Posts Tagged biking
Bike races and “my tax dollars”
Whenever I read “my tax dollars” in a letter to the editor, I know immediately that the writer cares nothing about the common good. Such an attitude is completely contrary to the whole purpose of taxes. In a recent issue of the Virginia Gazette, someone angrily wrote in about how a bike race completely disrupted their life, pillaging their time and money:
Why are bike races allowed along Lightfoot and Fenton Mill roads? Bicyclists were running at a break-neck 25 mph in a 55 mph zone.
I was at this race last weekend: a lazy Saturday morning in the middle of nowhere couldn’t be a better time and place to have a bike race. It’s so unfortunate that the author was driving one of the three cars that travel those roads every day. The race was not a closed course, so I suppose the author/driver didn’t have the patience to quit speeding and drive carefully, especially with police around as escorts:
Who pays for those police cars? If the bicyclists pay for them, I hope there is a hefty fee to cover the gas and wear and tear on vehicles that my tax dollars bought.
The author of the above statement is living proof of why a police escort was needed in the first place. When I’ve been on the bike, I’ve been accosted countless times by people like this. Such a person sees the road as his or her personal space: all others must bow down before them. How dare cyclists use a road paid for with “my tax dollars.” It’s not like the cyclists don’t pay taxes, either. Indeed, the registration fee for the race probably included pay for the police, which is one of the reasons bike races and triathlons are so ridiculously expensive. Of course, the letter continues with the obligatory bike path comment:
Bicyclists cry for bike lanes then don’t use them, there’s a $50 million path to Richmond that they don’t use.
I’ve already visited on how “running at a break-neck 25 mph” on a bike path is extremely dangerous to pedestrians, but the author’s emphasis is less on safety and more towards the “$50 million.” In the end, the money arguments aren’t really about misuse of “my tax dollars,” but more about everyone else just being in the way. Can’t we all get along peacefully?
Caught on Camera
Six months ago, in the warmth and sun of summer, I was out on the bike and got passed by a strange-looking car. It had a pole attached to the roof and what looked like one of those rotating siren lights on top. Instead, it turned out to be this:
Looking at the picture, I think I’m ready for summer. Today, wintry winds whip across the bleak and deserted Williamsburg landscape. Tumbleweeds blow across the Sunken Gardens. Snow is in the forecast and just thinking about biking outside makes my blood turn to ice.
Are cyclists really to blame?
The city council in Virginia Beach recently discussed adding bike lanes to new and existing roads within the city. Nothing will probably come of this, but it would sure be nice to see something on Shore Drive. The prevailing attitude against cyclists is too great for the city to provide any bike-friendly infrastructure. Infrastructure, as in bike lanes and traffic sensors that can detect bikes on the road, not debris-strewn, manhole-pocked “bike paths” separated from the road. Not to mention that such paths are usually filled with pedestrians and no self-respecting cyclist would risk hitting one at 20+ mph by using the path instead of the road.
The prevailing attitude of drivers comes in two flavors. First, they argue that the speed differential is too great to make cycling safe. This may be true, but shouldn’t drivers be paying enough attention to deal with any potential obstacles? Any driver should prepare to see a downed tree around the next corner or be aware that an oncoming car could turn left in front of him. As a cyclist and driver, I think about these things constantly on the road, but it seems that most drivers do not. Despite being the most dangerous method of transportation, most drivers think that accidents happen to other people but not to them.
The second argument is that cyclists do not obey the traffic laws. Several of the comments in the above article whine about cyclists blowing through lights and turning in front of cars. I admit I started out as one of the cyclist mavericks drivers complain about. It wasn’t long before I realized that if I wanted to stay alive, I couldn’t just go through a light despite the lack of cross traffic. A car I couldn’t see would more than likely appear out of nowhere. Even as I follow the rules, plenty of cars come out of nowhere and now I pretty much expect oncoming cars to turn in front of me and to pull out in front of me when I approach an intersection.
