Possibly satirical letters to newspapers

[mattc]

There was one mentioned in another thread (which I can't find), and now this one:
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/yoursay/letters/10996773.Cyclist_s_death__was_the_fault_of_all_cyclists_/?ref=twtrec

You don't have to click-through (it only encourages them):

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Cyclist's death 'was the fault of all cyclists'

6:29pm Friday 7th February 2014 in Readers' Letters
Daily Echo: Cyclist's death 'was the fault of all cyclists' Cyclist's death 'was the fault of all cyclists'

ANOTHER cyclist riding irresponsibly, another driver found not guilty and persecuted by the police and the CPS.

When are motorists going to get a fair deal and be listened to? When are cyclists going to learn that riding a bike is not something any sane or professional person does? It is not Call the Midwife in 2014!

To those cyclists that complain ‘It’s our right!’: So what?

Someone has died because you all fail to follow the rules, as cyclists do every day. Even if you did, so what? No driver wants to hit you, so stop this happening: give up.

We, the motorists, have won, the roads are ours now. It doesn’t matter who campaigned for what, it doesn’t matter that it’s healthy; the motorist outnumbers you 35:1. We weigh 2000kg, you weigh 70kg.

For your own safety leave the bike at home, get in the car like any rational person would. You’ve lost the fight for your right on the road and a legal precedent has been established.

ALEX OLIVER RIGBY, Southampton.

Editor's note: Steven Petterson was last week found not guilty of causing death by careless driving in relation to the fatal collision he was involved in with cyclist David Irving in Southampton.

However, there was nothing offered in evidence during the trial to suggest that Mr Irving was in any way responsible or to blame for the collision, which took his life in December 2012.

Is this a new craze? And is this one satire, or just a nutter?!?

[Reg.T]

Doesn't strike me as satire....

[jsabine]

It's mentioned in the 'I thought I hit a bus stop' thread.

As I said there, I don't think it's ironic or satirical. Certainly google suggests the author has form with anti-cyclist letters - "Prime Minister should ban cyclists" in December (I could only find a reply to this) - so perhaps he's merely a consistent troll.

[mattc]

Doesn't strike me as satire....

Me neither. But quite a few people have said it is (and I think the same applies to the one in jsabine's thread).
And when you reread them in that light, you do think "hmm, this is sooooo over the top, just maybe ... "

However, I do think that good satire has to be recognisable as such.
(As xkcd said, try posting a youtube comment so ludicrous that noone reading it thinks you're serious  - it's impossible!)

[Reg.T]

Well of course I cannot say definitively what the author intended, but if it is intended as satire then I think it fails as it is more likely to be read as sincere.

It seems to me that for some reason the writer is stressed by encountering cyclists on the road, and wants that stress removed. We could speculate endlessly about why that may be, but there seems little point.

[mattc]

What maddens me about these things is:

Why publish them?

(The 'satire' thing is a bit of a distraction - I felt it could be argued some of these things are sent in by misguided 'satirical' pro-cyclist authors, so ... well I don't know where that logic leads, I still think publishing them is a mistake! )

[Peter]

When I first saw this in the other thread, several days ago, I felt it was satire.  I still do.  It's not very good, unfortunately.  I haven't checked his other efforts; people say he "has form" but that form may just be similar outpourings of bad satire, I don't know.  It was things like "another cyclist riding irresponsibly" and "Someone has died because you all fail to follow the rules" both of which are derisably false, that made me think no sane person could have written this, unless it was intended as satire.  That said, I have no evidence as to the sanity or otherwise of the writer.

It is depressing but if it is satire, however ambiguous, it is an indication of how frustrated people have become with the legal system as it affects cyclists in this country.  The law exists but many lawyers and legal functionaries themselves have become completely dishonourable it seems to me.  I don't know how one goes about overhauling such an appalling system.

[TimC]

I read it as satirical too, though it lacks the humour that good satire needs. But I agree that it's symptomatic of the frustration with an adversarial legal system that has nothing to do with establishing truth, but instead prioritises the seductiveness of clever argument; the better (and likely thus more expensive) your advocate, the less important the truth is. In a society where almost every adult drives, and regards the 'right' to drive as inviolable and sacred, the system (and the money) is inevitably skewed against anyone who challenges it. No wonder people resort to satire; what else do we have?

