I did the math and concluded that if bike riders are sanctimonious pricks, car drivers are just plain pricks, without the sanctification.

I have yet to get a sense of moral superiority from you, Scott (even as I took up meat eating and, uh, gave away my bike), but I do sometimes wonder if you have a tinge of moral hypocrisy.

Lord knows I love that you smoke—there's always someone around to bum them from!—but isn't it incongruent with your other two passions, biking and veganism? Granted, you might not be doing either for the health benefits—you didn't list health as a factor—but the health benefits are two massive points in favor of both vocations.

But even if your motivations are more of the "do something good for the planet/do less harm," smoking still doesn't jibe. Unless you're growing that tobacco in your own backyard, manufacturing the cigarettes yourself, and not smoking anywhere where you might mess up other peoples' air... then you've got a bit of a problem.

Tobacco has a huge environmental impact, well before it's smoked: Obviously, there's the litter from billions of cigarette butts (which you might not personally be guilty of—I can't say I've ever seen you toss one on the ground; but even if they end up in the landfill, they still take 25 years to decompose). But there's also the deforestation caused by growing tobacco (and for fuel to dry/cure tobacco—estimated at one tree per 300 cigarettes), the pesticides needed to grow it, the soil depletion it leaves behind, the paper needed to roll it, the chlorine to bleach that paper, the massive amounts of packaging, the petroleum involved with shipping the tobacco to a factory, then to Portland (I can nearly guarantee it's crossing at least one ocean—most of the world's tobacco is grown in, and impacting, developing countries). Then there are all those multi-national corporations you're supporting.

Far be it from me to blame or shame (or get morally superior—I'm known to smoke sometimes, and I don't know anyone with perfectly aligned values and actions), but this is something I've always wanted to ask you about—how do you reconcile smokin' like a chimney with biking and veganism?

We're all hypocrites, Amy, all of us. We could all be doing more of the things that we claim are important to us. Oh well, you pick and choose your battles.

Clearly Scott and the environment would be better off if he stopped, but calling him a hypocrite probably isn't the #1 way to convince him (listing all the environmental impacts, as you also did, seems better?)

You're right about one thing--my personal health isn't a motivation for anything I do. It's something of a flaw that I have--maybe I'm missing that all-important self-preservation gene.

But, of course, you're also right about the harm of cigarette production, and of my financial support of multinational corporations. What can I say? My addiction there wins out. That said, I've been planning to quit, but now you've precluded that from happening for the foreseeable future. If I quit now, it'll be all, "See, I told you so," from youse, and I'm too stubborn for that.

Yes, I totally see how me taking the same approach to people who eat meat and don't bike causes the same reaction. But, I never claimed that the guilt approach was effective, only that I enjoy it.

You can delete my comment and yours and no one will ever know why, and then you can quit, and say it's for enviro reasons to be really morally superior to all the rest of us suckers. I mean, other people quit to save their lungs. You quit to save the PLANET. Bonus!

(no one—I'm not trying to convince him. he's a grown up, he can smoke if he wants to, it doesn't bother me at all. I've always been curious about the inconsistency, though, and this was a great time to ask!)

I prefer to think of my inconsistencies as "complexities." It sounds more interesting.

as someone who is vegan, car-fee, drug-free, ...etc....
i definitely can relate to this concept.

though i stand firm in my convictions..... i'll always deal with flack from various people.
the flack that i get is never a result from me shoving my lifestyle upon others....
in almost all cases, it's purely the result of someone else getting upset because the EXISTENCE of my lifestyle makes it nearly impossible for them to sit undisturbed in their comfort zone.

when i meet new people, they'll eventually find out about my lifestyle and almost immediately (without any prompting) start to justify/explain why they AREN'T vegan, and/or car-free, drug-free....etc....
anyone that knows me knows that i don't expect anyone to explain their life choices to me....especially when i first meet them.

like scott said, there seems to be inner-guilt that gets externalized in various ways....
no one likes to admit to it.
however, i have the utmost respect for anyone that can admit that there is no good excuse for some of their lifestyle choices....and they are just lazy.

i'll be the first to admit that none of us are perfect. we all have room for improvement.
however, when we're talking environmental impacts and the like....theres no denying some people make better choices than others.

people can bitch about others thinking they are "morally superior" all they want.
if thats the label i'm given, so be it.
if anything, i'll take it as a compliment.

Yes that's right. We're not all perfect. But we try to be.

Whatever, I make excuses for my less-holier-than-thou ways. That, my friends, is the American way. Its all me me me until someone starts pointing their finger saying you you you at which I say no no no, its him him him.

Start excuse. I've got no car, but I need meat to fuel my bike ride out to deep east portland monday-friday. End excuse.

"How are you, sanctimonious prick?"

