I agree with your read on this. The thing is, I really never was especially worked up about this. Certainly not as worked up as the driver. I was only following my girlfriend in a fight of her choosing -- I'm definitely more easy-going about bad drivers than she is. My only point is, if it were anything other than a huge inconvenience to somehow send a message to this fellow that it's a pretty socially unacceptable thing to run people over, then I'd think it were worth it.

I get the feeling that others who've said I deserve what I got are the kind of cyclists who suffer from a kind of Stockholm syndrome: they have come to identify more strongly with the oppressors, the motorists. Well, I for one refuse to internalize the mind-set promoted by the dominant mode of transportation. Just because cars are heavy objects in which their owners invest way too much emotional capital doesn't mean they can't be spat upon. Just because bikes take up less space doesn't mean they can be shat upon.