[Jaded]

Why publish them?

Try writing a letter to your local paper. There are few, so most get published and it is one of the most effective ways of getting your views out there in a paper. Not subject to the usual editorial controls.

[mattc]

Rant:

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The media just make me sick. Even R4 are wankers. Some programme on right now, with 2 MPs from the Transport Commitee thingy, interviewed by Jackie Ashley (of the Guardian!) I think.

The MPs were actually quite reasonable. Then the presenter tries to get a reaction with Qs like:
"It's been said that cyclists are very self-righteous and outspoken, defending their right to ride on any road path or pavement. Is there truth in that?"
&
"Many cyclists break the rules, jumping red lights for example - should this be addressed?"

I mean What the fuck?!? Where do these questions come from?!?

What next:
"Gays are very outspoken aren't they? Always ramming it down our throats. Do they really need special treatment? Shouldn't they just shut up and stop upseting normal people?"
Oh no, of course not, there's a law against that      

[mattc]

Why publish them?

Try writing a letter to your local paper. There are few, so most get published and it is one of the most effective ways of getting your views out there in a paper. Not subject to the usual editorial controls.

Why not?!?

[Jaded]

Why not write to your local paper and ask.

[Peter]

matt, your rant reminds me that earlier in some thread or other I suggested it was time all this bollocks about road tax and red lights and so on should be regarded as a hate crime.

[numbnuts]

When I saw that a few days ago I could not understand why the Echo would want to print that, but when you read to horrible reply it just makes me thing that the mentally of some motorists must be so small and self centred little shits and not worth worring about, or is it that they jump on the hand cart as they can't think of anything to say by themselves.

[mattc]

Why not write to your local paper and ask.

I'll assume that means you don't know.

Or... could it be ... surely not ...

you have no opinion on the matter?!? 

 

[Jaded]

Why not write to your local paper and ask.

I'll assume that means you don't know.

Or... could it be ... surely not ...

you have no opinion on the matter?!? 

 

Do you even read your local paper?

[mattc]

Why not write to your local paper and ask.

I'll assume that means you don't know.

Or... could it be ... surely not ...

you have no opinion on the matter?!? 

 

Do you even read your local paper?

As the papers being discussed are not my local paper, both of your questions seem pointless.

Got any non-question posts?

[Jaded]

You start a thread about letters in local papers, then have no interest in the responses.

[Jaded]

For those other than mattc that are reading this thread - an example of the lack of normal editorial control from our local paper. The paper is pro Tory and supports the local marginal tory MP. Letter two weeks ago "Local MP has ignored his constituents again". There are often letters against him, just as there are loopy loo UKIP style Colonel Blimp letters against Europe, Climate Change and so on.

As I said, I believe the letters pages are outside normal editorial controls, and this is fairly standard - I have lived in a lot of places and read a lot of local papers. (I appreciate mattc that you may not have)

In fact the letters pages of local papers have been used for political campaigning - I believe it was a part of the 1997 New Labour election campaign - letters from activists drip-feeding policy and ideas via a part of the paper that is outside normal editorial controls.

[mattc]

Thank you.   

(And a lot more helpful than silly rhetorical questions.)

For anyone to read/answer - This still leaves a question unanswered:
WHY are letters pages outside normal editorial controls?


A related point is that I shouldn't really need to worry about which bits of a paper are under certain controls. It seems like they print what they want - just as the nationals do. And the BBC do (Top Gear, stoopid current affairs presenters etc etc ... )

Of course there is no regulatory body with any concern for ethics, truth or the common good - covering letters or front page headlines 

[Jaded]

It seems like they print what they want

 

No, on the letters page they print what YOU want, outside of normal editorial control. As I said a long way up - I've made it bigger in case you missed it:

"There are few, so most get published and it is one of the most effective ways of getting your views out there in a paper."

[mattc]

Ah, the facepalm. Always a sign of intelligent grownup discussion!
(four at once too)

Okaaaaay. So: do you think there should be any editorial control? Because in my view that would have been helpful at the Echo in this case.

There are unmoderated internet sites for lunatics to post their bile on - IMO this stuff shouldn't be published where we are currently seeing it.

[Jaded]

Are you bonj in disguise 

[spindrift]

[Ruth]

Don't be unkind.  English is not this person's first language.