Thanks for the ammunition, Scott. It's like the time this posh girl I know said "don't call me Duchess," and from then on, nobody called her anything but. Ever. Again.

The arguments bike activists employ are (for the most part) rock solid. But the shame-slinging isn't going to win any converts.

No one will argue that smoking is bad for you. Still, those Truth.com commercials are obnoxious as fuck. They actually make me want to smoke more, just out of pure spite.

In reference to what Amy said:

Far be it from me to blame or shame (or get morally superior—I'm known to smoke sometimes, and I don't know anyone with perfectly aligned values and actions), but this is something I've always wanted to ask you about—how do you reconcile smokin' like a chimney with biking and veganism?

Two aphorisms might apply here:

1. The perfect is the enemy of the good, and
2. Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.

The above is offered for general edification, and not in any way to be construed as a position on the intellect of Ms. Ruiz, which is, I understand, a rather considerable one.

We all want to be perfect. We are all imperfect. We fail frequently to live up to our own standards. So it goes.

bicycling wastes gas??
yes, if your fuel is beef:

http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/beef.html

After 15 years of getting around just by bike and transit in the NW (OK, 14 of those were in Seattle) I don't think I've ever met anyone who was sanctimonious about their choice to bike. It is simply better for all of us. That doesn't make us who do it any BETTER than someone who is forced by 60 years of car-centered policy on every level in this country to depend on a car. Those people though who think they have a God-given right to drive anywhere and everywhere on the taxpayers' dime and the blood of our soldiers and dark-skinned civilians and the future of the planet, are douchebags and always will be. Or maybe they just need to see the alternatives, but I've come across plenty of folks who are proudly retrogressive after seeing all the options clearly. The question is, who will our descendants curse?
As for smoking (killed my whole family) that's really your own choice. (Get it outta my drunk face, though. Dec. 2008 can't come fast enough. And I know, it's Orwell nanny-state and just one more thing you CAN'T DO, and I feel that, but shit, you stink. You'll get used to it being gone and then you'll be glad it is.)
Eating meat? Yeah, I'm a killer. It is wrong - or if not 'wrong' then cruel. I'm an animal, and if I had more money and not as much to do I could get my protein from nuts I guess, but then I'd become a big fat ass. I was veg for three years. I was a big fat ass. This is just one of the normal contradictions that come along when an industrial society is populated by bodies that were designed for hunting and gathering. I think an appropriate amount of, not guilt, but acknowledgement is called for when you tear into that pulled pork sandwich. You killed that pig. Killer. Mmm. Pass the sauce?

Honey or vinegar?

Calling people douchebags because your lifestyle is "simply better" than theirs is itself an act of sanctimonious douchebaggery. No one reacts favorably to open contempt, and if that's seriously the attitude you approach people with, then you should expect no other reaction than "Fuck you!"

Shaming people and calling them names -- do you really think that's the best way to win hearts and minds?

There are dozens of inarguable reasons why riding a bike is better than driving a car. But that doesn't mean you need to be a dick about it.

but thats the thing....there are many people of the pro-cycling nature that AREN'T dicks about it.
sometimes all we do is ride our bikes and people get pissed.

sometimes the animosity is created because a car gets stuck behind a bike and can't get around them in order to go as fast as they want.
so they have to wait 20 seconds or so until they can safely pass.
though the bicyclist is riding within the law, it still angers many drivers till no end.

i've had various people scream at me (from the street) for biking on the sidewalk (no where near downtown). and i've had people scream at me for biking in the street...a bike route even....and even when i was all the way to the right.
you just have to realize that sometimes it's not your issue. and that some car drivers will always find something to get pissed about...even when you're not at fault.

i agree with the notion of externalizing guilt. no matter if you're a dick or not: if you're on a bike, you'll feel the hate on a regular basis.

I applaud biking for 1000 reasons, and I wouldn't begrudge any biker their self-congratulations if I wasn't constantly being vexed by dangerous and/or piggish biker behavior, like blowing through stops and reds, passing on the shoulder and then taking the lane, weaving on and off sidewalks. Y'all need to get your peer-pressure thing going. There is always going to be a small percentage of anti-social types on both sides. Everybody needs to work on using the roads with respect and consideration for others.

I applaud biking for 1000 reasons, and I wouldn't begrudge any biker their self-congratulations if I wasn't constantly being vexed by dangerous and/or piggish biker behavior, like blowing through stops and reds, passing on the shoulder and then taking the lane, weaving on and off sidewalks. Y'all need to get your peer-pressure thing going. There is always going to be a small percentage of anti-social types on both sides. Everybody needs to work on using the roads with respect and consideration for others.

I've never understood why someone who chooses such a healthy activity as cycling would choose to smoke tobacco.

As a vegan and a cyclist it must be hard to choose a seat. A leather seat is obviously made from dead animals, but plastic and vinyl are petroleum products.

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