In other words, we go to work and reproduce a world of bad choices and then try to change it by making the least bad choice while shopping. Bicycling is attracting lots of people for a myriad of reasons. As we find elements of shared experience and sensibility and express them in action we are engaged in an altogether new political experiment. In general these days, movements of social opposition or social vision are arising in the ad hoc associations of citizens. Critical Mass took this to a new level of dis-organization by eschewing even planning committees or ongoing coordinators.
People come together on their bikes once a month.
Clearly masses of bicyclists have the power to clog streets and wreak havoc in urban settings, if they so choose. But the people drawn to cycling in Critical Mass or BikeSummer are not more radical or angry than most folks. They probably share a critique of the automobile culture, maybe a more generalized critique of irrational capitalism, but finally it is a community comprised of strangers who are engaged in an acceptable and peaceful ritual. The potential disruption itself is no threat to the ways things are. The rare and sporadic riot or traffic jam is easily turned into a propaganda victory for the powers that be.