There seems to be a double standard when it comes to drivers and cyclists. If I so much as tear through a yellow light, someone will yell or honk. I could almost guarantee that driver probably blew through several red lights himself in the past week. Just sit at a busy intersection in Virginia Beach and just count the cars that go through red lights, turn right on red without stopping, or don’t use their turn signal. I’ll bet that within a few minutes there would be more violations than those performed by all cyclists in the city for that day.
An ad-hoc report linked from the Freakonomics blog seems to back this up: in studying over 2,500 cyclist-involved accident reports, vehicles were at fault more than 90 percent of the time. Most cases occurred when a car stopped at a stop sign or red light would pull out in front of a cyclist who had the right of way. This happens to me at least several times per week. The study was performed by a Canadian physician and the police reports were from Toronto, so I could only imagine the situation is worse in the United States. The report goes on to say that Toronto cyclists are six times more likely to die than a cyclist in the Netherlands. It also reports that despite the existence of poor weather, Ontario non-cyclists are most discouraged from getting on their bikes due to the lack of bike-friendly infrastructure and antagonistic drivers. Lastly, the report cites evidence linking the lack of cycling to an increase in health problems and obesity.
Of course, the study was performed by a cyclist, posted on a cycling team website, and was not peer reviewed. The statistics may be an upper bound for the number of driver-induced accidents. There is also the DOT-endorsed Hurt Report, which was a similar study involving motorcycle accidents in the Los Angeles area. In the Hurt Report, drivers were at fault 66 percent of the time in motorcycle-involved accidents. In this case, all of the investigators just to happened to be motorcyclists, so it also may be difficult to draw valid conclusions.
Regardless of whether or not the statistics are valid, it pays to be extra careful when cycling in the age of texting and driving. As drivers have become more distracted over the past years, I definitely have experienced more near misses. The extra vigilance I have gained while on the bike has also been a significant help as a driver. If today’s antagonistic drivers had spent more time on their bikes as kids, they probably would make the roads a much safer place.
Another whirlwind tour
I’m glad to say that my second segment of travel this summer is over. While I like the concept of going somewhere different for awhile, I don’t handle it well. When I travel, I tend to have trouble sleeping and also usually have trouble with the food. If I was in one place for more than a day or two, I would adjust and it would probably be better, but the trips as of late have been too fast to allow me to get used to a new environment. I still feel like I’m recovering from last week.
That said, it was an interesting trip, or sequence of trips, covering Boston for a paper presentation and then to Charlottesville for a Wireless Sensor Networks “retreat”. The first thing that happened started several days before I left to Boston, tripping on a downed branch in the street which nuked my ankle and plantar fascia, as I later found out. I got up when it was still dark out the morning I left for Boston and went running only to find my foot in incredible pain. It was the worst plantar fascia pain I’ve ever had, despite having trouble in that area plenty of times. So after getting back I found myself unable to walk without searing pain in my heel and barely able to limp around. This, right before a day of airports, subways, and walking around Boston.
Fortunately, the flights did go well this time around. Everything was basically on time going out and coming back from Boston. I left last Monday morning, connected through Washington, and took a shuttle flight to Boston. I had to take a bus from the terminal to the T station which was tricky since there were several buses that all looked the same but went to different places. The subway was straightforward but I did have to change trains once. It dumped me out two blocks from the hotel and I just walked limped from there.
In an effort to save the department some money, I went a day late. It turned out that when I got to the hotel in Boston on Monday afternoon that there were no sessions scheduled for the rest of the day. I had hoped to sit in on a few to see what everyone else was doing and to be sure that I had about 20 minutes to present. Since nothing was going on, I dropped off most of my junk at the hotel and went outside to walk around, despite my heel pain. I figured I might as well take advantage of being somewhere else besides school for a change.
Clearly, people in Boston know a good day when they see one and get out when it’s nice. This was the first time in awhile that I had been there when it wasn’t winter. The previous times, the Charles was iced over, snow piled up, and winds whipped through the streets. Not many people were out then. This time, I walked through Boston Common and it was packed. I didn’t realize there was a pond that you could swim in. I went up and down the streets near the hotel, found some food, and went back to the hotel to crash. As tired as I was, I didn’t sleep.
