critical mass

Critical Mass surely differs in style and impact from city to city, so
it's hard to make a general judgement. The one closest to me is in
Santa Monica CA, and after doing one of them I won't do another.

The problem was the same thing I found during the 60's (of which I am
a grizzled veteran): whatever the stated purpose of the event, what
it became was a whole bunch of people getting off on their sheer
numbers, and enjoying the power to be pains in the ass and get away
with it.

Sure there are lots of bike-dangerous drivers out there, but the
chance of any of them being the ones inconvenienced or angered by
Critical Mass is very small. There are a lot more clueless drivers,
but what does it accomplish to **** them off, except to potentially
turn them into bike-dangerous drivers?

Besides, I have better ways to get myself off than in large groups.

In article ,
"Bill Sornson" wrote:

bernmart wrote:
Critical Mass surely differs in style and impact from city to city,
so it's hard to make a general judgement. The one closest to me is
in Santa Monica CA, and after doing one of them I won't do another.

The problem was the same thing I found during the 60's (of which I
am a grizzled veteran): whatever the stated purpose of the event,
what it became was a whole bunch of people getting off on their
sheer numbers, and enjoying the power to be pains in the ass and
get away with it.

Sure there are lots of bike-dangerous drivers out there, but the
chance of any of them being the ones inconvenienced or angered by
Critical Mass is very small. There are a lot more clueless
drivers, but what does it accomplish to **** them off, except to
potentially turn them into bike-dangerous drivers?

Besides, I have better ways to get myself off than in large groups.

Yet you post this in wreck /tech/... Why?!?

A very good question. This post should have been put in
rec.bicycles.soc not here.

bernmart wrote:
Critical Mass surely differs in style and impact from city to city, so
it's hard to make a general judgement. The one closest to me is in
Santa Monica CA, and after doing one of them I won't do another.
=======
The critical mass event here really has
more to do with anarchy than bikes. The
people who organized it here, never ride
bikes, unless it's a critical mass
event. That's why they ride so slow,
not to make a point, but because that's
as fast as they can ride. It's more
anti-car, than pro-bike. In fact
cycling has nothing to do with it, it's
merely the tool used against the cars.

On a side note, I've seen a big up tick
in driving around here. I have a
theory, that the more you raise the
price of gas, and the more people preach
about how your driving is destroying the
planet, the more people drive. It's
something about in human nature, that
people are defiant. If you tell people
they can't do something, then they
really want do it. I am certain, that
if someone was down to their last $3,
they'd spend it on a gallon of gas.
That's the world today.