Dissecting Media Bias: Keegan Kyle’s Subtle Digs on Critical Mass Affect All Bicyclists
Posted By Thomas Bahde on October 29, 2009
I posted last month about Keegan Kyle’s (Voice of San Diego) apparently negative impressions of the Critical Mass ride he went on. Some readers didn’t find Kyle’s take negative, others did. Well, Kyle is at it again, with a short bit about this month’s upcoming ride. The headline and teaser this morning on the “This Just In” section on the main Voice page reads:
Watch for Bicyclists Friday Night: Hundreds of riders will hit the streets, break traffic laws, anger some motorists and be the primary duty of a few police officers.
The first problem here is that Kyle doesn’t identify Critical Mass specifically. Just reading this, the problem becomes “bicyclists” who have to be watched for, like a hoard of roaming brain-hungry zombies. Get the shotgun Martha, those damn bicyclists are out again. Moving on, the first thing those bicyclists will be doing (after hitting the streets, which is their legal right), will be breaking traffic laws. Then, they’ll be angering some motorists. Then, they’ll be tying up police officers who might be protecting and serving elsewhere were it not for these nasty bicyclists. Not a word about the statement Critical Mass is trying to make, just the problems it causes. The brief entry that follows is the same.
The monthly cycling event in San Diego called Critical Mass is scheduled — sort of — for Friday. No one actually schedules the event, but it’s become tradition for hundreds of residents. A cyclist herd rides through the city on the last Friday of every month without regard for its traffic laws or motorists. I reported last month’s event and how police accompany the group.
The bicyclist herd moves with no specific leadership and its course changes every month. It starts at the large fountain in Balboa Park after dusk. It travels more than 20 miles, usually, riding through the downtown at some point.
I won’t be covering this month’s event, but I’d love to know how it goes. I would like to hear from all perspectives — bicyclists, law enforcement, motorists, etc. Send an e-mail about your experience to keegan.kyle@voiceofsandiego.org. I hope to write a short blog post about reader responses next week.
Let’s first point out that referring to the group as a “herd” is immediately dehumanizing and urges readers to disregard the legitimacy of the event and the people involved. This seems particularly dangerous since the afore-mentioned angry drivers may already regard these human protestors merely as roadway obstructions. The focus on disorganization highlights the unpredictable (read: dangerous) behavior of the group. And once again, Kyle emphasizes the disregard of traffic laws and inconveniencing of motorists. It’s impossible to deny that these things take place during Critical Mass, but Kyle consistently fails to notice to what end all of this supposed anarchy is put.
Kyle says he wants to hear from bicyclists about the event. I urge all bicyclists to write to Kyle, whether they like Critical Mass or not, and urge him to consider that his words have an impact on the way every bicyclist is viewed in our city. With careless words and confrontational, dehumanizing language, Kyle is fueling the hate of motorists who see me and other bicyclists on the street every day and think “that’s one of those Critical Mass assholes, I’m gonna teach ‘em a lesson.” I never like to ride the morning after Critical Mass because I wonder if some angry driver is going to run me down because he had to wait twenty minutes the night before. Now I’m starting to wonder if riding the day after a Keegan Kyle story comes out is safe either.
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5 Responses to “Dissecting Media Bias: Keegan Kyle’s Subtle Digs on Critical Mass Affect All Bicyclists”
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nice deconstruction,
Yea. Pretty sharp work. I’ll forward him my dissection from last month. Its mostly about unethical journalism (see http://www.spj.org). His work is neither fair or accurate.
I’m not worried about Kyle. I met him, he asked me questions, he ignored my points. We all know he’s not especially gifted at journalism. But the main reason he bothers me, and why I leave it at that, is because he is one hack from the bad side of San Diego. The intolerant, smug, conservative-because-he-has-privilege-to-protect side of San Diego. He isn’t a journalist to report and share the world with readers; he is a journalist who set out primarily to find something worthy of his condescension. Critical Mass is what he found. But there are many sides to San Diego. There are progressive minded people in San Diego who ride bikes for their own reasons. There are people in this city who want to improve the world whether by gardens, art, or bottom brackets. San Diego has rich and poor people, hundreds of languages spoken, and more than one means of transportation. Kyle Keegan looks down on all of them, because he is, as most young people put it, a douche.
I don’t know if I disagree with Ken. I used to ride in CM quite often, but it really is the sort of ride that needs to relax, as its turned into an event more filled with drunken debauchery and idiot kids racing each other in traffic.
Don’t get me wrong, I like parts of CM, especially as its the kind of ride you can invite casual (non-veloobsessed) friends to, and one in which one doesn’t have to worry about getting dropped.
At the same time, there have been quite a bit of problems I’ve seen personally at CM. Irresponsible drinking and biking, and even motorist-bicycle altercation/fist-fights have changed the tone so much that I don’t like going anymore or even recommending others to go.
Maybe a little more background about Critical Mass would’ve been desired, but you can’t really be insulted when the major effects of your actions dominate the discussion.
I am an avid cyclist and appreciate the concept behind Critical Mass; however, the lawbreaking (call it civil disobedience if you want), the angry motorists, and the police presence are the side effects—arguably desired—of a CM ride.
Bicycle awareness is certainly important but you can’t deny that most motorists will wonder “what the hell is going on,” and experience a minor frustration if they encounter a CM ride.