My presentation was first thing Tuesday morning so I practiced the night before and hoped that the length would be about right. I wanted to get up early and run in Boston before I presented, but I realized that my heel pain was too great to do that. When I got to the conference room where I was to present, there was only one guy in there in charge of the projector. Nobody else came, not even the session chair, until five minutes before I was to start. After I got going more people showed up including another professor from William and Mary who also had a paper. Fortunately, everything went well and I handled the questions without any real issues.
The next trick was getting back since I had to go to UVA the next day. I was booked on a 3 PM shuttle flight from Boston to LaGuardia, but that would give me less than an hour to connect. If there were delays, I could miss the connection and get stuck, as I experienced little more than a month ago. I wanted to get on an earlier shuttle flight but when I booked the ticket, the system wouldn’t let me. Interestingly, the book I was reading had a character that took a shuttle flight to LaGuardia and then was able to return anytime without charge since it was considered an “open” ticket. I’ve also heard elsewhere that you could just change your ticket on shuttle flights if there was room. Since the flight out had few people on it and the Boston shuttle terminal was nearly empty when I arrived, it seemed that changing my ticket wouldn’t be limited because of full flights. I got the subway and bus back to the airport and got there early to see if I could leave sooner. Nope, the gate agent demanded 50 bucks. So much for all the hype over “open” tickets. Another guy asked the same question, but apparently arriving an hour or two early was worth the money to him.
I sat in the empty Boston airport for several hours while two other shuttle flights left for New York, both with very few passengers. Finally, when I got on my plane, I was assigned an exit row where the seat in front of me was removed. I had double legroom. I guess I was rewarded for waiting. The flight back to Norfolk was a little late and I managed to get home at 8 that Tuesday night. This time I really did crash and slept for over 11 hours. Yet another big day was coming up.
On Wednesday I left home for Charlottesville and picked up the other student in our group, Zhen, from Williamsburg. We got there Wednesday night and stayed at a hotel that was hopefully within walking distance of where the meeting was the next day and Friday. Since I couldn’t run and was still in pain, I took my bike with me so I could explore Charlottesville in the early morning hours before everything started. Biking was interesting since it was dark and there were a lot of big hills compared to Williamsburg. On Thursday morning, my headlight came off its mount and shattered all over the pavement. I had to get a new one.
My adviser told us that the retreat was to be held in the rotunda, which motivated the choice of hotel since it was within walking distance. I had been to the rotunda before and it seemed weird since it was only really one room where tours were given. I asked him several times if that was where it was, but when we got there Thursday morning the doors were locked and nobody was around. I had the number of a UVA grad student which told us that it was at the business school, which was nowhere near the rotunda or the Computer Science building. He couldn’t say where in the business school it was, and after looking at a map, the business school complex was huge. We might never find where we were to go. Somehow we managed to find the right room and building after running into a knowledgeable receptionist right after we walked in the door of the first business school building we found. We got to the right room 45 minutes late. Other UVA students laughed when I told them that my adviser said the meeting was in the rotunda.
The retreat was more or less an informal series of conference-style presentations. Most everyone was a UVA student presenting on a work in progress. There were lots of unsolved problems which led to all kinds of nasty questions. It appeared as though some students didn’t practice since they went way over time or were cut off entirely with zillions of slides left. The few that finished early were given plenty of discussion to fill in the gaps. There were lots of interruptions, especially from the professors, and usually the adviser of the student would cut in with some difficult question about something that hadn’t been fleshed out yet.
