tandempower

Maybe he means an inimical attitude, as compared to constructive discussion. It's possible to disagree in a constructive way without berating. What happens a lot on this forum, as in other internet discussions. is that people try to undermine their opponents' thoughts with negativity and ad hom nonsense instead of constructively explaining differing viewpoints.

tandempower

Idk, I don't compare myself with other parents, fathers or mothers. I try to do the right thing. I question norms instead of accepting them blindly or refusing to question them because they are so engrained. It's not always possible or easy to act independently of culture, but the more you try, the further you get.

There was a time before cars, and there was a time before many families had more than one car. Kids most certainly walked to get places, and often biked. It's sad that many people can't (or don't want to) seem to remember that people and kids in particular used to be more independent of motor-vehicles for transportation. Many people in the world still are. There are cultural blinders that prevent auto-centric driving-dependent people from being aware of that. I'm not exactly sure how the psychology of these blinders work, but it would be interesting to understand it. In a way it seems natural, but in another way it seems eerily artificial, like some kind of mind-control paradigm being enforced in some covert way, disturbing as that might sound.

Walter S

I really mean enemy as in there's not a thread of validity in what you say and you should go away or think my way.

I-Like-To-Bike

"Thinking my way", is that the LCF test for validity? I suspect that the economic/political theorists/ranters, and supporting groupthinkers would approve of a motto along the lines of "Think My Way, or Go Away." I also suspect you should use a smilee icon when you are being less than serious.

Walter S

i really don't know what you're talking about. I was just saying I agreed that a post was rude. Run with that wherever you need to...

Ekdog

You'll have noted that most of his posts are sweeping, negative generalizations about LCF posters ("economic/political theorists/ranters, and supporting groupthinkers..."). I can't remember the last time he put forward any positive ideas at all about LCF, a subject which he doesn't seem to be at all interested in. His whole raison d'ętre seems to be one-upmanship and insulting those who are interested in LCF. He carries on in exactly the same way in other sub-forums, but posters to those places are far less tolerant of his trolling and tend to put him in his place the moment he starts in with the aspersions. Many regulars here simply ignore him or laugh him off.

wolfchild

I've been here long enough know that any person who doesn't agree with all the radical ideas and the "group mentality of car-free movement" is going to be branded as hateful, intolerant and rude...I wonder how many " LCF Gatekeepers" on this forum have actually raised car-free families and used a bicycle to transport babies and little children during winter conditions, with snow, sleet, cold rain, ice and below freezing temps or other extreme weather conditions ??....How many radical LCF'ers on this list have managed to drop-off their kids at school or baby sitter, then get to work on time, then pick their kids up, run all the errands and do all those things using a bicycle.

Walter S

Yeah, I often try to get to the meaning of his post rather than react to the sarcasm. He's obviously challenged when it comes to social skills. And sometimes the need to rant with a stream of sarcasm really is entirely misplaced, as though he needs a sarcastic rant but can't find a good post to do it with. Kind of like a person with Tourette syndrome

Ekdog

wolfchild

You live in a nice dense area of Europe with good cycling and public transit infrastructure and perfect Mediterranean climate. You shouldn't even be giving advice on how to live car-free in North America because you don't even know the reality of it and how difficult it is to make it work.

Walter S

Difficult for you. OK. It challenges me and rewards me at the same time. It's not the same thing to everybody and it's a big planet. You really dismiss everything ekdog has to say because he lives in a good place for cycling? That's pretty narrow minded. What are you doing here anyway? Just here to cheer on ILTB telling everybody this car free thing is horse****?

I-Like-To-Bike

Don't forget the favorite standby pejoratives of "troll" and "insulting" often used by a few BF posters to describe opinions not in conformance with their own.

FBinNY 

Instead of posting attacks, or debating who's more or less car free, or even what car free means, why don't we accept that "car free" (whatever it means) is a choice for most of us. We elect to be car free, each for our own reasons, and to the extent that it fits in with our lives. Those who are car free, not by choice, simply adapt.

Let's recognize that "car free" is a big tent, and welcome all who wish to enter, and instead of playing the "I'm better than you are" game, focus on sharing helpful information about managing the problems that the car free option entails.

Ekdog

You're on a roll today! First you presume to tell people they need to refrain from cycling if they don't live up to your standards of mechanical skill, and now you're going about deciding who is or isn't qualified to take part in this forum. Are you under the impression that participation here is limited to inhabitants of North America? I enjoy reading points of view from cyclists as far afield as China, Canada and Australia. As it happens, I've lived, worked and commuted in quite a number of cities and towns in the United States, as well as in Europe, Mexico and Central America, but I don't think that makes me any more qualified or entitled to express my opinion than anyone else.

By the way, if you think the climate over here is perfect for cycling, I invite you to pay a visit in August when the temperatures often exceed 40 degrees centigrade. And if we have good cycling infrastructure in this city, it's because we've fought hard for it over the years.

Walter S

I agree completely. This is a place for people to share ideas and experiences related to reducing the use of automobiles. There's no need to expect more than makes sense to any individual in that regard.

wolfchild

I still ride regularly, just not daily like I used to...I used my bicycle today to do my grocery shopping, also noticed few other people on bicycles but none of them were parents transporting their babies or children....I live right in front of a large hospital and I have never ever seen any patient, or pregnant wife or a new born baby being transported to and from a hospital using a bicycle, or Segway, or skateboard, or rollerblades or horse and cart or snowshoes and sled or some other outdated or radical form of alternative transportation.

denis123

Cool

Walter S

I regularly see people carrying kids like that.

Walter S

What about the bus?

wolfchild

There we go, that one picture just proves that daily transportation of kids while using a bicycle is a sensible, smart and practical for majority of the population....All I see here is LCF propaganda promoting something that just wouldn't work for majority of the people.

wolfchild

Sure tons of people use buses. Personally I don't like using public transit.

Walter S

Ours works well. A car would be so boring by comparison.

FBinNY 

Public transit was very entertaining when I lived in Manhattan. Here in the burbs the entertainment value is below zero.

Ekdog

Roody

How many? A few, on this forum. Worldwide, the number of carfree parents must number in the billions.