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i think (this is not a promise) i will spend a few posts examining the ideas promoted within a book i’m about to finish. it’s called Nation of Rebels by Heath and Potter.

this is in no way a “perfect book”, a “textbook” or a loaded-gun manifesto. it’s just a couple of guys who are trying to explain to “normal people” that much of the ideals of counterculture (from hot topic kids to Marxists) are actively promoting the system that they are trying to subvert. The authors do overstate/simplify some of the opposition’s arguments and positions, but their thinking still cuts through the smokescreen for me, and that’s why i’m taking some time to write about the ideas in this book.

a few of the examples which were particularly poignant for me were critiques of Adbusters/Culture Jammers and Critical Mass, as i had been a strong supporter of both up until fairly recently (just before starting to read this book, actually).

for some conext, here is the wiki on Kalle Lasn the guy who started Adbusters. the following is an excerpt from Nation of Rebels, discussing Lasn’s marketing of his “black spot sneaker“. The arrival of the black spot sneaker was when i started questioning Lasn, adbusters, and culture jamming in general.

Lasn describes the sneaker project as “a ground-breaking marketing scheme to uncool Nike. If it succeeds, it will set a precedent that will revolutionize capitalism.” Yet how exactly is it supposed to revolutionize capitalism? Reebok, Adidas, Puma, Vans and a half-dozen other companies have been trying to “uncool” Nike for decades. That’s called marketplace competition. It is, in fact, the whole point of capitalism.Lasn defends the sneaker project against critics, pointing out that his shoes, unlike those of his rivals, will not be manufactured in “sweatshops”- although they will still be imported Asia. [my note: presently, the shoes are made in Portugal] This is nice. But “fair trade” and “ethical marketing” are hardly revolutionary ideas, and they certainly represent no threwat to the capitlaist system. If consumers are willing to pay more for the shoes made by happy workers- or for eggs laid by happy chickens- then there is money to be made in bringing these goods to market. It’s a business model that has already been exploited to great effect by The Body Shop and Starbucks, among others. 

The hope of adbusters (and the shoe) is to create a new type of “grassroots capitalism” where goods are made well, small businesses are producing/selling them locally, and, generally speaking, giant corporations die a burly death at the feet of the enlightened, empowered consumer. only i don’t think they like the word “consumer”, so…

Heath and Potter are pointing out that a reorganization of some of capitalism’s ways is not revolutionary, rather it’s just “capitalism”. if this doesn’t make sense, keep reading- maybe my critical mass example will help.

so- critical mass in Seattle- exciting, fun, empowering- especially on a tall bike! for the uninitiated- a bunch of people gather downtown, and for a few hours, ride bikes thru Friday’s rush hour traffic all over downtown. it’s supposed to be for some good reason, like to get drivers to see bikes as legitimate transportation, or for safety, etc.. at some point i started to recognize that it’s not really accomplishing much, other than making me (and other riders) feel empowered and rebellious by screwing with drivers for an evening. the result of this, i think, is that people who don’t bike feel more afraid and alienated from these “strange people” who ride to work in the rain. i guess having drivers feel afraid of bikers might make things safer, but i doubt it. i think what it does is create more enmity between the two than is already there. how is this helpful? we don’t really know. we don’t really care. we just feel “alive” because we’re screwing with traffic and nobody can stop us because there are between 100 and 500 of us, and some of us will bash in your windshield if you try to fuck with us.

that’s why i don’t ride critical mass any more. hype, anarchy, rebellion and “counterculture” don’t necessarily equal change. good feelings? yes. lasting movement forward? no.

so what does real, effective bike activism look like? it looks more like the Cascade Bicycle Club petitioning for (and winning) a bike lane on Stone Way to me. of course, some “massers” helped win that bike lane too, but i think their time could be much better spent by shifting to actual effective, legal action like this than riding critical mass. if 500 people lobbied for a more bike friendly Seattle, i think the changes would be quick, relevant, and save lives. on the other hand, lobbying and signature gathering is WAY less fun than riding around downtown kicking SUV asses and yelling (oh yeah, and also making things worse for ourselves).

get my drift?

this is a large complex topic, and i plan to continue writing on it for a while. i think i will talk about advertising in my next post. thanks for reading. i’d love to hear your thoughts…

I was pleased to ride my tall bike, The Viaduct downtown last night for Critical Mass.  It was a smaller group, but i had not been able to do the ride for the last few months, so it was great to be there.  also, there was another tall bike, ridden by a great guy named Dave, so we could look out for each other. We started, as always, down at Westlake Center, and rode around downtown quite a bit before taking Westlake out to Freemont, then finishing at Gasworks in time for brews.  It got cold. I mean, there was ice. Cold. It’s great to ride a tall bike down the middle of a main street in downtown during rush hour.  You should try it.  I made the graphics on my new vest (pictured) over the last few days, using silk screen ink and stencils.  I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Unfortunately, i don’t yet know how to separate paragraphs on here yet.  Thanks for your patience.