[*BCM*] Seattle CM turns ugly

[TSmith4918 at aol.com]

thoughtful response Anne, but I wasn't suggesting that CM is a vehicle  for 
enlightenment; rather, it was some comment on the stereotype of the  laid-back 
northwesterner who I thought would be somewhat more receptive to  bike-culture 
even if it presents itself in a confrontation.  I think you're  right that 
the comments would be the same anywhere:  I guess I  had romantic hopes for 
Seattle.  Must be too much coffee/caffeine injected  into the citizenry over the 
past few decades.  
 
As for thuggery:   the posted notes on the Seattle blog (and  elsewhere on 
the web) reveal a more pointed and violent animosity towards  the two-wheelers 
than a bunch of folks winging around the city once a  month.  Though the 
threats ("I'm gunning for you" etc) may be only  fetid air from a frustrated 
windbag, as a biker they make my ears perk  up. Cars and car culture can bring out 
the worst in people and I can speak  for myself on this;  (not sure I can say 
the same about bikes).  
 
Tim
----------------------------------------------------
In a message dated 7/28/2008 9:04:39 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
goannego at gmail.com writes:

What's  to be enlightened about?  The guy in the car was wrong, very wrong.   
The people mobbing around him were wrong, very wrong.  Neither side comes  
off looking well.   Drivers will sympathise with the driver as soon  as they 
hear that CM blocked off lanes of traffic, held up other cars and then  wound up 
clocking the guy and smashing things when he panicked at being  surrounded by 
a mob baying for his blood.  Cyclists will sympathise that  yet another 
lunatic doesn't know how to handle cycles on the road went berserk  and tried to use 
his car to get the cyclists out of the way, causing  mayhem.  Quite frankly,. 
I think that incident would have had the same  comments had it occurred 
anywhere else in the nation.  

It is  classic human behaviour.  Cyclists don't tend to care too much on a 
day  to day basis about cars so long as they don't interfere with their cycling. 
 For every driver that nearly cuts them off, hundreds go by without incident 
or  notice. Drivers don't tend to care too much on a day to day basis about 
bikes  so long as they don't interfere with their driving.  For every CM that  
opts to slow cars down by blocking both lanes of traffic with slow moving  
traffic, hundreds of cyclists go by without notice or incident, even more so  now 
that gas is $4 a gallon.  Pedestrians don't care about either so long  as they 
don't mount the sidewalk and interfere with walking.  But as soon  as 
boundaries get crossed, conflict ensues and people get reactionary and all  over the 
place as soon as they have to defend a position they may not have  thought 
anything about previously, and are now on the spot to  articulate.  Plus, being 
controversial gets press and attention  paid.  

If you want to enlighten people, generally antagonising  them isn't the best 
way to go.  And retaliation is never the way to  go.  Why did civil 
disobedience work?  Because when these people  were beaten, etc etc etc, they let 
themselves get carted off to jail or  wherever without retaliating.  That keeps the 
focus on the issue, and not  permitting a "they deserved it, look how they 
fought back" mentality.   This tends to apply across the board.  I see it a lot 
in the sports I  play.  One side may be playing sneaky, but as soon as the 
other side  retaliates, measures come down harder for retaliation as we're 
supposed to be  big boys and girls and run the set channels, not take matters into 
our own  hands.     

I am in no way supporting what the driver  did.  He took a hunk of metal, 
panicked and harmed people.  But you  better believe that if what had happened 
was that CM took one lane of traffic  (thus permitting another lane for faster 
traffic whatever number of wheels it  had), thus not antagonising, and then had 
dealt with the incident had it still  happened by photographing it, calling 
the police, ambulance and safety  services and so on, public opinion would be 
well on CMs side, and thus be  looking at enlightenment.  As it stands now, 
people who might never have  heard of CM and would support it will now think, 
correctly or not, that it is  nothing but a thuggish mob.  And it will take a lot 
longer to fix that  perception than it has to create it.







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