Listen, I'm not a TikTok hater. I've spent plenty of time enjoying videos there. Depending on what you're into and why you use it, you can find some really cool, inspiring stuff.
But like any social media platform, it's a tool. And how you use it matters.
A hammer is great if you want to pound some nails, but most people frown upon using it to smash someone in the face.
It's just, you know, a thing that can cause grievous bodily harm, so you probably shouldn't do it.
And if you're rolling your eyes right now, I completely understand. It seems obvious, right? Not like a thing I should waste keystrokes telling you.
And yet, it's apparently something that an experienced TikToker who goes by the username @hazel_gm has somehow not learned in however many years she's spent on this earth. I point out that she's an experienced TikToker because it's indicative of the fact that she knows the culture, and for that reason, she should clearly know better.
What Did She Do?
If you're on motorcycle TikTok and/or Instagram, then you may already have seen the numerous Stitches that upset motorcycle community members have made of her original video.
She's since taken that video down, so we can't link directly to it, but it will live forever in the Stitches that other folks have made responding to her feeble attempt at outrage generation.
In the original video, she's addressing the camera from inside her car, and yelling about how "motorcycles need to watch out for ME" and how motorcyclists don't obey rules of the road.
But the real pièce de résistance of her angry screed is how "I'm gonna start speed bumps" and "I'm just gonna hit them and keep going." Actual words that actually came out of her actual mouth.
And like, lady, this isn't Mario Kart. Riders are humans, with people we care about and who care about us. Just like you. We don't magically regenerate when some person who got annoyed with us for any reason decides to run us down. We aren't starfish, nor are we earthworms.
It's a point that numerous riders, such as @thepinkmotobun on Instagram, have already quite eloquently made in their own response videos stitching what this jerk originally saw fit to upload from her phone.
Was She Just Ragefarming To Get Clicks, Or Did She Mean it?
Only she knows for sure. I can't say what was in her head, and neither can you. She's since issued a halfhearted apology video after taking down the original from her TikTok account, but that could very well all be part of a strategy.
Is it a strategy that backfired? At this point, that's unclear.
What I feel confident in saying that it isn't is an accident.
While this user isn't someone with millions of followers, she does have over 17K at the time of writing. Furthermore, she has been posting videos on TikTok for some time. So, she's not new. She has some idea what she's doing, and she should also have some idea by now of how certain things might be received.
The thing is, I've heard other non-riders use very similar language. Talk about opening their car doors when they see riders pulling up, knowing full well that while it might mess up their car door, it will probably seriously injure the rider. Or worse.
And I have to ask, is your anger over some perceived slight in traffic really worth someone else's life? Who in the world do you think you are, that you're so much more important and better than someone on a bike who you feel wronged you in some way?
You yell at them. You flip them off. You don't threaten to run them down or open your bloody car door into them.
That's not 'frustration,' as @hazel_gm claims in her mealymouthed apology video.
That's intention to cause harm, and maybe death. Over a traffic slight.
If you think that's OK, what is wrong with you?
What kind of sad, unfulfilling life do you lead that you think that's OK to put out into the world?
We're all out here, doing the best we can with what we have and trying to get what joy we can out of the time we have on this planet. Some of us choose motorcycles. Some of us choose makeup. Some of us choose arts and crafts. Some of us choose any number of things, and then we all get together and chat about it and exchange recipes later.
But you, that's what you do with your time on this Earth?
Listen, you can keep your insincere apology. But I hope you re-evaluate some things in your own life, because it sounds like it must be pretty empty.
