[dc-critmass-list] the hierarchy thing & the weekly/monthly thing

[kelly huennekens]

"To make CM rides only one Friday of the month is too HIERARCHICAL and  EXCLUSIONIST."
 
Ok, that doesn't even make sense.  How often CM rides occur doesn't have anything to do with the structure (or lack thereof) of the group.  I can buy your exclusionary argument, but where are you getting that riding once a month is hierarchical?
 
As someone mentioned before, name-calling is not helpful to this discussion (or anywhere else, for that matter).  Please be respectful of fellow CMers and refrain from referring to people as the "gonad squad".  
 
Finally, those of us advocating once-a-month rides certainly can't stop you from passing out flyers indicating that rides are every week.  You obviously feel strongly about it, and others disagree.  Maybe we can reach a compromise.  If you insist on advertizing weekly rides, would you be willing to include a note that says the largest rides are on the first Friday of each month?  A lot of us have indicated that we'll be supporting the monthly rides.  For all the same reasons i want rides to be monthly and not weekly, i'd prefer not to have CM advertized as being weekly, one of which being that i think advertizing weekly rides will hurt participation at the big monthly rides.  If someone wanted to sabotage our efforts to get new riders, a good way would be to have flyers saying CM is every day, or at 4 pm, or on Tuesdays, or whatever.  I'm not sure what a good solution for this weekly/monthly debate is... does anyone have ideas?  David, we can't tell you what to do, but i'd like to
 point out that what you're doing is similar to what you accuse others of.  You talk a lot about how CM is about individual autonomy and each person makes what she wants of it.  But you want to pass out flyers advertizing weekly rides against the desire of many regular CMers, and in doing so you are going to be speaking on behalf of CM.  You're trying to unilaterally dictate how often CM occurs, and that doesn't seem right.  No one is in charge of CM, so does that mean that no one is authorized to speak for the group or that everyone can speak for the group?  Or that there is no group?  Getting a little too abstract...  Obviously there is a group when we're riding together.  We have to function somehow.  How can we do that and recognize everyone's opinions without leadership?  Stuff to think about, and possibly to discuss at some kind of gathering.
 
 


docguch at juno.com wrote:

Just as I reminded everyone, there is NO HIERARCHY in CM.  Looks like a member of the Gonad Squad want to continue to bring Hierarchy and Rules to CM, but remember, each CM participant makes the ride what is it, and people 
 
To make CM rides only one Friday of the month is too HIERARCHICAL and  EXCLUSIONIST.  To make CM every Friday is more flexible for the person who has a life and a job, it also helps promote bicycles more frequently.  Even though many of you disagree with CM ride being every Friday, I will still pass out flyers announcing CM as every Friday, like it or not.   



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