Originally published on Yours.org on June 9, 2018.

68 of #100DaysofSatoshiDoodles

Riding as part of a critical mass of cyclists is a liberating experience. To participate, you must basically get over your fear — if you had any to begin with — of defying certain rules or offending those with more conservative views of how to have fun on a Friday night.

Having experienced the feeling of gaining momentum in spaces traditionally allocated to traffic jams whilst riding smoothly through intersections and over bridges, is comparable to the experience of using Bitcoin Cash to exchange value with someone on the other side of the world (without needing a trusted third party that charges fees and takes ages to settle).

There are some funny parallels between Bitcoin Cash and Still We Ride, a slightly older documentary about Critical Mass bicycle rides in NYC.

A few quotes from the video, if it’s too long to watch:

“Critical mass is like a way of saying, ‘Hey, everybody, c’mon, let’s do it. We can all do this. We can make our city a better, more fun place to live.”

“It’s a clear attempt to intimidate through open brutality, or what I refer to as tactical brutality. This is not something that spontaneously takes place with the police. They were instructed.”

“I mean, that was a huge outpouring of bodies on the street, and I think a lot of people saw that as a threat. And I think that for the NYPD and for the city to then look the other way on subsequent rides, I think it’s very difficult for them because they’ve already sort of built up this monster that they somehow have to eradicate.”

“It’s like being in an Alice in Wonderland world where the police are kind of making up little stories that don’t have any consistency to them and are really absurd. And it really would be funny if people didn’t end up in jail and manhandled and bikes confiscated and things like that.”

Q: “What is it all about?” (Regarding police arresting cyclists who are dancing inside a venue, after a court ruling that vindicates Critical Mass riders.)

A: “I don’t know. It’s about people trying to show that they’re in control, I guess. Two different crowds. Two different mentalities.”

“They should have more space on the streets to be able to ride. It’s hard enough as it is to get from one place to another. Why not have a bike?”

“This is part of the targeting and the selecting of the Critical Mass bike ride community for this kind of punishment and it’s chilling, it’s intimidating. I think it’s overkill, it’s unnecessary.”

“People here are in a system that brainwashes you from an early age that you have to consume and that you have to drive a car and that you have to have an 80,000 dollar vehicle that you don’t need.”


You can figure out who might be playing the role of the police with regards to Bitcoin Cash.

(Yikes, published today with five minutes to spare!)