[*BCM*] CM isn't really CD (was: Open letter ...)
Jym Dyer
jym at econet.org
Wed Jul 30 18:13:43 EDT 2008
> A particular Critical Mass draws substantial negative press
> not when the riders are violating the law, but when they
> don't behave peacefully.
=v= Not just riders. Motorists may behave violently simply
because the riders exist.
=v= Practically speaking, compliance with the law isn't the
real issue here, perceived delay of motorists is. Riders can
be completely law-abiding and yet an incident can happen due
to an impatient motorist. The law only gets brought up as a
handy rhetorical bludgeon, which is prettty ironic given that
what the motorist would otherwise be doing is exceeding the
speed limit.
> Behaving peacefully in the face of violence requires
> tremendous courage, and I hope all Critical Massers have
> that courage and discipline during the ride and during
> all other parts of their lives.
=v= I agree with this, but in practice, civil disobedience
involves organization; and Critical Mass is traffic, not
an organization. Again, practically speaking, disobedience
is a feature of all traffic, so civil disobedience kind of
gets lost in the shuffle.
=v= I can and do practice nonviolence myself and encourage
others to, but I have no expectation that others in traffic
will do the same.
<_Jym_>
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