Dangerous Leftist “Bike Mobs”

For as many bicyclists that love Critical Mass, there seem to be just as many who oppose it. Some feel it angers motorists and reeks of hypocrisy. Others see it as simply an outlet for liberal aggression. The event certainly doesn’t seem to be winning over Minneapolis newspaper columnists.

In a column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Katherine Kersten comes down hard against Critical Mass and recommends serious police crack-down. She implies that all protesters in modern social movements are only interested in venting their aggression, not in making the world better. She says that like “petulant children,” leaving Critical Mass participants’ misdeeds unpunished will only result in more serious trouble down the road.

Kersten is an advocate of corporal punishment, which makes her child-punishment analogy/fantasy even more disturbing.

In order to bring some clout to her arguments that massers ride to exert power and seek to boost their reputation by adding to their arrest record, she calls in Robert Lichter of the Center for Media and Public Affairs. He shares his vast knowledge of the narcissistic and aggressive nature of “’60s-style radicals” and draws a connection to Critical Mass.

But he seems like an odd choice for a source; according to his own biography Lichter is an expert on the news and entertainment media. Maybe he used to study hippies before his current gig, but his activities prior to CMPA seem somewhat biased against social justice - he has earned himself a page on SourceWatch for his past associations and statements.

Regardless of the column’s accuracy, it’s pretty clear where the readership stands. A poll on the StarTrib site, asking “Should police crack down on ‘Critical Mass’ events?”, with almost 3300 respondents at the moment, results in 66% Yes and 32% No. Although the poll is unscientific, I’m not surprised at the results.

Critical Mass is an event, a statement, a celebration. It’s not a strategic attempt to get motorists to respect bicyclists. I’ve probably said this a hundred times to my friends. My favorite essay on the subject, by Adam Kessel, argues that Critical Mass as an event has a neutral effect on the state of bicycling. But it’s an amazing tool for energizing people into action, participation, and advocacy. People who ride in Critical Mass develop the confidence and motivation to move bureaucracies towards change.

Some see the humor in columnists getting so bent out of shape over a bike ride. Wonkette, a DC political news and satire site, mocks Kersten’s column, and commenters there make some fun points:

She should stage her own right-wing protest. She can get all of her friends to clog sthe streets of Minneapolis with gas-guzzling SUVs to really show those damn hippies….

Of course, that already has a name: rush hour.

I like the way the photo she used for her piece shows an orderly enough procession of bikes riding on the correct side of the street.

Now now…we all have a common enemy. Rollerbladers!

I can attest that Portland is the epicenter of two-wheeled terrorism. I see scores of them every morning on my drive to work. Some of the little tree-hugging bastards have the termerity not to get out of the way when I blow my horn and aim my Escalade at them.

The official Star Tribune blog post has already drawn over 350 comments so far, not nearly as insightful or funny as Wonkette’s.

If the Star Tribune site asks you to log in, username:idontthinkso password:bugmenot worked great for me! Thank you, bugmenot!

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