The retreat went all day Thursday and then Friday until just after noon. There were a lot of demonstrations, including that of a fall detection system for the elderly where the user would wear several accelerometers and gyroscopes. One of the students with sensors taped to his shirt and legs fell down on the floor five or six times, which was pretty amusing, especially since the system didn’t indicate a fall until the last attempt. There was a breakout session where my group discussed future applications and system designs. An interesting thing that came out of that was the release of more iPhone/Google Maps-style APIs for third parties to make use of the deluge of data from sensor networks. Someone commented that very soon you’ll find a microphone, panoramic cameras, among other sensors on every street corner, essentially providing a live Google Street View. Imagine what someone could do with that: follow people remotely as they go about their day or generate a tag cloud of things people are discussing the most and break it down by location. When I got home, I noticed that Google Maps now has a traffic congestion tool that uses GPS and speed readings from mobile users to determine if a road segment is congested. Stuff like this that people currently consider to be invasive is going to be more commonplace and acceptable.
After all that I managed to get back home last Friday afternoon. Since the traffic was such a mess in the tunnels, I wound up going through some nasty parts of Portsmouth to get around everything, something I hadn’t done before. It took me as long to get from Charlottesville to Williamsburg as it did to get from Williamsburg back home.
Overall, the trip was probably worth some of the fatigue and heel pain since I gave a conference presentation and got a fair amount out of the retreat. With the start of the fall semester, most the travelling is done for awhile and it’s time to get going on work that I haven’t been able to get to since I was gone.
Avoiding road rage: We’re all on the same team
Pattern recognition is a strong advantage of the massively parallel human brain. We are so good at it that we make up patterns where none truthfully exist. This may be my “face on Mars”, but now that I’ve done some a decent amount of cycling in and around Williamsburg, I’m starting to notice something. On some days drivers would be especially mad, with me being on the receiving end of a few horn blasts, gestures, and snide comments all in the same ride. Then there would be other days where I would go the same route at the same time of day and other drivers would give me plenty of room. Nobody would scream a thing and sometimes even a few drivers would wave at me. Why is this? I’ve got some ideas.
My first observation is that weekends are worse than weekdays. This seems counterintuitive, since one would think that weekend drivers aren’t rushing to or from a job and would be more patient. Maybe the rage just builds during the week and people just want to let off some steam. I will say the traffic is definitely worse on the weekend. I’m betting that slower travel times in combination with a greater pool of possible angry drivers is probably why I get more grief on weekends. However, it isn’t just that the increase in road rage is correlated with weekends. In the past few months, it became apparent that another factor was at play.
I’ve now realized that weekend or not, I’ve never had any nasty encounters when I’m wearing my William and Mary jersey. Cycling clothes are expensive: comfortable shirts and jerseys require me to lay down a least $70, so I’ve only got a handful of jerseys and shorts. All my other jerseys are solid colors and unbranded except for one, which has the school livery. I wind up wearing it a few times every week since my clothing options are limited, and when I go out in it, nobody would even think of touching me. With the William and Mary jersey, it’s like I’m wearing a Superman costume, but with any other jersey, I might as well be Lex Luthor.
This is quite a strange observation, but research has shown that any small similarity between two strangers can help form a strong bond between them. In a recent study, Manchester United fans primed to think about their team loyalty were more likely to help a stranger wearing a Manchester United shirt than a stranger wearing the shirt of a rival team or no team logo at all. When you have a bond with someone, no matter how small, you are more likely to help them if they are in trouble or respect them if they are biking on the road.
Another observation of mine is that the magic jersey has no power in Virginia Beach. I’ve gotten just as much grief wearing it there as I have with other jerseys. There just aren’t enough people that can identify with it as there is in Williamsburg where nearly everyone has some relationship to the school. As a professor or staff member, you don’t want to hit one of your own students. As a student, you wouldn’t want to injure one of your fellow classmates. As a local, you wouldn’t want to insult someone who lives down the street. Even tourists stay well away, knowing I’ve got ties to this place.
I ought to get another William and Mary jersey. Wearing it on a weekday is probably my best bet for avoiding road rage.
The government we deserve
While I was running back to my apartment, I passed an old guy on the sidewalk walking in the other direction. The second I passed him he unleashed the nastiest gas I think I’ve ever heard in public. I still can’t believe he actually farted at me.
A local study says that almost one third of young professional Williamsburg residents intend to leave within four years. Although those polled stated that they liked the area, the main complaint was that the cost of living was too high and average pay was too low. This area just isn’t geared towards younger people, especially those who are recent college graduates. Instead, Williamsburg is focused on retirees and tourists, and those that aren’t in those groups get gassed.
