Critical Mass
2 ratings since posting on Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Overall Rating based on 2 ratings |
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Mr Culley, I presume ... Well written (of course),and well thought (also of course). Not sure I agree with all the premissi presented here, but I have read and considered - as well as enjoying Novembers' ride. Happy Friday! - Bill , posted 12/02/06 |
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Notes on the Theater of a Critical Mass ride ... Critical Mass is much like a play, and in any play there is conflict. How we handle conflict determines whether the ride becomes a comedy or a tragedy. In the eight years that I have been participating in Chicago Critical Mass rides, I have seen both. Some conflicts could have been avoided, and some could not have, but an element of theatricality serves both, protecting the people on the ride, and the meaning of what a Critical Mass is. Let's look at a CM ride as though it were a piece of theater that broke out of the auditorium. Suddenly is not limited to a stage, or a proscenium. The mass is limited only by its size. It has a message. It has an audience, however part of that audience has a rocket launcher underneath their right foot. They are in cars. Unable to transcend the gridlock that they are experiencing, many people can and lose their tempers and come pushing through the mass. They see us riding through red lights while they wait for the green, and then another green, and then another green. We have to remember that the time that we cause other people to wait is like a moment on stage, and whoever is holding an intersection should try to take that opportunity to interact with the audience. The aesthetics of the intersection It may be helpful to think of intersections like scenes and roads like scene changes because most of the antagonism that I have seen from motorists has happened in the intersections. The people who cork the intersection need to understand that they are doing more than protecting the mass from angry drivers, they are also educating drivers about their alternative forms of transport. Sometimes the best way to settle a potential conflict is to lead the interaction your self. The spectacular aspect of the ride depends on people seeing the sense we have in cycling. Therefore we should be sensible, and make sense to them. Drivers will appreciate an explanation for the delay, however you do it. Hand out flyers, hold your bike in the air, talk about what we're doing, and thank them for waiting. There's no use skirting around this forever: A Critical Mass wants to stop traffic, and it wants to make a spectacle of our passing. We want motorists to consider the sense of bicycling by showing them the beauty, and the FUN of it. I think, if we are going to delay motorists, we'd better give them something to look at. Credit must be given to so many people for their contributions in this regard: the Rats, the Scallywags, the High Wheelers, the Naturists, and so many others for keeping up the spectacle. These theatrics can be thought of as the price we pay for the delay that we bring with us. By corking a major intersection we are creating a passion play of bicycle innovators whose inventions can amaze. Whatever virtue they have in the world, in the intersection they serve to make people curious. So bring out the costumes, and the TV bikes, the glow sticks, musical instruments, and whatever else you can bring. Balance your bicycle on your chin, because DUMB ENTERTAINMENT CAN APPEASE AN ANGRY MOB. Therefore, good juggler is essential to the safety of a Critical Mass ride. Bright colors, and flags, make motorists feel wanted. People are all alone in their cars, and therefore they can find themselves very susceptible to flattery this way. Here's a tip on keeping an audience--SMILE, even when they are yelling profanities out of their windows. Refuse to engage in a challenge by smiling through it. Drivers will sometimes try to push through a mass, and if they do this remember: FUN! Promise them that if they don't calm down that another biker will join in them, and they will. If a motorist is pushing into the mass, it is assault, and other bikers will see it happening and come to your aide, but you should not stop smiling. If you hit the car, or break a mirror, your getting someone very upset. In a mass, we are never arguing with motorists, we are only entertaining them. Once I came up to a woman who was screaming in her car. