Drunk mows down 11 cyclist...at 2 a.m.

[Maxiton]

I don't generally like hipsters (and I especially dislike seeing people ride brakeless in traffic), but I dislike someone who's completely desensitized to the misfortune of others even more.

Anyone who thinks being dragged under a speeding car is righteous punishment for something akin to jaywalking is missing some essential human qualities.

The country is in the situation it is in today because of pantywaists like this. Everyone cries about the injured without pulling back to think, "Hey, wait a minute. This guy is an idiot. His injuries are at least in part due to his own stupidity. Maybe this will act as a good example for others."

Irresponsible riders enrage drivers and put the rest of us in danger.

Drivers acting irresponsibly is hardly a topic that needs embellishing--I witness that every single time I drive.

But here's what concerns me most:
If we easily dismiss the victims of any tragic event simply because we don't respect them, then we are no different than the countless motorists who dismiss all of us simply because we ride a bicycle.

To drivers, who have no respect for cyclists, we are simply unnecessary obstacles on what they consider "their" roads. We're different from them; we use a different type of "vehicle;" we wear clothes they would never be caught wearing; we behave in ways that are completely foreign to them.

Sound familiar?

I know plenty of well-educated and otherwise generally intelligent, and even compassionate, individuals who, with shocking ease, dismiss the rights of cyclists to even be on the roads in the first place. The are not in the slightest bit moved by the injury or death of someone on a bike.

Shouldn't we be a bit above that?

Or do we reserve our empathy only for the middle-aged individual, on the custom-made titanium frame and $250.00 bib shorts, who rides "correctly"?

If the injury or death of another leaves you unmoved, then don't be surprised the next time a driver treats your own life as nothing more than a distraction on their way to moral superiority.

I'm just wondering about the "hipsters" polemic.

So if these guys, say, weren't into sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, but clean cut dudes after an office party, that would make a difference?

That the woes of the country could possibly be blamed on such types, when there's a class of (clean shaven) Wall Street shark and financial banker/corporate mogul that has set each American in debt for the next several generations makes me wonder about the paranoia and discernment of some posters.

Then there's the total lack of empathy just for being stupid. Thankfully none of them were acquaintances.

So you fully admit that you would not ride in the middle of the night because of all the drunks, but when a group of joyriding morons does and suffers the consequences that you yourself fear then we should all cry about it? Give me a break. It is not about whether they deserve to be run over. It is about taking responsibility to minimize the risks of riding instead of seeking out ways to stupidly increase those risks.

I will feel not sorry for someone who takes a vacation to a war zone and gets shot. I will not feel sorry for someone who contracts AIDS after a week long hookerathon in the slums of Uganda. I will not feel sorry for someone who blows through a red light and gets juiced. And I will not feel sorry for Midnight Ridazz getting hit by drunks at 2 a.m. when they stop in the middle of the road after a blind corner.

These are young people we're talking about. They want to group ride and have fun. They should be able to do that in their own city without being killed or severely injured. They shouldn't have to do it at night, either, but I can see why they do.

You, Damiano Machiavelli, should read again what your fellow forumers have written above and think about it more.