Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Is Personal Rapid Transit a Cult?

Not all cults are religious. Kay Miller wrote about a political cult called the "O" in a April 6, 2003 Star Tribune article:

People tend to think of cults as primarily religious, but the O. fits the classic definition with its clandestine structure, charismatic leader and all-controlling environment, said Janja Lalich, author of "Captive Hearts, Captive Minds." Lalich is an assistant sociology professor at California State University-Chico who has studied the O. She considers it a cult.


...and one member of the "O" was Mark Olson's PRT buddy Dean Zimmermann:

Minneapolis City Council Member Dean Zimmermann, who was briefly an O. member, agrees. "People wanted a dramatic change in our society. And this co-op organization with the left-wing dogma exploited that deep, burning desire to transform our society in a way that would make it better for all and not just the privileged.

"We looked to Cuba, which had health care for everyone. We looked to China, which eradicated starvation. We thought we could transform our society and eliminate the chasm between the rich and the poor," Zimmermann said.


Sounds like the stuff Zimmermann says about PRT "transforming the transportation system".

What they did see was an amazingly destructive force as the O. infiltrated existing food co-ops, antiwar and feminist organizations in the 1970s.

"These people were incredibly driven by ideological purity," Cox said. "They believed that to allow the co-ops to be this elite hippie, anarchist thing would detract from their own work. They were fairly ruthless in their desire for business gain."

Although the O. started its own businesses to prepare for the coming revolution, its leaders viewed the growing food co-op movement as an economic opportunity, Cox said. Late one Sunday night in May 1975, O. members armed with iron pipes took over the People's Warehouse, which distributed food to all the co-ops, fomenting Minneapolis' "co-op wars," Cox said. O. members later firebombed an opponent's truck and were believed to have a cache of weapons stored on the South Side of Minneapolis, Cox said.

The O. divided what had been one of the nation's most vibrant co-op communities, leaving it in disarray.

"I know people today who are still bitter about what the C.O. did to them and the co-op movement, and that was 30 years ago," Cox said.

None of the O.'s co-ops survived, Cox said. "The revolution that they wanted to create never happened."


Sounds like what Dean Zimmermann and his fellow PRTistas did to the 5th District Green Party.

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10 comments:

Mr_Grant said...

We thought we could transform our society and eliminate the chasm between the rich and the poor," Zimmermann said.

What an irresponsible, crazy dream.

Mr_Grant said...

Is Ken Avidor a fictional character? The evidence:

1. Last year a letter by a Barb Lickness was exposed as virtually identical to one by Avidor. At the time the question was asked if Lickness were made up by Avidor. THERE IS NOTHING THAT SAYS IT CAN'T BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

2. We have joked about Avidor's online aliases. But there is likewise NO PROOF THAT "AVIDOR" IS NOT AN ONLINE ALIAS.

3. This bio reads "Ken Avidor (Ken Weiner)"

4. Technorati's index of blog postings tagged "PRT Transit" lists the blog name and author. A number of anti-PRT posts are listed as "by Eva Young." BUT WHEN YOU CLICK THEM THEY ARE SIGNED BY AVIDOR.

lloydletta said...

Well duh.... They show up in Technorati authored by me, since I claimed Lloydletta and Dump Bachmann blogs. Avidor writes for both those blogs - and the prt posts are by him.

Mr_Grant said...

5. Eva Young and Avidor share an inability to recognize jokes when they read them (1-4 above, esp. 4).

A Transportation Enthusiast said...

Speaking of cultish behavior... isn't the lack of a sense of humor a sure sign you've been the subject of intense brainwashing? Hmmm...

Avidor said...

Very soon, we will see who get's the last laugh.

Mr_Grant said...

Please sir, control your apostrophes! There might be children reading.

A Transportation Enthusiast said...

The "last laugh"? Are we living in a cartoon here? You seem to think that some kind of epic ending is in store for PRT and its proponents, as if some higher authority is going to descend upon us and eradicate PRT thought from existence.

It may shock you to hear this, Ken, but all the world does not revolve around Minnesota politics. PRT is much bigger than you; it's bigger than Zimmerman, Olson, and Bachmann too. It's even bigger than Anderson, Irving, Schneider, and all the other so-called "gadgetbahners" who have pioneered the research into the technology.

The very fact that you think it's "the end of the road" for PRT just because of some local Minneapolis election results, is just further evidence that you have no idea as to the scope of PRT development around the globe. Do you really believe that global PRT development will end just because some local Minneapolis politician allegedly took a bribe? Are you really so out of touch with reality?

Even if ULTra, Vectus, Taxi 2000, and every current PRT effort fails, PRT will not die, because PRT is about innovation, about people trying to solve an age-old problem in a new and interesting way.

And politics cannot kill the quest for innovation; it can only hinder and stall it. As long as there is an urban transportation problem, "gadgetbahners" will continue to search for answers. No amount of anti-PRT blogging and cartooning will change that.

Whether PRT is the ultimate answer is yet to be seen. Maybe some other revolutionary technology will come along and make all these discussions moot. But until that point, the "end of the road" for PRT is not in sight, despite your dramatic proclamations.

Avidor said...

The "ultimate answer"?

Mr_Grant said...

Sure. You know: "42"