[*BCM*] MIT ride

[ThoM3 at aol.com]

solidarity without leaders or with leaders is a form of advocacy, you don't  
need a leader or be a group or and advocacy group. Are we on the roads to make 
a  statement or have fun? I say both.
 
 
In a message dated 1/8/2008 11:33:17 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
hyamada at MIT.EDU writes:

I would  have to agree to Paul's sentiment -- Yea, it's a "Private 
institution,"  but it's also MIT. We're not exactly sipping tea with our 
pinky out, and  our students are known for the whackiest hijinx known to... 
well, at least  the east coast, if not most of the country. People 
routinely ride their  unicycle/scooter/what have you down the corridors, 
and for the most part  they are courteous about it and often get a laugh or 
smile, over an angry  response. Furthermore, the argument that "Bike ride 
behaves badly knowing  a journalist is in its midst" is going to lead to 
worsened images of CM is  a little off-point, imho. The fact that there's 
some tool newspaper writer  shouldn't limit or control our behavior in 
anyway -- for the worse or  better. We shouldn't act more brashly or rude, 
but on the flipside, we  also shouldn't try to pretty up the ride. We've 
all been there, when anger  and mob mentality takes the better part of the 
ride, and it would be vain  and silly to try and hide that aspect of the 
ride frm the media.

In  THIS particular case, with the infinite virtually empty (again, no  
students) and the ride VERY small, I can't imagine there being any  
problem. On any other day, with MIT's full student body using the infinite  
and several hundred riders, that'd be an entirely different  issue.

And for reference, MIT's hallways are open to the  public,  and most of 
them, or at 
least the stretch of the infinite, are open  24/7. We don't lock the doors 
or gates or anything fancy like  that.

As for bicycle advocacy, I stand with anyone who recognizes CM  for what it 
is -- an enjoyable and safe ride through an urban environment.  If you want 
to start tossing out mission statements and philosophies, you  will 
probably lose a lot of the ride's enthusiasm. There have historically  been 
no leaders and that alone rules out the typical definition of  an  advocacy 
group.

Yes, we're riding bikes and "educating"  the city, but by a similar token, 
I educate the city and its drivers every  time I clip in, just on a smaller 
scale. Am I a bike advocate? Absolutely,  I read the riot act to anyone who 
complains about gas prices. Do I claim  to be running a 1-man advocacy 
group whenever I'm on wheels?  No.

Oh, and the argument that "you're being a leader, so how come you  won't 
lead" is fallacious. Just pointing out the lack of organization  isn't 
instituting it for oneself.

--Yuki


 



**************Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.     
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bostoncoop.net/pipermail/bostoncriticalmass/attachments/20080108/239279ed/attachment.htm