May Critical Mass
It's coming up on that time a year again! May Critical Mass! I aka Ms. Red lead the May Critical Mass last year with the help of some amazing individuals back to The Kedzie Stop; an old warehouse building turned artists studios, for a after mass dance party! And I would love to do it again this year! With experience under my belt and more people to help keep the mass together, I would love to get things started with ideas & comments on how to make it even better than last year.
**Attempting to go with last years idea of a spring parade/costume ride
**Talks about a musical performance as well in the back alley
Please share your thoughts & ideas and lend any help you can!
Ciao a tutti!!
Views: 2878
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Davo on
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CM "purpose" is different for each individual that experiences it. To some its a protest, to some its fun, to some its annoying, to some its entertaining. Their is no real way to tell someone what its about. Try it sometime, you may or may not like it; but at least then you can form a better opinion from experiencing it on that end rather than just saying that its the worst thing ever.
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Permalink Reply by Michelle Milham on
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Agreed. Especially on the "don't knock it till you've tried it" front.
Davo said:CM "purpose" is different for each individual that experiences it. To some its a protest, to some its fun, to some its annoying, to some its entertaining. Their is no real way to tell someone what its about. Try it sometime, you may or may not like it; but at least then you can form a better opinion from experiencing it on that end rather than just saying that its the worst thing ever.
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Try it first? That has to rank up with the most naive comments ever posted on the internet. My primary points have never been that the members of CM don't "enjoy" what they are doing. Quite to the contrary, I am willing to concede that for some of the people that engage in Critical Mass it is the single most exciting and rewarding thing in their life. I'll even concede the point that for others it helps bring back sparkly unicorns to life... Those points are wholly irrelevant to the discussion. Just because something "feels good" doesn't mean that it should be done.
What is clear and incontestable (except to the mentally challenged or intentionally obtuse) are the following points:
1. The percentage of the population that bicycles for more than weekend recreation is incredibly small.
2. The percentage of the population that use cars and/or motorized vehicles (Buses) for transportation is a large share.
3. Critical Mass causes massive disruptions which greatly slow the large share of the population from going where they are going.
4. The large share of the population, as evidenced by published and anecdotal evidence, do not like being badly delayed because of individuals "playing" or "having fun".
5. When the large share of the population feels that the voluntary activities of a microshare of the population are causing them irritation, and if that irritation is large enough, they act to stop it.
6. If the super majority of the population decides that something should be stopped, it is stopped and the people that don't stop are criminals.
Ergo:
CM makes it more likely that the large share of the population will look with dis-favor on the bicycle segment and will regulate it... perhaps to the point of destroying it...
And we have seen the start of movements to do this..... the poll showing the disapproval of Rahm with unsolicited comments about hating Bike Lanes, the comments by John Kass (and others) suggesting the creation of a system of tags, permits and licenses for bicycling, and so on. Has the tide turned against Bicycles? No. But we can see clear signs that it might. And we should not take steps to push the tide in the wrong direction.
CM - The best friends of the Auto Industry...
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Deleted because of a double post
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on
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It's too late to make a PayPal donation to the Chainlink in the hopes of having "block crazy person" functionality included in the upcoming site revamp, isn't it?
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ETA:
It is not "naive" to suggest that you actually experience something for yourself before you dismiss it as bad. Actually. You should not be out shouting from the rooftops that something you have NEVER DONE and claim to think there is no point to is baaaaad and all the people involved are baaaaaaad until you have joined in and experienced it for yourself. I highly HIGHLY doubt that you would hold the same staunch black and white opinion if you ACTUALLY bothered to look for the shades of grey. It's called being an adult: not everything is BAD or GOOD.
Michelle Milham said:
Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:Try it first? That has to rank up with the most naive comments ever posted on the internet. My primary points have never been that the members of CM don't "enjoy" what they are doing. Quite to the contrary, I am willing to concede that for some of the people that engage in Critical Mass it is the single most exciting and rewarding thing in their life. I'll even concede the point that for others it helps bring back sparkly unicorns to life... Those points are wholly irrelevant to the discussion. Just because something "feels good" doesn't mean that it should be done.
What is clear and incontestable (except to the mentally challenged or intentionally obtuse) are the following points:
1. The percentage of the population that bicycles for more than weekend recreation is incredibly small.
2. The percentage of the population that use cars and/or motorized vehicles (Buses) for transportation is a large share.
3. Critical Mass causes massive disruptions which greatly slow the large share of the population from going where they are going.
4. The large share of the population, as evidenced by published and anecdotal evidence, do not like being badly delayed because of individuals "playing" or "having fun".
5. When the large share of the population feels that the voluntary activities of a microshare of the population are causing them irritation, and if that irritation is large enough, they act to stop it. - Which is why it is a peaceful, police supported, 16 year old monthly tradition in Chicago.
6. If the super majority of the population decides that something should be stopped, it is stopped and the people that don't stop are criminals.-- Which is why Critical Mass started - because people were willing to put themselves at risk to get bikes seen.
Ergo:
CM makes it more likely that the large share of the population will look with dis-favor on the bicycle segment and will regulate it... perhaps to the point of destroying it... - You think too hard about this. This is very unlikely.
