bike and I thought he could do something'

The answer is yes, - slow down, stop, sound your horn !

Although interested in what others think.

 

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TriTaxMan replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
3 likes

hirsute wrote:

Came across this at the weekend

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/people/gosport-drivers-dash-cam-catche...

Lad does daft thing shocker.

Something like 70/30 on the lad but when the driver says

‘I see this kid on the bike and I thought he could do something'

The answer is yes, - slow down, stop, sound your horn !

Although interested in what others think.

I think the boy on the bike carries a bit more of the blame than 70/30, in my opinion closer to 90/10.

But it's like a lot of dash cammers they don't want to do anything to avoid risk they just want their dash cam clip.  As a driver I would have been slowing down after spotting the lad on the road aiming to give them as much space as I would overtaking a cyclist who was moving.

The GPS speed on their sat nav shows them more or less maintains a constan speed on the approach to the boy...... which I just can't understand.

 

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Hirsute replied to TriTaxMan | 2 years ago
2 likes

I was thinking that if the lad had not moved, it would have been a bad close pass, so I gave more weight to the driver.

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Flintshire Boy replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
0 likes

.

But, but, but ....

.

... it's only a few weeks ago that Road.cc commenters were up in arms over Ashley Neal's sounding of his horn for cyclists.

.

You can't have it both ways, bud!

.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Flintshire Boy | 2 years ago
7 likes

So you don't agree that the driver should have slowed down ensure a safe pass even before the lad decided to launch himself across the road. Looks to me it would have been unsafe even then. 

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BalladOfStruth replied to Flintshire Boy | 2 years ago
14 likes

There's a difference between using the horn to alert someone to danger and using the horn to startle an unsuspecting cyclist who was otherwise holding a straight line when you perform a routine overtake on an empty road.

In the above clip, the boy on the bike turned suddenly across the path of the car without looking, and is likely unaware that the car was there. The driver's questionable hazard-perception aside, horn use in this situaion is appropriate.

The horn use in Ashley's clip was not appropriate, added nothing of value, could have caused an accident, and was likely interpreted by the cyclists as an agressive rebuke (because that's how it's used 99.99% of the time).

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Hirsute replied to Flintshire Boy | 2 years ago
12 likes

You do realise that there is an appropriate time to use the horn. Yet you come up with some blank and white nonsense.

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Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
11 likes

Quote:

“Cyclists are annoying ... and drivers are dangerous"

Sums up the difference neatly.

Quote:

"not all drivers speed"

But 85% of drivers do in 20mph residential zones.

I don't believe "online tribalism" has worsened the situation, social media simply provides an outlet for the expression of attitudes that were always present - if anything, as with Brexit and Trumpism, at least it offers one an opportunity to see what attitudes really are like out there.

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chrisonabike replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
0 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

I don't believe "online tribalism" has worsened the situation, social media simply provides an outlet for the expression of attitudes that were always present - if anything, as with Brexit and Trumpism, at least it offers one an opportunity to see what attitudes really are like out there.

Partly - but that would suggest that ISIS would have had much less success in terrorism in Europe (thinking especially "lone wolf" attacks) than they did.  Obviously allowing for both perpetrators and said terrorist group just "tagging" particular attacks.

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HoarseMann | 2 years ago
9 likes

Ah, the old 'why can't we all just get along'. The simple solution to the problems of the world that has an astonishingly poor success rate.

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IanMK replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
4 likes

Tolerant societies don't do well. Just ask the Cathars. Oh, wait a minute, you can't.

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chrisonabike replied to IanMK | 2 years ago
3 likes

I get it but pedantically I'm not sure the Cathars themselves were particularly tolerant - and the local govenors (e.g. Raymond) may have been more pragmatic about their own degree of control than necessarily tolerant of the local religious situation. However the pope certainly thought Raymond had ordered one of his legates assassinated which seems to have been the (declared) reason for the start of the events leading to the crusade.

So perhaps "moderately tolerant" societies?  In terms of external threats luck is likely a major factor but "armed neutrals" e.g. Switzerland may be able to survive for some time.  "Si vis pacem, para bellum"?

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IanMK replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
2 likes

That's an interesting argument. Raymond obviously tolerated the cathars out of pragmatism. I don't believe that the church would have continued to tolerate heretics in France, especially if their philosophy took a hold. I think that's catch 22.

I think there's plenty of evidence that the Cathars themselves were tolerant other religions living in the L'occitane and not overly evangelical, conversion was done on soft "gnostic" basis. Unfortunately we can't ask them cheeky

Anyway - back to cycling

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chrisonabike replied to IanMK | 2 years ago
2 likes

(Nothing about bikes) Don't forget though that others notably told a pope to do one and survived.  Certain kings (and queen) of England being examples.  I'm no expert but I think the Cathars (and the local govenors) failed for a suite of reasons - the sect was intensely focussed on the hereafter to the detriment of the present.  Although their terrain certainly favoured defense they had powerful and acquisitive neighbors.  It seems to have been one of those periods where lots of armed folks upped and went invading (crusades all over the place).  Probably all kinds of details to do with geopolitics / the psychological fall-out from the rise of Islam on the church also.

Anyway it's a beautiful - if pretty hilly - region which I must revisit!

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mdavidford replied to chrisonabike | 2 years ago
5 likes

So what you're saying is there was a lot of tension around, and so it was inevitable that there'd be some sort of catharsis?

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Rendel Harris replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
13 likes

HoarseMann wrote:

Ah, the old 'why can't we all just get along'. The simple solution to the problems of the world that has an astonishingly poor success rate.

At this time of year I always remember the great quote from the start of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "...one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change..."

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