Why? Because those in the local government are mostly older or retired and own businesses that cater to tourists. And who elects them? A dominant contingent of older workers and retirees. Since the most of Williamsburg thinks that anyone under the age of 30 is a nuisance, the government reflects this position. The government and locals protest any affordable or student-oriented housing. An effort is made by the city to prevent homeowners from renting out their properties. The noise ordinances have been strengthened. And of course, there’s the arcane three person rule, which effectively limits housing options for young professionals with a low income. As a student or young professional, you either live elsewhere or live with four or more people illegally. You just hope city officials don’t sue you or randomly inspect your residence to see if more than three unrelated people are living together. The city council even wants to remove the 24 hour warning before inspectors show up at your residence. What happened to the fourth amendment?
Younger people come to live in Williamsburg in two ways. They either grew up here or graduated from William and Mary with a local job offer. I’m more of the second category: I don’t think anyone my age would willingly move to Williamsburg unless they had existing ties here. The environment is just too oppressive for most people my age, with plenty of animosity.
Anyone would think that a grassroots effort could be made to at least get more student friendly officials in local government. It’s hard to do that when the voter registrar blocks student voter applications. Recently, the registrar allowed students to register in Williamsburg, which allowed a student candidate to run for office, but enough AARP members went to the polls to ruin his day.
So here in Williamsburg, most people get what they want out of their government: preventing fewer students and younger professionals from living within the city limits.
A similar situation exists with another local government I am familiar with: Virginia Beach. An overwhelming majority of Virginia Beach residents hate cyclists. Though two deaths have occurred in the past two years, drivers are still bloodthirsty. Recent efforts by cyclists to lower the speed limit on some of the more well traveled cycling routes only serves to make the driving population more enraged (the comments on these articles are insane). The roads aren’t safe for cyclists in Virginia Beach because of high speed limits, it’s because of drivers’ attitudes. Most drivers in Virginia Beach think no cyclist has any business being on a road, and the position of the elected government reflects that. When a cyclist died after being hit from behind, the Commonwealth’s Attorney decided not to prosecute the driver. Furthermore, thanks to the city council, there are no bike lanes in Virginia Beach. A more cyclist-friendly government would promote the installation of bike lanes and provide a more friendly environment for cyclists. Unfortunately, since most residents see bike lanes and more cyclists as an infringement of their personal space, they elect officials that share the same position they do. As a result, we get the situation we have now, with animosity building on all sides.
We elect the government that we deserve on all levels, even at the state and federal level. State governments are running out of money and making huge cutbacks in an attempt to balance their budgets. California is so desperate as to hand out IOUs instead of tax refunds. Since the federal government sees the power to tax its citizens as an indefinite line of credit, there is no mandate to balance the budget and the federal deficit is spiraling out of control. People complain that essential government services are being cut while the federal government is incurring serious debt. However, these people are no different than the government they deride. With almost half of all Americans spending more than they make each year, many voters are in no position to complain: they elected a government that acts just like they do. If people were able to make better spending decisions on an individual level, I would imagine the government they elect would do the same.
Somehow, people expect elected officials to be held to a higher standard then those that elected them. However, those in office act the same way everyone else does, bringing along all the same weaknesses and quirks. Though nobody in Williamsburg runs for office with the position to evict students and young professionals, it happens as a matter of course since those that vote share that belief. Since most Virginia Beach residents are on a crusade against cyclists, elected officials end up adding fuel to the fire. While most Americans acknowledge they have poor spending habits and wish to improve and never do, those in our state and federal legislatures do the same thing. Don’t expect the government to save you from anything since your failures are the same as theirs.
