By Dr. Michael Cahn Visiting Lecturer, Department of History, UCLA
(Re: “Ride or die,” Feb. 20, page 1) I am very sorry about the poor quality of the Critical Mass piece in (the Daily Press’) recent issue. I feel you have become the mouthpiece of a poorly articulated anger against cyclists. Rather than analyzing this diffuse anger, you have presented it in the manner of a prejudice on the first page.
To begin with, the illustration is exceedingly inappropriate and insulting, it catches nothing of the spirit of adventure and environmentally friendly transport combined with healthy exercise which characterizes these occasions. Just go there and have a look for yourself. The photograph is a sad reflection of your inability to understand what is going on at these occasions, or of your willful distortion of the truth. The title, “Ride or Die,” is just as poorly chosen.
You really have not understood what bicycles are about, and you have not even begun to put a question mark to the car culture which is bringing this planet to the ruin. Every cyclist is a Kyoto Saint. Instead, you have given voice to a few aggrieved drivers, whose polluting exhaust fumes we all have to breath in, and whose aggressive style of driving kills and hurts many pedestrians and cyclists. It is pathetic and entirely out of touch how you allow the car driver and gas burner to speak here as if they were entirely justified, entirely natural, entirely taken for granted.
This is 2007, not 1950 ! The position is pathetic, because out on the streets of Santa Monica, drivers everywhere feel they need to justify themselves — they buy dual fuel cars, they pay more for their gas, and they have to ask themselves if bloody wars are being fought around the world to satisfy their desire for more and more cheap gas.
I am commuting to UCLA on my bike and many of the participants of the Critical Mass rides will use their bike every day for the benefit of all: But you turn on them and give us a bad press as if we are monstrous growth which threatens the planet. If we come together once a month to celebrate our responsibility and our understanding of the environment and all the gas we are not burning, then you might have the good grace and allow us a bit presence on the streets. We do it with joy, music, good will and some dressing up. It is, after all, in these occasions that we are able to encourage many more car drivers to join us on the cycle lane. And in the few interactions with drivers I have witnessed, I have seen understanding, humor and support, and nothing of the stale and stereotypical aggression you describe in your piece.
I am sorry, you have failed your assignment. Grade F.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 22, 2007. Read the original PDF.