.a simple alternative

We do know that we see a simple alternative. An easier route. What if all those massers merely rode their bikes every day? In normal clothes, like normal people? Like the millions of citizens of Northern Europe.

What might happen?

Meet our protagonist - Mr. Motorist. He drives to and from work each day as he always has. Listening to the same radio station. Same route, with minor variations. It's what he does.

He is an average citizen in a car-based society. Like the vast majority, he is not an environmental activist and he never, ever will be.

Mr Motorist looks out of the windows of his car as he putters through traffic. What does he think when he sees a hard-core, lycra-clad, cyclist on a specialist bike speeding his/her way along the curb?

Mr Motorist in the morning traffic might think, "Hmm. I could ride my bike to work, too..."

He won't, however, see himself reflected in the image. He'll see a member of an often militant sub-culture. He'll see somebody he would normally label as an 'environmentalist' - not a positive label in many cultures. He'll see a person wearing an unofficial uniform - Mr Motorist has nothing in his closet that even closely resembles the gear on the cyclist - and he'll see a bike so far removed from any bike he has ever owned.

He'll realise that in order to ride his bike he would have to infiltrate a sub-culture populated by individuals very unlike himself. He would have to invest in gear and clothes. Worst of all, Mr Motorist would find himself 'making a statement' by riding.

Mr Motorist, like most people, doesn't want to make a statement. He just wants to live his life, not climb onto a platform and become a visible statement-maker. He knows the environment is an important issue. He knows the facts. But he is just Joe Average and always will be. He just thinks riding his bike to work would be nice, healthy and quicker than driving. But the idea is quickly dropped.

When Mr Motorist is stuck in traffic on the way home because of a bike protest/demonstration/celebration, he isn't going to be any closer to hopping on a bike. He will be pushed farther away from the thought than he ever was. Joe Average doesn't have much respect for this kind of activism. I wish he did, but he doesn't. He's just going to get pissed off.