Bikes: I Hate Em

[Jimmie Higgins]

Ok, I don't really HATE bikes, bikes are fun! What I hate is that in California people seem to think bikes=the new Che. People have bike t-shirts that they wear like a political statement and Critical Mass rolls around to protests telling everyone there that if they own a car, they are responsible for the war in Iraq.

This self-important bike worship by rich little liberals makes me sick, please spread the word and tell people that bikes are fun, not a political statement or an effective means of social change. If you do not stop this lifestyleist madness I may throw up on everyone in the entire world.

The worst is that I don't have a car because of financial circumstances, and liberals will tell me: "Good for you" when I say I don't have a car. I swear, I want to carjack them when they say that and then say "good for you for not having a car".

[Bilan]

Bikes are fun.

[Module]

This annoying pretentious indie prick in my Society and Culture class last year occasionally wore a 'critical mass' t-shirt.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I was thinking of writing a satire of Critical Mass in a manifesto by "radical" lifestyleist nudests called "Critical Ass". The manifesto would explain that anyone who's wearing clothes is part of the problem and the reason for everything from slavery to the war in Iraq.

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

Why do you hate people who think riding a bike is superior to driving a car? If you can reach a destination without pollution, that is preferable. Although cars are useful for getting to destinations faster, given the health of most people, it's probably better to take the extra time and ride a bike.

Riding a bike is something to be happy about. It doesn't solve the world's problems, but it is still good. Small goods are still good. Assuming why you are riding the bike is probably unfair, though.

[bcbm]

Bikes rule. Get a job.

[NecroCommie]

Why do you hate people who think riding a bike is superior to driving a car? If you can reach a destination without pollution, that is preferable. Although cars are useful for getting to destinations faster, given the health of most people, it's probably better to take the extra time and ride a bike.

Riding a bike is something to be happy about. It doesn't solve the world's problems, but it is still good. Small goods are still good. Assuming why you are riding the bike is probably unfair, though.
He does not hate bikes as he already explained, nor does he think cars are somehow "superior". The point is that he (and me) hates the idiotic kids who come preaching to you with "holier than thou"-attitude. And it doesn't help them that they propably stop all the bike fuzz when it isn't pop anymore. All this added to the fact that the bike fuzz is barely a solution at all, let alone a realistic one, reveals that their true intention is more propably to increase their image than to increase the quantity of bikes.

[Angry Young Man]

WTF is this Critical mass you keep talking about?

And cars won't give you a sore gooch, and I hate going up hills.

[LeninBalls]

I can't even cycle a bike.

[brigadista]

this sums up cyclists in london...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAOHhV1EFe4

[Pirate Utopian]

I hate bikes. The minute I get my driverslicense I'm throwing mine in a lake.

[PRC-UTE]

ban.

[which doctor]

I love riding my bike. There's a certain liberating aspect about being able to maintain and power your own form of transportation.

Besides all that though, I also love to piss off cars, ignore traffic laws, swerve in and out of pedestrians, and generally be a dick to everyone else not on a bike.

[Angry Young Man]

I like to ride my bicycle I like to ride my bike.

I like to ride my bicycle I like to ride it when I like.

[Dean]

I love my car.

Also: I've got a bike; you can ride it if you like.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I love riding my bike. There's a certain liberating aspect about being able to maintain and power your own form of transportation.

Besides all that though, I also love to piss off cars, ignore traffic laws, swerve in and out of pedestrians, and generally be a dick to everyone else not on a bike.

You must be from California then.

[Angry Young Man]

Or London, I hear.

[Pirate Utopian]

I like to ride my bicycle I like to ride my bike.

I like to ride my bicycle I like to ride it when I like.
Queen = a permanent ban.

[Angry Young Man]

It had to be done! It's not like I enjoy listening to Queen.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Is Queen the most fascist of all rock bands?

[Angry Young Man]

Rush? The Exploited? The Hawks? http://redmolotov.com/catalogue/tshirts/political-tshirts/hawks.html

[Jimmie Higgins]

I mean in style, not political outlook.

"We will rock you"? We can rock ourselves than you very much.

I guess fascist was wrong - monarchist?

[LOLseph Stalin]

Point 1: I like Queen. Lame, I know...

point 2: Now to get back on topic, I'm going to say something i'm absolutely embarrassed to say. I never learnt how to ride a bike and i'm 18! :blushing:

[Jimmie Higgins]

The bike craze is like the jogging craze in the 70s.

[LOLseph Stalin]

You cant ride a bike wow?


No. I'm probably the only one. *sulks in corner* :blushing:

[LOLseph Stalin]

You have to be how do you get around?

Usually on my own two feet unless I can convince my dad to drive me. I could already have my license too...

[Brother No. 1]

Dont worry Insert people learn to ride a bike one time or another.

[Dust Bunnies]

No. I'm probably the only one. *sulks in corner* :blushing:
I can't ride either. I had a bike, just my parents never took the time to get me on it and for me to use it. I can use training wheels!

[LOLseph Stalin]

I can't ride either. I had a bike, just my parents never took the time to get me on it and for me to use it. I can use training wheels!

Yay for us training wheel people! The funny thing about me is that my parents offered to teach me, but I was a very stubborn child and just gave up after falling a few times. Even now I can still be stubborn about some things.

