Replies

This might end up being a little fun.

TexasGator, I'll be candid in response to your serial posts. Full disclosure, and I will even note where I'm stating what I know v. what I think.

After all the stupid graphics and conspiracy theories and personal insults you have engaged in you want ‘genuine engagement’ from me?

Yes. I am curious to know what drives the maelstrom of unfriendliness inside you, as you are a specimen of example. The lines are being drawn in the nation, darker each day, and we see the low intensity conflict becoming more brokenly open as uniformed officers are being fatally ambushed at a rapidly increasing rate and the distrust between the People and the State is now open and declared. Your positions, your manner, your advocacies and your espoused ideology are starkly useful in analysis. There is also a genuine compassion for you for what seems like a frozen, somewhat fixated fear and bitterness on your part.

Which biker gang are you affiliated with?

I am not affiliated with any motorcycle club. To my knowledge, no person in my life is a patch holder, prospect or hang-around of any club. I have had one or two very brief conversations with patch holders in passing over the years but not enough to form an acquaintance. I have no knowledge of any club business or opinion on the same. For that matter I am not aware of any gang affiliation or even interest on the part of any person I personally know. The same can be said of any other organized crime relationship or affiliation.

You can sort of picture me as the ‘independent’ on the road ‘controlled’ by the gangs. I enjoy that independence. I don’t consider it isolation.

You are aware, I presume, that you are deliberately painting an "outlaw" picture of yourself? The bold lone wolf, No Clubbed, defying who you name as rulers of the road? It's a fascinating sort of projection taking place, one more reason why I am interested in what moves you personally. It sounds as if you are in fact drawn to that culture of the outlaw, but haven't yet made that decision to leap into what you truly want in life.

Bringing facts to the table and exposing false information is bringing balance to these threads. I don’t expect to ever gain a favorable opinion from a bunch of dudes that consider smear tactics and posting personal information their primary form of engagement.

I see you bringing facts, opinion, conjecture and insults to the table. Much like any other poster. You may not expect to receive a favorable opinion, but personally I believe there is value in real engagement with other human beings and in recognizing the worth of what moves them internally to their positions and understandings. In both directions. Why not join me?

Otherwise, why bother? If we do not bother to know the other, and to reach common ground, then when political disagreement turns adamant and power on the ground grows hot, it degenerates into force and that is the object to avoid.

And yours?

I don’t know if this was your first but it was early on. Please explain how that is ‘increasing the knowledge or insight’ of others?

I attempt to increase the knowledge of others by sharing my perspective. My perspective is arrived at through experience, education and consideration. My perspective isn't necessarily correct or determinative. I put effort into developing a thoughtful one. I share in a style that I hope will accurately convey my thoughts, and from time to time bring amusement or enjoyment. I like to write. I hold passionate views. At times I may succeed in provoking positively, or negatively. Some times I no doubt evoke boredom and disinterest. Nothing's 100%.

They sure didn’t need more.

We are in agreement. The paramilitary forces of the State that were prepositioned in the Twin Peaks restaurant area on May 17th, 2015 were indeed numerous enough to inflict an appalling death count and successfuly conduct mass arrests of witnesses on a scale capable of immediately suppressing any and all useful public voice contradictory to the propagated State narrative.

How about sharing a personal experience that forms your worldview on the relationship between the State and the People? Or which, if any, of the enumerated rights of Man you really don't - or passionately do - subscribe to belief in? What hurt does your perpetual sarcasm stem from?

I used to believe deeply in America. I still do believe deeply in America. I also used to believe in the integrity of our government. I no longer do. I no longer believe in the integrity of any government. And I have moved past the stages of loss; I view the cycle of liberty and tyranny and revolution and renewal as just Men breathing their cultures. It's not personal, even though the impacts are.

We all have a role to play. Mine I see clearly, more than I ever did, and with I think a more mature and sober execution than I did as a passionate thirty-year-old at a podium addressing a crowd, full of fire and piss and vinegar. I still have the fire, but added to that is now a more candid self assessment of capacities and time.

I am executing, not theorizing, and it is good to do.

You?

My favorite part of a great post:

(Addressed to the phony gator) You are aware, I presume, that you are deliberately painting an "outlaw" picture of yourself? The bold lone wolf, No Clubbed, defying who you name as rulers of the road? It's a fascinating sort of projection taking place, one more reason why I am interested in what moves you personally. It sounds as if you are in fact drawn to that culture of the outlaw, but haven't yet made that decision to leap into what you truly want in life.

At best, Gator is an elitist motorcyclist who sneers at the kinds of guys who "need" clubs and thinks himself infinitely superior. That is at BEST, and it is also in my opinion the least likely to be true.

Most likely, Gator is a full-blown liar, judging by the claims made in his/her posts (I think Gator's probably a woman, just based on a hunch). The things Gator claims to "know" about bikers, let alone clubs versus "gangs," are sideways from what my own lifelong peripheral but ever-present, consistent, and widely varied experiences among biker folks has been. Gator's "insight" based on claimed experiences is also amazingly predictable, scripted off of a familiar Hollywood template and/or romanticized LEO public relations input.

Gator is like a guy who claims expert status and experience in baking apple pies and making really excellent pie crust, and then talks about how kneading the pie dough is so important.

In such a case, a certain number of folks would immediately spot the total phony and from that point on simply give that person lowest priority in terms of attention and feedback. I confess that I rarely read Gator's posts -- very early on in these discussions I figured it was a waste of time and pretty much all I know of what Gator says or posts is by osmosis through what posters whose input I regard as worthy of my time reply to, or say about, Gator.

I do post to Gator occasionally and often include him/her in a courtesy ping. But when Gator addresses posts to me -- I reserve my right to skip them, though I do sometimes let Gator know that she/he is talking only to him/herself, from my POV.