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Can somebody fill me in on Critical Mass?



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 1st 03, 10:32 PM
dwj444
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Posts: n/a
Default Can somebody fill me in on Critical Mass?

It seems clear that there are a variety of opinions regarding the
actions of CM in the US and abroad. Those who have pointed out paralells
between CM philosophies and the beliefs and theories of other
revolutionary thinkers and groups (Marx, Lenin, etc. etc.) are not wrong
to do so. There are also interesting paralells with the civil rights
movement in the United States.

Public debate surrounding the civil rights movement and its
demonstrations featured many of the same issues and questions raised
in this forum. Many within the civil rights movement debated these
same questions about negative public perception as a result of civil
disobedience. There were a number of respected, influential leaders
in the black community itself who advocated a more staid,
conciliatory approach to winning rights for blacks in the US,
eschewing the confrontations at lunch counters and eventually in the
streets of the south.

Public confrontations with civil rights demonstrators thrust police,
local, and eventually federal government into an international spotlight
that forced the US and the world to reconsider generations of racist
discrimination and abuse. While it is clear across the forty some years
since those protests ended that their gains have not yet brought the
lasting equality and peaceable relations sought by their leaders, those
efforts stand as testament to the hope, faith, and dedication of a
generation of Americans to the very ideal that their country was based
on: freedom.

Although it may strike some as a stretch, many of those cyclists
involved in CM see their work as similarly motivated. CM is not an
organization; it is a movement. There is no centralized authority, no
formal structure to the group. Riders come from a variety of different
backgrounds and their views on the meaning of CM and its rides are as
different as they are. CM members' beliefs fall along along the
sociopolitical spectrum -- from teachers, doctors, and lawyers who
commute daily, to couriers who make their living on their bikes, to
environmental and community activists who have staked out a claim on the
very thing that defines CM: community.

CM is not about aggravating drivers, although some drivers can and
will become agitated by CM riders. CM is not even about civil
disobedience. In fact, there is nothing disobedient about exercising
the right to use the road. CM is a community-based movement to reclaim
the use of our neighborhood streets and public spaces in a
socially-mixed, racially-integrated, economically diverse push to
promote safe, environmentally-friendly, sustainable transportation. CM
simply put is about re-claiming the purpose of roads: the connection
of people to one another.

Cyclists who see CM as damaging the interests of the cyclist at large in
our cities and on our roads should come out to a CM ride. The invitation
is not hostile; it certainly shouldn't be read as a "come and be
converted" statement. Rather, come and make a contribution -- change the
direction, encourage the behaviors or actions that you see as
beneficial, and if you feel strongly then speak up about the things that
CM riders have done or are doing that you feel hurt our interests. That
is the nature of a movement -- CM relies most basically on those who
form its namesake -- the critical mass.

-- D.



--
Time to make the doughnuts.

--------------------------

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  #2  
Old September 2nd 03, 12:29 AM
Tim Cain
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Default Here's an essay which I can't be bothered to write...

"A Critical Mass gathering is an urban equivalent
of a DDOS attack on a networked computer."

Discuss.

Tim.




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  #3  
Old September 3rd 03, 01:04 PM
B. Sanders
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Posts: n/a
Default Can somebody fill me in on Critical Mass?


"dwj444" wrote in message
...
It seems clear that there are a variety of opinions regarding the
actions of CM in the US and abroad. Those who have pointed out paralells
between CM philosophies and the beliefs and theories of other
revolutionary thinkers and groups (Marx, Lenin, etc. etc.) are not wrong
to do so. There are also interesting paralells with the civil rights
movement in the United States.

Public debate surrounding the civil rights movement and its
demonstrations featured many of the same issues and questions raised
in this forum. Many within the civil rights movement debated these
same questions about negative public perception as a result of civil
disobedience. There were a number of respected, influential leaders
in the black community itself who advocated a more staid,
conciliatory approach to winning rights for blacks in the US,
eschewing the confrontations at lunch counters and eventually in the
streets of the south.

Public confrontations with civil rights demonstrators thrust police,
local, and eventually federal government into an international spotlight
that forced the US and the world to reconsider generations of racist
discrimination and abuse. While it is clear across the forty some years
since those protests ended that their gains have not yet brought the
lasting equality and peaceable relations sought by their leaders, those
efforts stand as testament to the hope, faith, and dedication of a
generation of Americans to the very ideal that their country was based
on: freedom.

