Promoting Violence Against Cyclists

[telegirl]

Take a look at this CafePress Link:

http://www.cafepress.com/bull****4u

*Note that clicking on the link won't work because the word that is in between bull and 4 u is an obsenity, so is not postable. I think that most of you can figure out that it is a word that starts with 's' and ends with 't'....

It is advertising t-shirts, etc. that says "I don't share the road" and shows a car hitting a bicycle.

I wrote a note to CafePress wondering if this is in line with their policies, but haven't heard anything.

[Kitsune06]

The people who are selling these shirts are... well... I think we can all think of a term that starts with 'A' and ends with 'holes'.

Unbelievable. Freedom of speech allows these ("D" ...ends with "its") the right to express their ("D" ends with "ss") opinion, no matter how misguided or wrong it is.

That said, they put that sticker on their car, and as if by magic, my keys might just have dust on them the same color as their paintjobs! Amazing how that works, isn't it?

And if they practice what they preach, can you IMAGINE how the media would CONDEMN some d*p***t who actually hits and kills a cyclist with this bumper sticker on his car? (if, y'know, they don't drive off like cowards...)

[SheFly]

I just sent in a message as well:

Can you please tell me if this company truly supports this? If so, I will post on web forums and tell all of the cyclists that I know to boycott your organization.

As an avid cyclist who was almost killed by a car just last night, while I was LEGALLY riding on the road, I am truly offended by this merchandise. We have a hard enough time with motorists without having to see merchandise like this.

My suggestion is that you pull this merchandise from your inventory. I would appreciate hearing from you regarding this matter a quickly as possible.

I did get a ticket number: LTK30041906349X

I propose that all of us flood them with emails - maybe we can get them to
pull the merchandise...

SheFly (fuming)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I just wrote to CafePress to complain as well.

[Zen]

There are limits to freedom of speech.
You are beyond your rights by shouting "fire" in a crowded theater or promoting vehicular manslaughter.

I have registered my grievance with cafepress and have alerted my bike club to do the same.

This is the letter i sent -

Do you plan to remove this from your inventory?
Our society is full of enough anger and violence without products like this being sold.
The graphic clearly shows a bicycle being hit by a car. This depicts possible vehicular manslaughter.
Is this really what you want your company associated with?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Unbelievable. Freedom of speech allows these ("D" ...ends with "its")

"Dimwits"??

Freedom of Speech may legally allow it, but CafePress has every right to pull it off it s site if it deems it inappropriate.

Write in your complaint!

[mimitabby]

I wrote:

Are you guys aware of the products you are selling? You are actually encouraging people to injure other people? Not only is that immoral, but illegal. (Shirts that say don't share the road, send bicyclists 40 feet into the air?)
how about showing a little bit of moral responsibility here!

[TsPoet]

Please tell me someone is going to post this on bikejournal !!!!

[mimitabby]

okay, I posted it on bj

[mimitabby]

bj is highly monitored. they removed my post!!

i'll try again!!

[missymaya]

That's just shocking! I can't email the company due to the fact that I'm on an office computer and it won't let me do certain things (darn) but I can spread the word. There was a privately owned car company that had a one day promotion and the advertising was directly aimed at violence against women.. ON DOMESTIC ABUSE AWARENESS DAY!!! Umm, What!!! Fortunately, there was enough complaints that the news got involved and well, let's say they didn't get much business and haven't since. Maybe this will do the same.
I wonder why bj pulled your thread mimitabby. I hope people are aware of this as to promote against the ignorance!

[SadieKate]

Bikejournal maintains standards and does not allow links to objectionable material. I imagine that this was the reason it was removed, even though your stated cause was pro-cycling.

I'm curious if this is Sean's reasoning.

[mimitabby]

it's because there was a reference to manure in my post. I have been censored there for using the word hell as in a destination, not a curse.

letter from the admin:
Dear mimitabby,

I had to delete your thread pointing to the t-shirt site, as it contains profanity in at least its images. This is against the family friendly forum rules.

I find the t-shirt as distasteful as you do, but we don't really want the kids that hang out in BJ seeing that, do we?

If you have any issues with my deleting of the thread, please reply to this email. The reply will go to slantz instead of me and he can make a final call.

Thanks for your understanding

[li10up]

I emailed a complaint also. Hope it helps. There's no place in the world for that kind of garbage if you ask me.

[SadieKate]

I think it is interesting that anyone can provide product through CafePress but it isn't readily apparent who benefits.

I suspect a lot of the products that supposedly support a charitable cause don't actually produce any funds for that charitable cause.