[Mpls] Critical Mass

[Bob GUSTAFSON]

I have to admit I was slightly behind the curve on this "Critical Mass" story. What with all the news about the Catholic Church lately, and leading up to a rather significant church celebration yesterday, I thought Critical Mass had to do with some special Catholic church service. Sort of like the blessing of the animals, only they would do a blessing of the bikes or something like that. Is there a special saint for bike riders? A St. Cycle? What with the churches concern with sexuality I'm not sure they could endorse a St. BI-cycle, but you would think a straight Cycle would be safe.   Now that I've read a few posts imagine my surprise to hear that a critical mass has to do with a bunch of cyclists (I'm not sure if they were Bi or Uni so we will just go with the politically safe label, cyclists) getting together to strut their stuff a bit.   Enough people seem to be willing to write about it, which as we approach the spring season (by calendar not weather) seems to show that Minneapolis is truly a wonderful place. Other parts of the world get to write about suicide bombers, burning synagogues in France, the Falun Gong, and all we have to get worked up about is a bike protest.   I can tell you one way to insure we maintain our image in the rest of the state as being a little more than a half bubble off level, is to attempt to elevate the a protest of a few bikers getting together to run red lights as being similar to the efforts of the Falun Gong in China. If that is the analogy they want to use now, what will they use when a serious issue has to be protested?  They can try all day to convince people that they have moral equivalency with the Falun Gong, but it is a battle that they will lose. Deservedly so, in my opinion.   Now that I have made all the conservative types agree with me, I need to add that if we want the rest of the state to think we are a half bubble off level to the other direction, lets keep treating a bunch of bike riders like we apparently did this batch.   So how do our cyclists carry on with their moral battle to convince society of the superior wisdom of their ways? How do they do it in a way to make a protest effective in convincing mainstream folks that cyclists are not some fringe group of crazies? How do the Police avoid looking like a bunch of Bike Fascists. Perhaps they should all sit down, the cyclists, the Police and or the Mayor before the bikes hit the streets. They could work out the details of their Critical Mass so no one would end up in jail or with mace sprayed in their faces. If the Mayor and Police have any sense of balance as to what is important in the world, they should sit down with these cyclists and reach such a friendly agreement.   Personally I don't think the cyclists will bother to meet with the "Authorities" ahead of time. Even with the "brutal" crackdown so vividly portrayed from their recent Mass the issue didn't get any ink in the local rags. Imagine what little effect there would be if they had an agreement with the powers that be before they started. No police, no arrests, no reports of macing, just a small bunch of cyclists taking a ride through downtown.   I suspect if they want any promotion of their ideas the only way to do so is incite a clash, promote their victimhood, and try to elevate their position to that of the Falun Gong. Were the protestors even  interested in a peaceful journey? I suspect some of them would have been happier if the police had shown up with their bean bag guns and started shooting them off their bikes. Now that would have got them some attention. Heck, I might have gone down just to watch.    I don't think I would have taken my bike to get there however.   Bob Gustafson MMM, 13th Ward