<div dir="ltr">Look at how bike-culture presented itself in that confrontation and that's why I think the comments would be the same anywhere. If a bunch of cyclists panicked when surrounded by a group of cars so that the cyclists then ran the cars over causing damage and personal injury (don't ask me how, just work with me) and the drivers then got out of the cars and beat the cyclists, the reaction would be the same. I don't think you'd even have to swap the comments. Look back on this list to complaints about "spoiled bitches of Brookline" and you'll hear the same, sad, sorry lines over and over. The cyclists complaining about car culture. The drivers complaining about bike culture. And the more antagonistic each one gets, the more entrenched others become. Nothing but escalation until someone decides, and opts to persuade others as well to de-escalate. And people don't like to do that because it looks like they're backing down after shooting their mouth off for ages and ages. Better to shoot your mouth off like a jackass and do nothing rather than actually try to fix something. Because at that point you might run into difficulty and realities and practicalities, none of which have any place in the "I'm gunning for 'em" rhetoric style that both sides have adopted here. <br>
<br>Given the current economy, there are suddenly ample opportunities being handed to the collective us of cyclists on an absolute silver platter to convince people that it is fun, economical and easy to ride bikes. But if people feel that not only the cars are a problem, but the cyclists are as well, or that they're going to get lumped in with this thuggish subset by getting out and riding bikes, then everyone loses except the testosterone brigade who gets off on such things. <br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">2008/7/28 <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:TSmith4918@aol.com">TSmith4918@aol.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial;"><font size="2" color="#000000" face="Arial">
<div>
<div> </div>
<div>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. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>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).
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Tim</div>
<div>----------------------------------------------------</div>
<div>In a message dated 7/28/2008 9:04:39 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
<a href="mailto:goannego@gmail.com" target="_blank">goannego@gmail.com</a> writes:</div>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid blue; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px;"><font style="background-color: transparent;" size="2" color="#000000" face="Arial">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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br></font></blockquote></div>
<div></div>
<div> </div></font><br><br><br><div><font style="color: black; font-family: ARIAL,SAN-SERIF; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><hr style="margin-top: 10px;">
Get fantasy football with free live scoring. <a title="http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020" href="http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020" target="_blank">Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today</a>.</font></div>
</div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:list@bostoncriticalmass.org">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br>
<a href="http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list" target="_blank">http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list</a><br>
To unsubscribe email <a href="mailto:list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org">list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Anne M. Wolfe, LL.M.<br>Mobile: ( 07805) 456901<br>
"If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head. Please do not taunt Happy Fun Ball."<br>
</div>