Critical Mass in Birmingham

i'm going to walk out on a brittle and flimsy limb and say i don't understand the point.
...
i propose either speeding up and properly dominating a lane of traffic (as a car would), or making it more of a party atmosphere so at least some of the motorists can get along with it...

Um, the point is hard to pin down as it is whatever point the consensus of the riders showing up feel like making.
As to the second point, I'd paraphrase Rob Newman and say "don't wine about it, otherwise you'll be in charge of fixing it".
I used to show up regularly for years, back when making 10 riders was a record turnout. I mostly don't show up because I don't have the time to get in from south birmingham. The last couple rides I went on were good. The soundstation on a trailer is good, but slows things down. I would rather a faster pace, but that would mean dropping slower riders - do they not have a right to ride?
The solution is to have 100 riders show up, which would happen if everyone showed up on the same ride - BUT that won't happen - I know I won't be there (not for disgruntled reasons, but I have a mini-belgian to look after now, which takes up all my time).