Bike Racing
Yesterday I was out on a ride and I went by a stopped group with people hunched over a map. I asked if they wanted any help, but they declined. An hour later as I was getting close to home I passed by another guy doing the same thing. I didn’t bother to ask him anything since I was just rejected by the other group. Instead, he got back on his bike and went along with me the rest of the way back to Confusion Corner. Several times I really blasted up a few hills and through a couple lights that were threatening to change. Since I’m pretty much by myself on the road, it gets fun when there’s someone else to make it interesting. The other guy also took his turn at the front and poured it on a few times.
As we made our way back to Williamsburg, the guy said he was here on vacation with his family. I guess the map made it obvious he wasn’t from around here. Like me, he said he ran in college and then turned to cycling and suggested that I should start racing. I’ve had a few people suggest this to me over the last couple of months, but I’ve never really considered it until now. I’m pretty sure that my future in competitive running will be somewhat mitigated, if not completely over. Today I was out again and passed by a pace line of JRVS guys. I thought about joining in but yesterday was a long day and I had also run this morning so I was pretty beat up. It did get me thinking though.
Since leaving my college team, the last two years have been spent more or less decompressing from that environment. Lots of my teammates have gone straight into competing in marathons once they graduated. A lucky few have even signed deals with sponsors. I remember a conversation in the Caf one night about what we would do in terms of running when we were done with eligibility. I was definitely going to keep running, but I wanted to go on how I felt, not based on a strict training schedule. There were plenty of days where I suffered through a workout or race when I was beat up from training over the previous weeks. I always thought it better to go on how I felt, but as being part of a team I had to do as directed by my coach and stick to the plan. There were a few times where a really hard week would put me in a hole and in the next week I would be taken out by injury. While I was given some respite from workouts when I was especially tired, it usually wasn’t enough. Conversely, there were easier days where I felt really good and would wind up putting down the hammer.
If I were to consider bike racing, I would probably have to revert to a training schedule. Just going out and screwing around for an arbitrary amount of time isn’t going to cut it. If I were to try it, I would commit to it completely. I could just show up to something local and see how it goes. I would probably get my butt kicked. I don’t think the training for the bike would be much different than running in terms of long range planning and workouts. The same principles will apply. There would be longer anaerobic threshold type efforts, hill workouts, intervals and gradual buildup of total mileage over time, which would decrease for the races I wished to peak for.
At the moment, I like just getting outside for awhile. A training schedule would add a burden that I would have to carry, and the past two years have been nice without that. But every time I pass by a group of guys tearing it up or manage to collect someone along the way, I remember what it was like and it would be good to do it again.
Microfracture Recovery: +10 months
Posted by Matt in microfracture on July 5, 2009
It’s now over ten months since my knee surgery and nearly a year since my knee pain got so unbearable that I was forced to stop running.
I remember thinking last summer that my recovery would be a success if I could run a few miles a day every other day. I’m now doing that: yesterday I ran 25 minutes at an agonizingly slow 7:00-7:30 pace. Given my history, that isn’t much at all but I’m glad to be doing it with little or no discomfort. Supplementing with biking, I feel pretty happy with the way things are going. A year ago at this point, I felt as if I were doomed.
Occasionally when running, I will feel something down in the joint area on the left (bad) side, but I think it’s mostly IT band. The IT band on my right side has been tight and nagging at me ever since my left knee blew up a year and a half ago. The IT band has been the most persistent soft tissue problem I’ve encountered, but I’ve managed to keep it at bay since April 2008 through endless stretching and icing. It’s probably because I’m still compensating on that side because of the left knee.
The size difference between my left and right leg isn’t noticeable to me anymore. Following the surgery and being stuck in a brace for 10 weeks, my left leg shrunk down to nothing. The size difference was incredible, which was what probably contributed to my limp that lasted for several months. Biking has really helped with regaining strength in my left leg, but it still doesn’t feel quite equal with the right.
