[*BCM*] Seattle CM turns ugly

[Anne Wolfe]

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.

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.

2008/7/28 <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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-- 
Anne M. Wolfe, LL.M.
Mobile: ( 07805) 456901
"If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and
cover head. Please do not taunt Happy Fun Ball."
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