A bicycle is a beautiful whole of gears, chains and wheels: in short, a system. To combat the bike theft system – I’ve seen an estimated two million bikes get stolen every year in the United States, and owners rarely get their bikes back – we need an opposing system. Otherwise, it’s like pedaling a bicycle without a chain. There is nothing unusual about this situation: when it comes to all kinds of social issues, individual action is only effective if it is part of a collective action. The full benefits of switching from a gasoline-powered motor vehicle to a plug-in vehicle will not only require many people to give up gas cars, but also for us to decarbonise electricity generation. So what (aside from better locks!) would a systematic response to bike theft look like?
To get started, bike owners need to register their serial numbers on sites like Project529.com and BikeIndex.org. It would help if the serial number was discreetly engraved in more than one location on the bike (manufacturers usually put it on the bottom of the bottom bracket); it might also help if the bike had a sealed sticker advertising its registration — the New York Police Department has a program that does this. Trackers can also help. And here’s a legislative proposal: we should require that bicycles be put up for sale only with serial numbers, which can be checked against a database of bicycles reported as stolen.
It is not that any of these measures are foolproof; for starters, thieves can always throw away the frames and sell the parts. But when a type of crime becomes more risky and less rewarding, criminals tend to get out of that business. (Think of bank robberies, which used to be common and have become rare.) I wouldn’t mind buying the suspiciously cheap bike, as your individual abstinence won’t affect the market, but I hope you will to do. donate some of the money you save to a nonprofit that, like Bike Index, helps promote the systemic change we need. We won’t get very far with this problem unless we all kick together.
My family owns a rural holiday home and we have had the same manager for over 50 years. I have a transgender sister who came out to the whole family, including the caregiver, who she was especially close to a few years ago. At the time, there were no problems and she has been in personal contact with him ever since. They recently made plans for her to interview him for a story she’s writing, but when she called to confirm, he said, ‘Are you the one who used to…? I don’t want anything to do with you. Forget everything I promised you.” This came completely out of the blue and my sister is devastated. My immediate family is furious. Because the janitor is now older and disabled, he doesn’t do much anymore, but we owe him financially continue to support He is closely intertwined with our entire family but this seems unforgivable Are we asking our extended family to shut him down? Name withheld
i understand why you are trained. What he said to your sister gives you a good reason to drop him and urge others to do so. But what you report as a tale of deplorable intolerance may also be a tale of disability – an elderly man experiencing not only physical infirmities, but the onset of dementia, with accompanying personality changes. After all, whatever his personal opinion, it’s hugely careless of him to lash out at a member of a family who helps support him. The issue then is whether someone who has been employed by your family for half a century should be cut off on the basis of a single phone call, harrowing though that was. Try to get a clearer picture of what’s going on with him. That’s how much you owe to your sister, to the disabled caregiver, and to your extended family. If it turns out that the story is one of uncomplicated and persistent bigotry, you can break with him; indeed, you may owe it to your sister to do that.
To submit a question: Email ethicist.; or email The Ethicist, DailyExpertNews Magazine, 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018. (Include a daytime phone number.) Kwame Anthony Appiah teaches philosophy at NYU. His books include “Cosmopolitanism,” “The Honor Code,” and “The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity.”