[Brother No. 1]

Even now I can still be stubborn about some things.

I havent seen this stubborness really. but I guess the old say "you never know" fits along.

[LOLseph Stalin]

I havent seen this stubborness really. but I guess the old say "you never know" fits along.

Haha, if you knew me in real life it would be very evident.


Walking whats that?

Something magical. ;)

[Jimmie Higgins]

Not to me requires work.
Is that why you only travel by Segue?

[Brother No. 1]

Haha, if you knew me in real life it would be very evident.


Stuborness doesnt really make me mad besides we're all humans we make mistakes we act stuborn sometimes. If i did know you in real life then there might be a different story involved.

[Pawn Power]

bikes = the new Che

[jake williams]

Bikes are awesome. Cars suck.

[Pawn Power]

Bikes are a crap way to get around.

Maybe in Tempe Arizona but in many other places they are pretty excellent.

[bcbm]

They're cheaper than cars to maintain and use, so actually cars take more work.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

I fucking hate those groups of bikers who not only take up half the fucking roadway and impede you from turning where you want to, but also feel the need to wear those spandex suits.


And anyone who says bikes>cars needs to start driving a stick. Have a little fun out there.

[Bilan]

Stop whinging for gods sake.

[Bright Banana Beard]

I am going to ride a motorcycle, and past all these car clogger.

[YSR]

Bikes rule.
Douches who have spandex outfits suck.
Cars are middling, really shitty if they're driven by disrespectful assholes.
Critical Mass, despite being mad lifestylist, is also mad dialectically surrealist and forces people to reevaluate how roads are used.
If you try to push me off the road or honk at me, I will fucking attack your car.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Critical Mass, despite being mad lifestylist, is also mad dialectically surrealist and forces people to reevaluate how roads are used.
If you try to push me off the road or honk at me, I will fucking attack your car.

Critical Mass are, by and large, idiots. In Oakland many of them (far from being revolutionary) are supporters of Ron Paul.

Their tactics were to come to a large group of people and then blame them for the war in Iraq if they drove. I tried to reason with one of them and talk about imperialism and he said that imperialism didn't exist, but if everyone got rid of their cars, there'd never wars ever again.

"So cars were the cause of the British wars in India? In Africa?" I asked.

He thought for a minute and then said I was part of the problem and expressed the wish that I would "get it".

He also thought the subway (which I take because I don't have a car) was part of the problem - I guess the elderly and injured are shit out of luck in Critical Mass' mind.

[Pawn Power]

Critical Mass are, by and large, idiots. In Oakland many of them (far from being revolutionary) are supporters of Ron Paul.

Their tactics were to come to a large group of people and then blame them for the war in Iraq if they drove. I tried to reason with one of them and talk about imperialism and he said that imperialism didn't exist, but if everyone got rid of their cars, there'd never wars ever again.

"So cars were the cause of the British wars in India? In Africa?" I asked.

He thought for a minute and then said I was part of the problem and expressed the wish that I would "get it".

He also thought the subway (which I take because I don't have a car) was part of the problem - I guess the elderly and injured are shit out of luck in Critical Mass' mind.

People always judge critical mass based on one random nut job they randomly exchanged a few incoherent words with. CC really has a lot of random and varying crowd, especially based on the city you are in.

[Jimmie Higgins]

No, it wasn't a random nut, it was one of their main local guys.

10 years ago, there were some actual "political" critical mass guys who were radical and looking at Critical Mass protests as a way to push for bike lanes and so on. But like so many groups in the US, a political tactic became the ends in of itself rather than a means for something else.

These guys in Oakland just go bike riding - it's a social thing that they like to pretend is political. It would be like me seeing a political punk rock show and thinking I'm making a difference. No I'm not, it's just a fun thing I like to do.

[YSR]

Well fuck Oakland CM then, but in Minneapolis it's mad political.

Pushing for bike lanes IS political and is important, though I agree it ain't revolutionary.

But challenging the rule of motor vehicles on the road and the police that enforce that law is quite progressive and important.

[cop an Attitude]

I bike 20 miles everyday to get to school. I love riding it and community has some great sites. Although in about 5000 me and a 2 others are the only ones that bike from place to place. I just think of it as a leginamit form of transportation thats cheaper than a car, more timly than a bus and can go down trails too.

[Revy]

The Social Ideology of the Motorcar (http://rts.gn.apc.org/socid.htm) by Andre Gorz.


The cities and towns have been broken up into endless highway suburbs, for that was the only way to avoid traffic congestion in residential centres. But the underside of this solution is obvious: ultimately people can't get around conveniently because they are far away from everything. To make room for the cars, distances have increased. People live far from their work, far from school, far from the supermarket - which then requires a second car so the shopping can be done and the children driven to school. Outings? Out of the question. Friends? There are the neighbours.. .and that's it. In the final analysis, the car wastes more time than it saves and creates more distance than it overcomes. Of course, you can get yourself to work doing 60 mph, but that's because you live 30 miles from your job and are willing to give half an hour to the last 6 miles. To sum it all up: "A good part of each day's work goes to pay for the travel necessary to get to work." (Ivan Illich)

[Invincible Summer]

Great post Stancel... I will rep you mentally.