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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   31553 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023

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I don't think there's anything at all wrong with what she did. If they really needed the bike, they could have paid for it, including paying her to give up the bike she rightfully rented. They were deliberately circumventing the intention of the free period limit - why is there any free period at all by the way? - so I don't see why they should feel entitled to the bikes. They're trying to do something the system is clearly designed to not allow them to do.

I don't think we need to play sympathy games to figure out who deserves the bike more based on pregnancy status, sex, age, race, tiredness, or who got there first. We have a system for allocating the bikes and she followed that system to get the bike over someone who was trying to exploit the system to get something for free. We also have an even older and better established system for getting something that legally belongs to someone else. It's called trade. You can pay for something with money.

I agree that the narrative that they ganged up on her to take a bike that was already in her possession is false, but she is still completely in the right.

why is there any free period at all by the way?

Its basically a social justice program of sorts. Or welfare. Or a combination of the two. Basically if you are poor you can get a special Citi membership that works that way.

All Citibike annual memberships allow a free period; the reduced price program is just cheaper (both the annual fee and the per-minute fee if you go over the free period).

Yeah it mentions that his immigrant parents are on welfare and that's why he gets the cheap rides.

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