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Look, people will stereotype anyway. You could be wearing a patch on your back proclaiming your faith in Jesus, and ignorant people (who abound) will summarily judge you. So what does that reputation accomplish? Well, for starters, it keeps the arseholes away. It stops a lot of petty BS before it ever starts.

But you (and a host of others on this site seem so focused on the 1% crowd, you are ignoring the other 99%.

Been a lot of that around here lately, whether the rush to judgement (the local Olympic sport) is over 'urban culture', motorcycles, or railroad engineers, and it serves the purpose of giving people a knee-jerk excuse to ignore the actual events and hang their hooks into a stereotype.

So much for "Truth, justice, and the American Way".

There are a few things that get lost in the other Olympic sport here, (jumping to conclusions), like the fact that you are innocent until proven guilty, that you have the Right to not be deprived of life, liberty , or property without due process of law, and the animosity toward the whole mentality of "it is okay when WE do it" that Liberals have. That goes out the window if the alleged evildoers are the ones WE despise.

That, FRiend is no better than the Liberals, it isn't the stuff Constitutional Republics are made of, it isn't "Conservative", it is just a different flavor of jacxkboots in the face.

One of the things I have loved in the past about this site is the ability of people here to see through the press presentation of this person as saintly and that person as 'evil' and cut to the chase--to peel aside the media window dressing and sensationalism designed to sell ad space, papers, and soap, and get to the facts. Sadly, the noise to signal ratio has gone off the charts lately.

What other groups of Americans will FReepers advocate be summarily executed by the police? Or left in the ditch to die for just driving down the road?

If it was a shootout with the police, where are the shot-up police vehicles, the wounded policemen? Nope. We have braying asses here ignoring the 99%ers who were in attendance, too, and calling for shooting people driving down the road because it would be blamed on 'gang violence' (just to purge the gene pool or somesuch).

There is nothing Conservative about that, it is just another flavor of the totalitarianism we all claim to despise. But maybe 'it's okay when we do it'?

Hmmmm. That sounds familiar.

Some of the finest people I have met, I met while riding. I'd trust them to watch my kids before a lot of "respectable" people in suits, because they have a sense of Honor--something most of the population just doesn't get. I have talked with US Senators, Representatives, State legislators, Governors, and even a couple of Nobel Prize winners in my travels, but the people I'd really count on when the chips are down are those whose word is their bond. I have met far more folks like that wearing leathers than suits, and many of them are veterans. That a few have chosen a criminal life, well, that is something easy to point at. For the criminal element of the 1%, there is at least a fundamental honesty in them proclaiming their affiliations, so unlike the thieves who dress 'well', hold themselves up to be respectable, hide behind lawyers, and smile for the cameras.

It has been explained on one of the threads here the origin of the 1% term, the absence of affiliation with the AMA making them "outlaw", and doubtless reality TV has gone a long way to glorifying any criminal activity present. Which plays back to the stereotypes...

The overwhelming majority of Bikers are not criminals.

“One of the things I have loved in the past about this site is the ability of people here to see through the press presentation of this person as saintly and that person as ‘evil’ and cut to the chase—to peel aside the media window dressing and sensationalism designed to sell ad space, papers, and soap, and get to the facts. Sadly, the noise to signal ratio has gone off the charts lately.

What other groups of Americans will FReepers advocate be summarily executed by the police? Or left in the ditch to die for just driving down the road?”

You certainly were on a roll with excellent posts yesterday. I find that I agree with ALL that you wrote. I also find I am very disgusted with what many so called conservatives here have written, many who have been FReepers for quite some time, to the point that I may go back through the threads and write those screen names down so that I do not forget who finds it just fine to execute individuals because of the way they are dressed, or because of guilt by proximity. Very un-American, well, perhaps not anymore. Perhaps we are seeing the ultimate results of public education and a life time of continued programing thanks to the media.

“That a few have chosen a criminal life, well, that is something easy to point at. For the criminal element of the 1%, there is at least a fundamental honesty in them proclaiming their affiliations, so unlike the thieves who dress ‘well’, hold themselves up to be respectable, hide behind lawyers, and smile for the cameras.”

Gee, that sounds like the 99% of republican politicians! I know long time bikers I would trust with kids more than I would trust politicians with them. The Vice Prez is the most glaring example!

When so many FReepers are willing to just throw this particular demographic under the bus, no, wait, not throw under the bus, but have snipers shoot and kill, such gives me little optimism for restoring the Republic. Perhaps it will only be just 1% that can keep their eye on the ball.