Did you know the term “cyclist” can be dehumanizing to people who ride bikes?
Well if you didn’t know that, some “experts” in Australia want to make sure you’re informed.
After researchers at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Monash University completed a useless study, a link was found between deliberate acts of aggression toward cyclists and people dehumanizing them on the road, according to the Daily Mail.
QUT professor Narelle Haworth — who is not a fan of the term “cyclist” — says the study surveyed 442 people and found that 55 percent of non-cyclists rated cyclists as “not completely human.”
So… somehow viewing someone as a “cyclist” will cause you to view them as some sort of bike extension that is devoid of life? Yeah right.
Haworth along with other researchers are dedicated to putting a ban on the “dehumanizing” term and replacing it with the friendlier phrase “people who ride bikes.”
“If we used the term people on bikes, instead of cyclists, we're giving a term that is more human-like and less like a species,” Professor Haworth told Daily Mail Australia. “We need to spread the idea that those people [cyclists] could be any of us. There is need to grow a culture of mutual respect for people on bikes.”
When you think people can’t get any weirder, they have a way of proving you wrong.
Basically, instead of using the term “CYCLIST” they want you to take the long approach and use the actual definition of said term.
Some participants in the study did admit to having a little road rage toward cyclists, saying they shouted and threw things at them with one admitting they cut them off in the road.
I’ll bet they didn’t do those actions because they didn’t know to exchange the term “cyclist” for “people who ride bikes.” They most likely did that because they were irritated.
If you’re telling me that calling someone - by what they are or are doing - makes them feel sad and causes drivers to dehumanize them on the road? I’m just not buying it.
H/T: National Review