Spinopsys

The Telegraph on CM redux

Posted November 30th, 2006 in The Desk

In a bookend of editorials yesterday, The Daily Telegraph continued to fulminate about Friday’s Critical Mass. They issued a mea culpa of sorts plus engaging the issues in a somewhat reasoned manner in one, yet balanced that with a nonsense argument about the legality of CM’s actions in another.

Clearly media management is not CM’s strong suit, and while there is no question CM needs to grow up, get smart and apply a specific focus to it’s currently messy grab bag of stated goals (for example, David Hicks’ predicament has nothing to do with cycling), the reality is that CM is largely on the forefront of changing attitudes toward questions about our built space, health and climate.

Sure, in a democratic society cycling rights must be weighed against a certain reality, but what if the reality as the majority perceives it is wrong? Then we are left with a tyranny of that majority, and in that situation the right to protest is an obvious solution.

The Critical Mass cyclists who organised themselves into a self-righteous and disruptive phalanx on the Harbour Bridge on Friday are correct, of course. Strenuous physical exercise such as pedalling a pushbike has been shown to be of benefit in the treatment of a range of diseases associated with sedentariness - hypertension, diabetes, obesity - obviously - and even depression. Likewise, if we were all to ride a bike rather than drive a car, the greenhouse effect of our disproportionate reliance on the private motor vehicle would be reversed in an instant.

Of course no cyclists take issue with the rights and responsibilities that go with using our roadways, but as they say it cuts both ways.

In reality, cycling has little impact on the overall congestion and transport problems seen in Sydney, yet motorists continue to conflate their predicament with that of the alleged behaviour of a minority transport group who also ride once a month for an hour to bring awareness to that state of play. On this, as with all things motoring, truth and reality become the first casualties when the cars in front of you aren’t moving. Ultimately, motorists and their apologists have only themselves to blame.

Lastly, the less said about the so called free ride given to ratbags the better.

The cycling protesters who take pride in plunging city traffic into chaos encourage their members to ignore road rules and defy police. Despite their disregard for the law and a public backlash against two-wheeled road hogs, police have vowed to continue to sanction the monthly traffic jams.

The ultimate rebuttal to this silly editorial was given by the assistant commissioner of Police, Phil Rogerson. I’ve bolded the relevant words.

As with any lawful and organised protest, police attend to assist the smooth running of the event as well as to ensure the safety of members of the public and all those involved in the protest.

Now that’s someone who really understands what rights and responsibilities are all about. The Telegraph can bark at the moon in their defense of continued motoring madness for as long as they like, but the reality of the situation on Sydney’s streets is nothing like they imagine and has absolutely nothing to do with cyclists.

Aftermatter:

Where was Bicycle NSW on this? No official media statement to an obvious beatup by the Telegraph of CM, not to mention the sad attempt at humour by Anita Quigley in her Saturday blog post. Or was Critical Mass itself the reason for their silence?

BNSW needs a point man or woman schooled in the art of the press release and sound bite. They should also demand a right of reply in our media. It may not do much, but it would at least have the effect of letting Sydney’s cyclists know that the organisation is on the case.

technorati tags: cycling, sydney, critical, mass

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