I first saw the documentary Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media in high school, when I was an avid athlete. The film is a sprawling overview of Chomsky’s life, linguistics, activism, and, as the title suggests, his critical analyses of the mass media. Amongst this broad subject matter, covered through an enormous amount archival footage […]
About a month ago, 60 Minutes ran a segment investigating the issue of so-called “mechanical doping” in cycling. The (admittedly silly) term refers to mechanical cheating, specifically, the surreptitious placement of motors in bicycles used in professional racing. I’ll get into the specifics in a moment, but will mention as a preface that the gist […]
I’m going to start with the assumption that, at one time and place or another, people who bike have been chastised by people who drive for not “following the rules of the road.” I have seen and heard this grievance aired frequently. It has often been presented as an argument against increased bicycle infrastructure. It […]
As far as questions of ethics in sports go, cycling has been one of the most pronounced sources of moral dilemma. While the source of the dilemmas might seem obvious it’s worth examining their ostensible roots. Sports are supposed to be fair. Fairness is typically construed to mean that no participant should have access to […]
I suspect a recurring theme on this blog will be: what’s the point? My inaugural post starts by facing this existential question. In a world where free-will seems dubious, or at least impotent in the face of powers beyond one’s control, and where one’s actions appear so insignificant and futile, what of ethics? I’ve routinely […]
After struggling for years to come up with a relatively focused topic to write about, I’ve finally stumbled upon one. It was actually pretty easy, I just combined my two favourite things: bicycles and philosophy. So, yeah bicycles are cool, but what’s the point of philosophy? I return to this question periodically at times of […]
