The roar of hollow patriotism (Garrison Keillor BARF ALERT!)

Chicago Tribune .com ^ | May 28, 2008 | Garrison Keillor

[balls]

Enough of this sactimonious crap. I spent six years in the army and don’t owe nobody anything and don’t expect anything from anybody. This is the first time that I have mentioned my service, but I am tired of being preached to. I’ll say it again, I can’t stand the selfishness of bikers and think of them as overgrown playground bullies who are always looking for attention. So there!

[Poser]

I left Mr. K a brief comment.

Leave Comment Here

[x]

This would have been better off if Garrison had just left it in his private diary.

I find this by him elsewhere on the Internet:

This is a lesson I was taught in childhood: Thou shalt not create temptations for other people. Lock up your bicycle. Keep your money in your wallet. Keep your diary in your drawer.

It's a good lesson.

[ccmay]

What a hateful old woman.

You don't quite see the connection between that and these fat men with ponytails on Harleys.

Of course you don't, Keillor. You didn't serve in the military. If you had, you'd recognize most of these "fat men with ponytails" as your former comrades-in-arms.

-ccm

[okie01]

You don't like bikers.

OK, you don't have to. That's your privilege.

But what business is it of yours that others choose to exercise their rights and patriotic expressions in ways that you don't approve of?

Is that a reason to wish them dead?

In all liklihood, you have a hobby or a practice that you enjoy that just might offend somebody else. Would you approve of their wishing you dead?

For cryin' out loud, get some perspective. And some tolerance for others.

[tet68]

” Somehow a person associates Memorial Day with long moments of silence when you summon up mental images of men huddled together on amphibious assault vehicles and pilots revving up B-24s and infantrymen crouched behind piles of rubble steeling themselves for the next push.

You don’t quite see the connection between that and these fat men with ponytails on Harleys.”

Obviously Mr. Keillor, YOU can’t make the connection,
but those “fat men with ponytails”
WERE those infantrymen,pilots, and servicemen.

THEY are not about to let liberals like yourself define Patriotism.

[Mobile Vulgus]

Here is a good article that smacks Keillor around for his hatred of patriotism. Garrison Keillor Mocks Patriotism

[roses of sharon]

Real Men Envy.

[freema]

Due respect my ass, balls and all.

[bikerman]

And you Sir, are a first class moron, so there.

[freema]

[Jeff Chandler]

Why does Harvey Korman have to go and not this jerkola?

Like John and Yoko.

[DGHoodini]

It’s clear that the hollow echoes Keilor hears, are reverberating inside his own empty soul.

[DGHoodini]

A real Jackson Browne/James Taylor kind of...non...man.

[HardStarboard]

>>>Why not have the military fly some volunteers with bikes over to salute the troops?<<<

Cause Garrison, we'd rather have the troops use their gas to kill Islamofascists, and have the bikers use their's just to piss you off.

[CindyDawg]

Awesome. Do you have any more pics?

[ticked]

Nope, you don’t owe anybody anything and I can see why you don’t expect anything from anybody. You and everyone else here with the same stereotypical view of bikers obviously don’t actually know any bikers. Boy would you be surprised if you did.

I was at Rolling Thunder last Sunday and there is not a more patriotic crowd you could ever ask for, most of them Vets and I felt honored to be in their presence.

[BlazingArizona]

With all due respect to you and your going to honor one of the fallen, I do not understand why bikers so frequently turn solemn occassions, such as Memorial Day, into parades that shift the focus to themselves and their bikes. I believe it’s actually quite disrespectful.

Many of them are vets themselves, and have certainly earned the right to honor other soldiers in other wars. Even at such solemn occasions as veteran funerals, massed bikers have proved to be our most effective weapon against the Phelps gang. They deserve our respect for this alone.

[freema]

http://auto.military.com/roadwarriors/view/road-trips/97682.html

[Sudetenland]

I agree with you.

for every veteran riding a loud $25,000 Harley, there are 2 dozen posers. Mostly repressed business men who wish they had had the balls to be bikers instead of straight arrows.

Now that they have made their little fortunes, they are making a pitiful attempt to rewrite their lives by growing their hair long (usually stringy and gray), they scraggly beards, and dressing like former Hell's Angels.

It is both sad and obnoxious.
Mind you, I am neither objecting to them owning their $25,000 toys nor to their willingness to ride in support of the troops. I merely object to them portraying themselves as being more than they are.

And why the heck am I paying for a muffler on my automobile when these idiots are riding bikes that are so loud I can hear one from inside my house half a mile away?

Posers.