Cyclists: Let the Backlash Begin (or Not)
Verizon Droid: Big Deal? Or Just Another Late Arrival Rival?
Car Thief Steals Vehicle To Get To Auto-Theft Trial
3rd Annual California Dreaming Same-Sex Ballroom Dancing Competition
Photo du Jour 501
In cyberspace, "trolling" is when someone posts a deliberately controversial comment, not because they really wanted to say it but because they wanted to provoke an angry, emotional response from strangers -- kind of the online equivalent of insulting someone's girlfriend in a bar, or heckling a comedian, or snapping your towel at someone in the locker room.
So let's see what we have here: a mob of bicyclists, roving unpredictably and ignoring traffic laws, bringing drivers and bus-rides to a halt for ten to fifteen minutes. Everyone hates it except the people on bikes, who have a great time at everyone else's expense.
By nature, Critical Mass is confrontational, so as drivers sit and fume, tensions get higher and higher and higher. (Making matters worse, bicyclists' right of way is often poorly designed or abused.) As long as everyone keeps cool and minds their manners, it'll all pass. But one wrong move, and kaboom -- which is what happened this weekend in Seattle.
As far as we can make out from the varying accounts, it was a case of douchebags versus douchebag. The douchebag bicyclists had boxed in and were teasing a douchebag driver, who freaked out, tried to get away, and (non-fatally) ran over some bicyclists. Then some bicyclists freaked out, trashed the car, and beat the driver.
The driver has expressed his remorse, explaining that he's a former bicycle commuter himself, and that he never meant to hit anyone; but nobody's apologized for dragging a powder keg through traffic.
So, the lesson is clear: everyone's a jerk! Have fun out there.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
The driver's a douchebag for trying to get out of the way? Stupid, yes; but douche-y, no.
And apropos of nothing, does anyone even know anyone who douches anymore? That's so my mom's generation...
I feel the need to douche every time I read comments about critical mass.
I'm a bike rider and I often chastise lame-o bicyclists through the window of my car. This does not make me a douchebag.
Ironically, Critical Mass, has outgrown its usefulness -- which is a shame because it is still carries an important message. By publishing the route ahead of time they could solve a lot of the problems. That's what the Parisians do for Pari Roller (the more light-hearted French version of Critical Mass, but for rollerskates/blades). It works. The sheer number of people creates a strong impression.
Douching is actually not good for you. It totally disrupts the vagina's pH and gets rid of good bacteria. All it does is give you the illusion of cleanliness and screws up your body's homeostasis. Don't do it ladies, Baby Boomers or not!!!
If Critical Mass really wanted to get their message across in a meaningful manner then they would break into groups of 10 or so cyclists and take different routes, obeying traffic laws as they go.
ALRIGHT!!! Bike vs. car thread! 50+ comments on the way!
One of these Fridays I'm gonna put on a leather jacket and tough jeans, stand at Church & Market, wait til the light turns green, and step off the curb. I figure I'll get a few bruises but hopefully I can take a few of these shitheaded douchebags down with me.
This makes me think about what would happen if someone freaked out at Westfield Centre mall and hurt some of the kids who seem to like to stage "Fight Club" moments at the shopping mall.
While the group of young men who began punching one of their own on the floor by the escalator near Borders on Friday night at Westfield Centre knew they were just horsing around and were oblivious to how others perceived the mock fight, I could see some high strung person feeling threatened and putting the hurt on somebody. Personally, I just grabbed my wallet to make sure the boys weren't setting up a distraction for another complicit person to pick pocket folks.
Oh kids .... thinking everything is a joke and funny.
I like Advocatory's idea.
We are known to be a bicycle friendly city (although there are still nutjobs who feel running red lights and stop signs and not wearing helmets (especially kids I see at Golden Gate Park) is absolutely OK), so why have Critical Mass in SF anymore?
What exactly IS the point of Critical Mass? I've been a daily bike commuter for the last month or so, and I don't see how actively trying to engender road rage will have any positive effect on my rights as a bicyclist. Cars are scary enough without the drivers looking at me and thinking "there's one of those disruptive hippies."
Bike versus Car threads are the "Godwin's Law" of the blogger generation.
No, you need a termination condition for a Godwin's-Law-alike. i.e., the first person to X automatically loses the thread. Might I suggest that the first person to claim everyone's a douchebag loses the thread, thus ending this one in the original post.
Critical mass is pointless, just a way for bicyclists to express their undeserved sense of "I'm better because I ride a bike".
Well, I think it IS better to ride a bike than to drive a car, assuming you have both options, but then why give up the good will by misbehaving?
SFBC has an event called Critical Manners, or at least did for a while. Tens of people show up for it.
If you drive your car into people, you should expect a negative reaction from them.
@what:
Remove "douchebag" from your vocabulary and you might as well stop talking. It is as necessary as "and" and "the."
http://radaronline.com/features/2008/07/origin_of_the_term_douchebag_analyis_01.php
ironically, mike godwin is a bicycle commuter.
bottombracket: If you drive your car into people, you should expect a negative reaction from them.
And if you attempt to trap people, you should expect them to try to get away.
Godwin didn't say anything about a discussion being ending, he just said that every internet discussion will eventually involve one party comparing the other to Nazis or Nazism.
I hate to pull this off of Wikipedia, but it was really the fastest, easiest way to get the quote I wanted:
"'Although deliberately framed as if it were a law of nature or of mathematics, its purpose has always been rhetorical and pedagogical: I wanted folks who glibly compared someone else to Hitler or to Nazis to think a bit harder about the Holocaust,' Godwin has written"
My favorite comment on thestranger website:
And the prize goes to (minus the threat at the end):
-Seattle Critical Mass Flyer
The problem(s) with your group is that you want car drivers to respect bikes and the traffic laws to keep you all safe while your group does just the opposite.
You can’t have it both ways. I ride a bicycle, a motorcycle and drive a car and know that each has its own limitations built on the reality of the world.
A bike messenger (for example) that jumps curbs, splits traffic, runs red lights and causes me on my motorcycle to avoid him or her, will not get my respect on the last Friday of each month while you ride in mass.
Your group has a hair trigger built on hypocrisy (and I am guessing too much Red Bull) and bullshit and god help you all if I or my family should encounter your madness!
oops, that last whole bit is part of the quote...got my tags wrong.
=v= Inversion of blame here. There are motorists who feel entitled to run into and over bicyclists and pedestrians every day, whether or not Critical Mass is happening. This particular motorist's attitude really shines through in his own words, but hey, the sfist would rather make yet another unfounded swipe at Critical Mass.
Tell me, does sfist exist solely to make Gothamist look better by comparison?
"There are motorists who feel entitled to run into and over bicyclists and pedestrians every day, whether or not Critical Mass is happening."
does not jibe with "his own words" at all.
What a bunch of assholes. All of them.
I commute every day to work on my bike. I enjoy riding. I get pissed at stupid drivers constantly. Yet I also despise Critical Mass and refuse to join in. There's way too much entitlement and douchbaggery involved, which is ironic, since it's supposed to be a response to car-drivers' entitlement and douchbaggery.