Although it may strike some as a stretch, many of those cyclists
involved in CM see their work as similarly motivated. CM is not an
organization; it is a movement. There is no centralized authority, no
formal structure to the group. Riders come from a variety of different
backgrounds and their views on the meaning of CM and its rides are as
different as they are. CM members' beliefs fall along along the
sociopolitical spectrum -- from teachers, doctors, and lawyers who
commute daily, to couriers who make their living on their bikes, to
environmental and community activists who have staked out a claim on the
very thing that defines CM: community.

CM is not about aggravating drivers, although some drivers can and
will become agitated by CM riders. CM is not even about civil
disobedience. In fact, there is nothing disobedient about exercising
the right to use the road. CM is a community-based movement to reclaim
the use of our neighborhood streets and public spaces in a
socially-mixed, racially-integrated, economically diverse push to
promote safe, environmentally-friendly, sustainable transportation. CM
simply put is about re-claiming the purpose of roads: the connection
of people to one another.

Cyclists who see CM as damaging the interests of the cyclist at large in
our cities and on our roads should come out to a CM ride. The invitation
is not hostile; it certainly shouldn't be read as a "come and be
converted" statement. Rather, come and make a contribution -- change the
direction, encourage the behaviors or actions that you see as
beneficial, and if you feel strongly then speak up about the things that
CM riders have done or are doing that you feel hurt our interests. That
is the nature of a movement -- CM relies most basically on those who
form its namesake -- the critical mass.

-- D.


Thank you for this thoughtful essay. It is the most compelling pro-CM
argument that I've ever read.

However, it does raise some questions:

Black Americans in the 1950's were a small minority of the population whose
rights were restricted in violation of the US Constitution. Cyclists' rights
are not being restricted in violation of the Constitution: They can, and do,
share the road with cars. Many/most US states and cities recognize cyclists
as legitimate road users, and provide designated safe lanes and/or routes
for cyclists. How, then, can you even begin to compare Critical Mass to the
Civil Rights Movement?

The Civil Rights Movement began without centralized authority or formal
organization; but out of it emerged charismatic and inspiring leaders such
as Dr. Martin Luther King, whose brilliant and emotionally-charged speeches
reached across the divide between races of people and stirred popular
sentiment in favor of equal civil rights for all races. Again, how does
Critical Mass compare? Is there a charismatic leader, or focal point, for
the movement that can stir up popular approval and bridge the gap between
cyclists and automobile drivers? How will Critical Mass win favorable press
coverage if they lack popular approval?

I look forward to your comments.

-=B=-


  #4  
Old September 7th 03, 06:36 PM
Jym Dyer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Can somebody fill me in on Critical Mass?

Those who have pointed out paralells between CM philosophies
and the beliefs and theories of other revolutionary thinkers
and groups (Marx, Lenin, etc. etc.) are not wrong to do so.


=v= While I agree that CM is revolutionary (beyond the two
revolving wheels per rider, that is), I know of no social theory
in which CM is even remotely like Marx and Lenin. Though etc.
etc. certainly apply. :^)

How, then, can you even begin to compare Critical Mass to the
Civil Rights Movement?


=v= It's certainly easy enough to find ways that the two don't
compare, as you've done. They are not by any means an exact
match. There are parallels, though.

=v= Bicyclists -- and, more generally, those who don't use cars
for transportation -- are treated as second-class citizens in
the U.S. Our rights to the road is a nominal legal status, but
rarely enforced as it should be. One legal case in Illinois
actually ended with the ruling that roads are not intended to
accommodate bicyclists, meaning that it's okay for road hazards
to injure and kill us.

=v= It's pretty much okay for motorists to do so, too. Our
deaths are blithely written off as usually our own fault,
with few attempts at forensic investigation to determine what
actually took place. Our killers are often never charged with
anything.

=v= The media used to publish death threats against "uppity"
minorities, and somtimes the editors or radio announcers would
chime in. Today this is wisely considered inappropriate, yet
we're seeing no shortage of death threats against bicyclists!

=v= You mention certain bike amenities, but these are ample
proof that the "separate but equal" approach is anything but.
(Which does parallel the reversal of a notorious racial
segregation ruling.)

=v= CM is like the Civil Rights Movement in another respect:
We're just simply exercising our rights to use the road, just
like everyone else. And sometimes getting beaten by the cops
and attacked by the authorities for it.
_Jym_
 




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