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she was a child-abuse investigator and she could be in an emergency right now. I saw her gripping the wheel fiercely. "Are you in an emergency?" I asked. "No! But I could be in one!" While another few hundred bicyclists rode past I began to counsel the woman on relaxing. "The light is GREEN! The light is GREEN!" she raved. I said, "That doesn't give you the right to hurt anyone," and watched her breath through her frustration. My philosophy about traffic lights is that they don't make bicyclists any safer. Bikes can be hit from all sides, regardless of whose light is whose. It is the automobile that needs to be managed with these mechanical arbitrators of privilege, not bicyclists. I say that the tyrannical machine rules by red, yellow, green--and people need to operate more wisely. Giving up the right of way does not give someone the right to become a murderer. This is the place where the public way is reclaimed for protest, and wherever there is protest, there is theater. Danger People change behind the wheel of a car. Given the distances that people keep from each other on the roadway, they begin to feel anonymous as well. Motorists are all alone in their vehicles. They are rude to each other, unapologetic. They lack the checks and balances of a social order, and will sometimes defy all social sense by driving through a Critical Mass. It is important to know if someone appears willing to do this, because it is then better to help than to stand in their way. If you allow a conflict exacerbate you will need photographs, witnesses, and court dates to defend yourself. There simply becomes a point when the car should be surrounded by bicyclists who carefully walk the angry driver to the other side. These days we are having rides that are so large, that this may happen more often. If you can get a car through an intersection without disturbing the mass, be sensible and help them through. Remember that while we want their attention, we do not want their anger. If you are a good usher and can escort them to the back of the theater, do it, because as a mass, we're only trying to stay alive and have a good time. The Tornado Effect Chicago has always been an innovator where it comes to blocking traffic, and I think it has something to do with the in-your-face style of Chicago's all year bikers. In the past, as the mass would come to a red light, and grow impatient, cyclists would lift their bikes into the air and then walk out into the intersection. The intimidating spectacle would bring cars to a halt and the mass would cheer the original "Chicago Hold up". Then the rest of the ride would proceed on its happy way. Looking back, I think that the reason that those hold-ups worked was that we used a large scale to signal to motorists, and we moved in tight packs. It is the perpendicular aspect of the intersection that becomes the scene of conflict in a Critical Mass because motorists see us at our thinnest. When one or two people step into the intersection to make sure there is no problem, those two people can attract more antagonism. There must become so many riders in the intersections that they begin to cork themselves. For that reason I think it is important to consider how the tornado-like maneuvers, circling in the intersection, can help cork intersections. By making a little tornado of bicycles in the middle of a large intersection, the motorists cannot tell where the mass will be going next. Motorists become very timid when hundreds of people are whirl-pooling into the middle of an intersection without a clear intention. Instead of massing up, its massing in. The "leaders" of the mass get recycled into the body of the ride, new leaders emerge, and the stage is set for talking to motorists. That is the stage, and I believe in taking that chance to speak your mind. The Veil of Darkness From October to April Critical Mass does most of its riding under the veil of darkness. Just as we must think of the motorists like they are audience members standing at the apron of a stage, we must think of think of darkness as the biggest antagonist. There is no theater if we are not seen! Show up, and in the winter get BRIGHTER! That will help with safety. When motorists turn on their headlights, they expect to be in conflict with whatever is in front of them: bikes, people, and anything else. Under the veil of darkness, the mass becomes more hectic and accidents become more likely. In Conclusion JOY UP the ride! Make it happy, make it foolish. It is a technique of post- modern warfare as basic as putting paint on your face. Joy can sometimes be the only distraction that will prevent a weak-willed person from losing control of their authority. Once a potentially dangerous situation has crossed the line, it is important to react appropriately, because you are the person in charge of the boundaries. When the peaceful mechanisms fail, and violence breaks out, you are going to be at the other end of it, and it may be a long time before a friendly police officer is going to be there to help you. It might even be a police officer that is causing the difficulty. How we take the street is not a form of civil disobedience, or civil war. I believe that the violence we find in the city is already there, and latent to a car-centered city. On the last Friday of every month, we should think of ourselves as the frontline of peace. Critical Mass will deflate aggression the same way that it lessens congestion. The aspect of Joy that we bring to the ride acts on the psyche of motorists, the same way that our economical machines act on the congestion of a street. The color and the expressiveness of a Critical Mass should be thought of as a model for emergency as well. Joy needs to inform how we handle aggressive motorists. Our antics in the intersections, our creative bikes, our colorful shirts, serve dual functions which are offensive and defensive, equally. Both visible and friendly, we are an expression of a safe, sustainable, industrially transformed environment. - Travis , posted 09/12/06 |
