When the video first started and the concept of Critical Mass was explained by some of its creators, my first impression was that these people, for some reason, had way too time on their hands. It seemed like one day they said to themselves we should try and get a bunch of bikes on the road, just for kicks, and then see what happens. The only reason I think this is because there are way too many interpretations of what exactly Critical Mass does. One of the most important aspects of it, however, is to bring people together in a fun, safe, and interactive environment. The broadest and most inclusive goal that I picked up from the video is that Critical Mass is just a way to rethink the notion of public space. It was a social experiment that brought people together. Any additional perceptions of Critical Mass are particular to each individual that decides to participate. Personally, if I were to encounter Critical Mass as a bystander, I would not be extremely bothered by it. Sure, it may cause inconvenience for cars and can make people late to important appointments, but it only occurs about once a month and getting stuck in traffic randomly happens more often than that.
While Critical Mass is hard to understand due to its lack of centralization, I believe that it is an undefined protest. By this, I mean that any individual that believes it a protest makes it a protest because they have a notion that their actions are going against something they do not agree with. However, due to a lack of direction, the message of the protest gets lost in noise created by everyone’s unique ideas.
3 comments:
Tim, I like how you differentiate between the individual ideas that riders have about Critical Mass (and what it's supposed to do), but also a more general idea in which Critical Mass rethinks public space. This latter comment really pinpoints something definite that the group is doing, since they literally take over the streets and change how people drive (if only for one Friday a month!). Your observation allows us to think about what all the Critical Mass-ers actually do have in common.
I don't think that they just put together Critical Mass because they had way too much time on their hands, but I like the way you described it as rethinking public space.
I think Critical Mass represents different things for different people. For some participants, it might be a protest. For some, it might just be a monthly ride through the city. So as a whole, I don't think it's a protest.
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