Wow. This may be the stupidest association I've ever heard of. Do they really think they stand a chance against all the auto companies in the world plus 90%+ of the people who have no problems with the Auto Show.

• Fri, 01/18/2008 - 17:07
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IMHO, they should go promote something more beneficial for society...for example, wearing helmets when bicycling. Miss, as (un)stylish as it is, that pink cowboy hat will not save your skull when you crash.

• Fri, 01/18/2008 - 17:58
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This is a pretty big waste of time and resources. Auto shows don't represent congested highways. These cycle-nazi's need to know that there are plenty of people out there (myself included) that own and love cars, but also care about our mother earth to a certain extent and ride bikes too.
I live in a major urban centre and have had a car for the last 5+ years and a mere 76000 km on the odometre. I ride a bike to and from work, the bar, dinners out and friends' houses. I drive to get groceries, go on road trips, and hit the track.
There can be a comfortable balance

• Fri, 01/18/2008 - 19:07
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Damn, that looks congested. Oh, wait—weren't they trying to. . .wait, what?

• Fri, 01/18/2008 - 19:55
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I bet most of them will arrive in their cars to protest at the Auto show. Only idiots will ride their bicycles in the dead of winter in Chicago. What a stupid geek organization!

• Sat, 01/19/2008 - 07:03
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I really dislike these people. They ruin peoples day at the auto show so next time they see me riding my bike they run me off the road. Thanks a lot.

• Tue, 01/22/2008 - 14:24
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Hey, thanks for the coverage!

Allow me to clear up some misconceptions:

Bikegeeks.org is not "an initiative to free up congested roadways." As stated very clearly on the site, its goal is to provide technology assistance to Break The Gridlock and its member organizations. BTG's mission is to reduce automobile dependence and thus give people the freedom to choose other options.

As for the Auto Show Shutdown Association (ASSA), that, like much of the content at AutoShowShutdown.org is a parody of the Chicago Auto Show site. In particular, we're poking fun at the "Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles" (OICA), a group which, from looking at its web site, http://oica.net, I am sure even the most ardent motorhead would admit is deserving of being poked fun at a bit.

Also, while I do think we've been doing our thing at the Chicago Auto Show longer than anyone else has, we're certainly not the only ones. There were protests at Auto Shows in Detroit, Geneva, and Los Angeles in the last year as well. Like it or not, this is a growing global movement.

The "spandex-clad" jibe is amusing, but not very original. Spandex isn't very practical in the middle of winter in Chicago. I personally don't own any. Also, a lot of us "idiots" ride bicycles year-round in Chicago. Why would we stop riding just because it's a little cold or snowy out? Not everyone is so delicate that they have to scurry into a metal box just to avoid a little weather.

The picture you show is most likely of a Critical Mass ride, although I don't think that's Chicago. I'm not sure where it is. But we had over 3000 riders on a single ride here last month , and we're just one of hundreds of cities around the world with CM rides.

While I don't own a car, I do occasionally rent and drive one. But we're happy to have a big tent of cyclists, pedestrians, transit riders, and yes, even car drivers, all of whom want to do something to stop the spread of car culture and automobile dependency, and to be a part of this growing movement.

As for the SHUTDOWN being a "pretty big waste of time and resources," well, I didn't mind spending a few hours on a nice sunny day to get our message out. We don't have nearly as much time and resources to waste as the automobile industry, which spends ten billion (with a "B") dollars a year on advertising.

So, do we really think we "stand a chance against all the auto companies in the world plus 90%+ of the people who have no problems with the Auto Show?" Well, I'm not sure that the public opinion is against us that much, but we know what we're up against.

See, it's about the message. It's about the media. Perhaps we're tilting at windmills, trying to make our voices heard above the din of the automobile industry's barrage of advertising and marketing, but we did manage to get something printed in the paper about the Auto Show that didn't tow the corporate party line. We'll call that a success, one battle in a larger campaign.

And there are always a few people every year who do stop and talk to us on their way into the Auto Show. Maybe we don't really change any minds at the Auto Show, but we at least get a conversation started. And we're doing it here in cyberspace too.

Contrary to what many people seem to think, the point of the Auto Show SHUTDOWN isn't to point our fingers at attendees and say, "You're bad for driving a car." It's to point our fingers at the automobile industry itself, and say, "You're bad for promoting car culture, automobile hegemony and dependency. You're bad for putting on a giant trade show to promote your products which are the number one killer of children and young people in this country." Don't take my word for it, though; these statistics come from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

So go ahead and call us whatever you want, but that's why we're doing this. Even though we do resort to some silliness, for the purposes of making it a fun event and getting some attention from the media that we might not otherwise, the Auto Show SHUTDOWN is dead serious, as are the issues. Sure, there can be a "comfortable balance," but we're a long way from that right now.

Now, while I understand that many people genuinely appreciate the technology and artistry that go into modern automobiles, and that it's fun to go to a big glitzy show with fly girls showing off shiny new cars, I don't fully understand why it is that anyone would really feel the need to pay good money to look at more car advertising. I mean, I don't have to wait for the Auto Show to go look at cars. I see, hear, and smell an Auto Show on the roads every day.

Finally, our goal is not to disrupt the Auto Show or to "divert" attendees. It's to SHUT DOWN the Auto Show. And this is the ninth year in a row we've done exactly that.

Thanks,
Dan
http://DanKorn.com
http://AutoShowShutdown.org

• Tue, 02/12/2008 - 00:16
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