i totally see your points norm, i just choose to look at the headlines as advertising for an article, however sleazy it may be. i just throw up bike articles i see online for whatevah. maybe its because i'm a fan of mike meyers character linda richman from SNL... ok... i'm getting vahklempt... here's a topic, bike and motorist conflicts, read away, discuss... mmmm bikes... like butta.
a writer wants to get his stuff read to improve his business... sure the title stinks, and it starts off sensationalist (all about fighting) but i think the article is at least worth reading, or at least knowing its out there. i dont subscribe to newsweek, i just generally poke around and if i come across something, i will throw it up. the two articles this week aren't insanely awesome reading, but i think its on topic...
distorted headlines may be a crappy way to get something read, but if you have a couple minutes, and want to read something, i figure, why not check out an article on bikes? i don't mean to perpetuate the negative selling you're talking about. i would copy and paste the article onto the site to avoid adding hits, but when i see a copyright at the bottom of the article, i dont like to just copy and paste it... being a former musician, i'm a bit touchy on copyrights... and if an article is on the homepage of MSN, i figure it will get enough hits on its own, whether or not i link to it. i know its stupid, but its copyrighted.
i just figure its on topic and of interest. there's been a lot of bike stuff in the news lately. honestly, i think we are going to see more bike news as long as the gas prices stay high. unfortunately, i think most of the articles that will come will be on conflicts between motorists and bikers, versus something like "a bike commuters success story".
talking to the article - i hate to hear the crazy stories, but i admit there is some cheap entertainment value in it. the youtube link is pretty nuts. there are some critical mass ride discussions going on over on emptybeer, and i think this article kinda starts off riding the coattails of those kind of stories. anyway, having been to portland, it is a real bike friendly town - if you look at some of that stats they through out, its relatively interesting... especially this stuff:
"The numbers of new cyclists on the road are staggering. City officials track the growth on four bridges that cross the Willamette River, connecting the east and west sides of town. Last year, 14,500 cyclists crossed the bridges, an increase of 21 percent over 2006. In May, the number of cyclists who crossed the Broadway Bridge was 24 percent higher than the peak in 2007. Eighteen percent of the vehicles that crossed the Hawthorne Bridge last year were bicycles."
18% is pretty awesome. imagine if that were the brooklyn or the verrazano.
after reading that, all sensationalism aside, i figured it was worth sharing.