bad apples spoil the bunch...

sometime between now and yesterday afternoon, the law school got vandalized by militant bikers. no, not big ol' hell's angels types -- i'm talking about crazy fools on bicycles. i haven't yet seen this firsthand, but my sources tell me that now appearing in silver spray paint is "bikes not bombs" on the main stairway of the law school, and "bike pgh" in one of the bathrooms. this is so goddamn lame i don't even know what to say.

that's a lie. obviously, i know what to say or i wouldn't have turned this into a blog post.

the whole "bikes not bombs" thing, as i understand it, comes out of efforts in different cities to encourage bicycle use as an alternative to gas-guzzling, resource-exhausting methods of transportation. it's affiliated with a lot of neighborhood groups who recycle and rehab old bikes and put them back on the street. in my opinion, this is overwhelmingly positive.

there are also the critical mass rides in various cities, organized bunches of cyclists who ride together to bring about awareness of different, friendlier modes of getting to and fro. again, this is overwhelmingly positive.

yet, these pro-cycling, pro-environmental movements have managed to breed an anti-establishment faction that is good at making noise and enemies. and that's what i object to.

anybody who rides a bike on a regular basis will attest that cyclists catch a lot of hell on the road from both drivers and pedestrians. drivers want bikes on the sidewalks, pedestrians want them on the street (the law, btw, is that bikes are vehicles and thus belong on the street, riding WITH traffic). most folks on bikes are decent, non-antagonistic types who ride for good reasons. but there's also a whole scenester-y intra-counter-culture (that's so not the term i want to use) in the cycling community these days which is kinda gross. there are a lot of folks out there on bikes who act like jackasses, cut off motorists, ride really irresponsibly, and behave as if they're entitled to this sort of activity.

i.e., the kids who spraypaint "bikes not bombs" in a stairway. um, hello? not only is spraypaint totally not eco-friendly, but what you're doing is (a) vandalizing, (b) illegal, and (c) pissing off people who may otherwise be receptive to the message that bikes not bombs wants to promote. i love the first amendment and all, but i wish people understood that persuading your audience is not about the volume with which you make your statement, it's about the manner in which you convey your ideas.

look, part of the problem is that cyclists and motorists are engaged in this weird competitive, combative struggle for who gets the road. it's the whole entitlement thing. people, people, PEOPLE!!! where in the FUCK did we as a culture go so astray that we're convinced that we get to act like assholes because we think we're entitled to certain things? it's really quite retarded. and it's totally unproductive and inefficient. you know the street signs that say "share the road"? um, duh! it's about SHARING the road. the street isn't for cars only. it's not for bikes only. this is my issue with the critical mass rides -- they end up pissing drivers off because the cyclists act like morons and basically cut off access to the streets to motorists. what does this accomplish? how are we working towards awareness of reasonable alternatives if all we're doing is alienating groups that really have no reason not to co-exist peacefully?

erghhh...

bottom line: you punk-ass BNB kids who are out there trying to spread the word? don't you see that you're totally working against yourselves? be careful, or i'll shove a stick in your spokes. you want vigilante justice? oh, i'll give you vigilante justice! roar!!!