Editor:
Well, shucks. I’ve never been called “elitist” before, but apparently, that’s what I am – simply because I’m one of those Bow Valley Parkway cyclists mentioned in a letter “plenty of room for vehicles, cyclists on Bow Valley Parkway” published in the June 13 edition of the Outlook.
That label did get me thinking, though: what exactly is an “elitist cyclist” anyway? Someone on a shiny road bike? Or perhaps on a hefty mountain bike, or an even beefier fat bike? How about e-bikes, of which even the most basic model costs a pretty penny? Or does the term refer to clothing? Are those fancy – and often purely decorative – team jerseys elitist? How about the funny-looking padded shorts? Or is an elitist just someone who wears a helmet?
If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then I stand – or rather sit on my bike saddle – guilty as charged. As would so many of the other folks I’ve seen enjoying the temporarily vehicle-free stretch of the parkway: youngsters on their first two-wheelers, parents pulling trailers, para-athletes handcycling, locals and visitors of all ages cruising along on e-bikes, seniors feeling the wind in hair they no longer have. And, yes, fancily dressed athletes who pass the rest of us like we’re standing still.
It’s easy to lob a label like “elitist”, but what does that accomplish? I’ve come to expect it from populist politicians who use it to get votes from people they’d never hang out with, but I’m disappointed to be branded so dismissively by someone who I gather is a regular guy just like me. In the end, insults only serve to alienate.
Perhaps there’s a lesson here for all of us in these increasingly nasty times: to think twice before trying to diminish our fellow citizens through the use of scornful yet ultimately empty labels.
Glen Taylor,
Canmore