And we have seen the start of movements to do this..... the poll showing the disapproval of Rahm with unsolicited comments about hating Bike Lanes, the comments by John Kass (and others) suggesting the creation of a system of tags, permits and licenses for bicycling, and so on. Has the tide turned against Bicycles? No. But we can see clear signs that it might. And we should not take steps to push the tide in the wrong direction.
CM - The best friends of the Auto Industry...
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Like I said before, some will like it and some won't i appreciate your opinion about this but I think that you are over exaggerating the "effect" that it may or may not have on the bicycling community at large. You make valid points about the polls and the way newspaper "columnists" paint a view of the community. I offer this though, look up any article related to bicycling in either newspaper that allows comments. Within a few posts, there is extreme vitriol against all things bikes. This is especially said when its about someone being killed by a crash. These extremists are the same ones that presented unsolicited responses in that poll. My guess is that they hate the bike lanes because they used to use that space as an extra lane, even though there is no legal lane there.
Also I appreciate your passion about this issue but your shaming is actually making me want to do more CM's Its been over a year since I've been on one but your anger against it makes me want to make more of an effort to be on one.
Im guessing that you have never been one one and never will. I will continue to go on this ride as much as I can until (if it ever happens) it is banned. And I will remember the good times and good people that I have met on them.
try a little more honey and less vinegar
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Amen. And while I am there I will think "This one's for you, Crazy Dave. This one's for you."
Davo said:Like I said before, some will like it and some won't i appreciate your opinion about this but I think that you are over exaggerating the "effect" that it may or may not have on the bicycling community at large. You make valid points about the polls and the way newspaper "columnists" paint a view of the community. I offer this though, look up any article related to bicycling in either newspaper that allows comments. Within a few posts, there is extreme vitriol against all things bikes. This is especially said when its about someone being killed by a crash. These extremists are the same ones that presented unsolicited responses in that poll. My guess is that they hate the bike lanes because they used to use that space as an extra lane, even though there is no legal lane there.
Also I appreciate your passion about this issue but your shaming is actually making me want to do more CM's Its been over a year since I've been on one but your anger against it makes me want to make more of an effort to be on one.
Im guessing that you have never been one one and never will. I will continue to go on this ride as much as I can until (if it ever happens) it is banned. And I will remember the good times and good people that I have met on them.
try a little more honey and less vinegar
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5. When the large share of the population feels that the voluntary activities of a microshare of the population are causing them irritation, and if that irritation is large enough, they act to stop it.
I don't think that there is a cohesive force that would make this their issue. I believe that there are a few who are irrupted by this but don't think that there is some sort of collation or organization to bind all these people together. And as I've said before there are far more other reasons that Rahm might not get re-elected. Also if by some sort of "chicken-little" situation, the next mayor pushes back on bicycling then I'll be out there more.
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Permalink Reply by Waymond Smith on
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I really don't understand that this thread is continuing!!! Obviously this person has a negative attitude against bicycling in general and Critical Mass! Why waste your time and breathe trying to persuade them to your/our perspective?? I have better thing to do like wash my hair and do laundry.
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Let me run down a a short list of things that I dismiss as bad without experiencing them:
1. Being hit by a car while riding.
2. Being shot by a crazy person with a gun
3. A heart attack
4 The election of a Tea Party candidate
5. Poking my eye with a sharp stick
and so on.
It most certainly is possible to decide that something is "bad" without having experienced it. We do this ALL of the time. Is CM, by itself, going to end up with a ban on bicycling? Probably not. But its the easiest to fix, most publicly vexing anti-bicycling activity out there. CM is a little like a heart patient eating a piece of red meat larded with fat or a lung cancer patient enjoying a smoke. Its the one change that we can easily make as a bicycling community that will result in the greatest help.
With respect to the "Extremists" who presented the unsolicited responses in the polls, the figure that attacked, without prompting, Bike Lanes was TWENTY EIGHT percent. God help us all if the virulent anti-bicycle haters have gotten to 28%. What that 28%, in fact, tells us, is that the "anti-bicycle" feeling is wider and deeper than we had thought.
But hey, if it feels good, go for it. Why not a critical mass at every rush hour. That would really show the supermajority what we think of them.....
Michelle Milham said:ETA:
It is not "naive" to suggest that you actually experience something for yourself before you dismiss it as bad. Actually. You should not be out shouting from the rooftops that something you have NEVER DONE and claim to think there is no point to is baaaaad and all the people involved are baaaaaaad until you have joined in and experienced it for yourself. I highly HIGHLY doubt that you would hold the same staunch black and white opinion if you ACTUALLY bothered to look for the shades of grey. It's called being an adult: not everything is BAD or GOOD.
Michelle Milham said:
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All of those things besides the election of a tea party candidate (which... actually we have all experienced that in various forms, since there are tea party politicians in congress right now effing everything up...) are things that are deadly/injurious to YOU. CM is not. It is an event, not something that causes bodily harm. Not one of those things are ACTUALLY comparable.
"But its the easiest to fix, most publicly vexing anti-bicycling activity out there." - actually, I would argue that everyone on a bike anywhere in the entire country is the easiest to fix most publicly vexing anti-bicycling activity out there, per motorists. Ask a motorist where a cyclist should be and most likely they'll say "driving a car." - so... I really don't care to ask a motorist anything. Especially when insane motorists keep killing people on bicycles and then driving away like they hit a pylon or something. I, quite frankly, am angry. And I will be out on the streets on my bike, peacefully, wherever I can.
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