All the recent controversy and media coverage of Critical Mass, and the subsequent launch of Critical Manners Vancouver, got me thinking about whether I would bother showing up to ride on August 14th.

I quickly came to  the conclusion "yes, of course". Now one may fairly ask how I can justify supporting two seemingly-at-odds events. The answer is quite simple - both promote safe cycling as a lifestyle choice, albeit in different ways.

A little more thinking about the kinds of people who would go only to Critical Mass (on the last friday of every month), those who would only participate in Critical Manners (hopefully now on the second Friday of every month), and those who would cheerfully attend both reminded me of the important research on the stages of moral development by Lawrence Kohlberg.

His research helped reveal that human's grow through various stages of moral development - starting with a very self-centered view and then expanding outwards to encompass others. He divided these stages into three main phases which he named pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Through his use of the Druggist's Dilemma he was able to group responses into his three categories - basically (1) "fuck yes, you can't tell me what to do", (2) "of course not, everyone should respect and follow the law" and (3) "yes, because the needs of my wife outweigh the loss to the druggist".

I humbly submit that those at a pre-conventional level of morality will only bother to attend Critical Mass, those at a conventional level of morality will only attend Critical Manners, and those at a post-conventional level will happily attend and support both. Critical Mass will continue to be an uneasy alliance of those there to say "fuck the law" and those who see it as an important part of bicycle culture.