[email protected] (Bluto) wrote in message
news:<
[email protected]>...
> "NYRides" <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Sorry. I guess I haven't paid much attention to this "Critical Mass" thing. Can you tell me what
> > it is and why so many cyclists are against it?
>
> As to the latter question, it is because those cyclists' brains are owned by the same interests
> that own most motorists' brains.
>
> There were slaves who opposed the struggle for Emancipation too, oddly enough.
>
> Chalo Colina
*pins on Red Star*
Depends on how you want to read the Revolution, brotha.
You can either believe that the revolution will be brought on by purely material factors. Human will
has nothing to do with it; the revolution and the collapse of the present society is inevitable due
to the contradictions inherent in the system. [Marx]
Or you can believe that while the revolution is inevitable, you must do everything possible to
sharpen the existing contradictions--the faster to spark your revolution. Moreover, these must be
led by a disciplined class of professional revolutionaries (Massholes?) and they must lead to
violent confrontation with the enemy. [Lenin]
Or you can believe that there are many roads to the eventual goal of a New Society; Violent,
revolutionary means are not totally necessary. You can believe in peaceful coexistence and even
parliamentary struggle. [Khrushchev].
For my part, I support Critical Mass so long as they obey the very laws they want enforced. A CM
ride that rides four or five abreast on a heavily-trafficked public road, or which rides onto
expressly-prohibited roads (eg, freeways, tunnels, narrow bridges) or swarms over both street and
sidewalk, is counter-productive. It does bicyclists of all kinds no good at all to have us tarred as
hazardous scofflaws, or heavily-pierced, disrespectful urban savages. We're not, obviously; we're
just people who want to get around, just like everybody else.
I want integration on my terms, as a law-abiding and peaceful road user, not on theirs. Single- or
double-file, and following all the stoplights, etc, is better still. I like predictable bicycle
traffic. Easier to ride in. Easier to drive by. Easier to walk through.
I'd be interested to know how many CMers ride those bikes every day of the week, or every other day
of the week, and not just on the last Friday of every month.
-Luigi
"Too early to tell."
- Chou En-lai, on whether or not the French Revolution had succeeded.