Running still feels extremely awkward, but with running more, I’ll adjust and be able to go farther and faster. The question remains as to how much I can do safely. The doctor and PT didn’t place too many restrictions on that and even tried to get me back to running faster than I wanted. Both said that because of the location of the cartilage tear, I would have no difficulty returning to running. The PT said I shouldn’t do any really hard workouts or compete in races — it seems that those whose microfractures fail occur during really hard efforts. Of course, my teammate had the same surgery and was able to get through three years without anything going wrong, but I don’t know if that’s a chance I should take. For now, I’ll gradually add time every week and maybe try longer streaks towards the end of the summer. Sitting down with my college coach last week, he said I could be in shape to show up to practice and “hammer the freshmen” by the time the fall semester starts. I don’t know about that.
Interestingly, on my trip back from Rome, I read a novel about a CIA operative that also had to stop running and undergo surgery thanks to missing cartilage. Like me, he ran until the pain became unbearable. The author didn’t elaborate as to whether or not the character had microfracture, but it was mentioned that loose pieces were removed. The surgery was provided as a way for a hit man to try and take out the operative as he recovered at home. Of course, the character was nearly 40 years old, so at least he had another 15 years of hardcore running under his belt that I won’t ever get. Not to mention that the whole thing was fictional.
To Michael X of XXX Towing:
It isn’t my fault that your life sucks, so don’t take it out on me.
Today marks the third time in two months that you have nearly run me off Rochambeau Drive with your tow truck. I don’t appreciate it: as a cyclist I am permitted to use the travel lanes in the same way as you. You are someone who makes a living through driving, yet your level of professionalism on the road is abysmal. While the law may look the other way when killing cyclists in your hometown of Virginia Beach, I doubt a second killing will go unpunished.
I hope you show a little more respect the next time we meet.
Force Fed by Broadcast Media
If I see one more thing about Michael Jackson I’m going to puke.
As I was heading home from Rome, a guy in the seat in front of me had a USA Today with a full page spread and giant picture of Michael Jackson. I couldn’t read the text, but it was pretty obvious that he had died. Ever since I got home, every newspaper front page and every TV news station has been droning endlessly about Michael Jackson and rehashing every last detail pertaining to his death.
I don’t care and I don’t want to hear about it. It doesn’t interest me.
If I were biking somewhere outside of Williamsburg and crashed into a ditch and died where nobody could immediately see me, it could be a week before people even noticed I was missing. It might be up to two weeks before someone would think to file a police report and even longer before anyone would find my body. Few would care that I was missing or died, and such is the case for the thousands of people that die every day. None of them get news of their death plastered all over newspapers and television for days on end, and most of the world really wouldn’t care to hear about it.
The problem with this is that this is difficult to get away from when relying on broadcast media alone. Turn on the TV and it’s Michael Jackson. Turn on AM talk radio and it’s Michael Jackson. Open to the front page of the newspaper and it’s Michael Jackson. The good thing is that with the power of the Internet, and social networking, it’s easier to find alternative sources that give you the news you are interested in. The Internet is the great equalizer in that you no longer have to mindlessly read, watch, or hear what media executives want you to see. You can read about the topics you are interested in from a wide range of sources.
Those in broadcast media don’t like this paradigm shift. They file suits complaining of copyright infringement, claiming that they are losing money due to DVRs and piracy. The real issue isn’t as much monetary as it is control: broadcast media wants you to watch only what they feed you and only at the time they want you to see it.
Since broadcast media isn’t willing to embrace the Internet, they even try to restrict the freedom it brings in ways much more backhanded than traditional lawsuits. Recently, the New York Times worked with Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to stifle edits about a Times journalist being captured in Afghanistan. While hiding the news about the capture was meant to save the journalist’s life, if it were anything but a journalist that was captured, news of the capture would be blasted all around the world by the same news outlets trying to keep this case quiet. It’s as if those in the media industry think they are on a plane above everyone else. They want to think our thoughts for us and only show us what they want us to see. Most people just blindly follow along as evidenced by comments in blogs and Facebook. It’s time to stop being sheep.
I find myself watching almost no TV and reading the newspaper less and less, skipping through most of the stories and only reading the things I’m interested in. Personalized Google News and Digg do a halfway decent job of filtering out broadcast media’s force feeding. Maybe soon everyone will realize that plenty of other things happened today than the decision of who is receiving custody of Michael Jackson’s kids.
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