The “True Biker”: Fact or Fantasy?
It’s been too long
since I updated this blog but it’s past time that I did so. Personal identity is a subject that I often
return to in my thoughts and so I’ll ramble along that path once again.. Bear
with me as I return to this subject once more.
When we are children and just beginning to form our own
identity we draw from personal experience. This is true for every one. As we
experience different inputs from family, friends and other sources we tend to
“cherry pick” influences which will set a template for the rest of our lives.
Some of the influences are determined by outside sources, some by family and friends
(both good and bad) and there are those who are affected by mental or physical
conditions that steer them towards predispositions which might transgress the
boundaries of “proper behavior” and
legal restrictions. I’ll leave those last two categories for those better
qualified to assess them and deal primarily with the other, less convolute, items.
Whatever the reasons the learned psychologists have it’s generally accepted
that by the age of 6 years people in general are imprinted with most of the
behavioral characteristics which they will use the rest of their lives in one
form or another. These guidelines will be modified or adapted to deal with
virtually all the situations they encounter whatever those situations were in
some way or form.
For those of us who grew up pre-internet: we dealt with real
or perceived as real situations upon which we based our personal template.
Experience tempered those situations into a form which allowed us to function
in daily life in a slightly more or sometimes slightly less functional manner
but overall allowed us to live generally functional lives. As children, we were
exposed to fantastical influences which we emulated by playing at being knights
in armor, princesses, kings, dragon slayers, explorers, soldiers and other role
models. For those of my age, our heroes were somewhat affected by television
but as a general rule the bad guys wore black hats and the good guys wore white
hats and the good guys always won.
While we knew that it wasn’t always so, it was still a good
role model. Our nation had just come out of a horrific war but even so, we had
defeated the enemy, emerged as the heroes and forestalled world domination by
the bad guys. Everything was going to be better.
By the time we were grown enough to enter the workplace life
had made a lot of changes. More people were available to fill the available
jobs but the workplace had begun to take over our lives. There was less time to
spend with family and the old model of how things should be was aging poorly.
Women entered the workplace and as a result the children had less family
contact as both parents worked 40 hour weeks leaving only the weekends open for
family activities. Another major change that happened was that in the absence
of family activities more and more time was spent by the children in front of
the television which rapidly changed its programming towards entertaining
children. Currently, television is primarily aimed at and age level of around
age 7 or younger. Two generations, now starting on 3, were raised in front of
the television.
The next evolution is that children are being raised in
front of a computer screen and the internet is a major baby sitter for
impressionable children. Family entertainment and family activities often
revolve around watching sports events on television, watching movies on
television and sitting for hours in front of a computer screen surfing the
internet without the need for actual human involvement past what is necessary
to push keys on the keyboard or change channels on the television. These activities allow anonymous
interactions. In the comfort of their own home people can now engage in
behavior that would absolutely not allowed in public! Want to watch pornography
while sitting in dishabille on the couch? Do it! Scream obscenities at sports
figures? Do it! Bully others and castigate them with threats! Do it! After all,
those being abused will never know who did it, until someone dies and maybe not
even then.
So how does this boring history tie into the subject of this
essay? In very simple terms, both television and the internet have become
completely anonymous fantasy environments! When someone dies on television they
simply get up and appear later on another show.
When something is presented on the internet the viewer is safely hidden
behind spurious credentials that may or may not be able to be tracked by those
with special training in computer science.
In lieu of actual role models more and more people are using
internet memes as role models! These memes are used to tell people who they
are, what they like, what they should be, what the stars say about you, what
your tarot cards are saying and virtually every other thing that can possibly
happen or affect YOU!
In short; Life, not only based on fantasy but encouraging
people to actually believe it and espouse it regardless of whether or not the
reality matches the fantasy! What’s
more, people do so! Privacy is no longer a necessity. People expose their most
intimate lusts, desires, family situations and issues to literally thousands of
other participants with access to the internet with little or no regard to
whether or not this information is appropriate to share with others. But, it’s
okay because those others aren’t “actually” there with them. They remain
anonymous.
One internet meme concerns motorcycling and identifies
itself as the “Biker’s Code”. It’s a collection of trite, poetic, and sometimes
completely erroneous little bits of information defining what motorcyclists
should be or do to be a “Real” Biker or “True” Biker. Most of the things a
rider needs to be doing while on the road seem to be less important to being a
“True” biker than doing important things like nodding or waving to every other
bike, scooter one passes going in any direction!
Riders who are watching the road, traffic and immediate
environment and fail to wave, nod, dance silly dances or wear approved gear
apparently don’t make the cut! Riders who don’t stop to offer help when another
rider stops on the road to water the grass or have a smoke don’t make the cut.
Riders who gear up properly and have the misfortune to chose gear that matches
their bike are derided as being any of a long list of epithets that indicate
they’re not “true” or “real” bikers and the Lord help those who drove their car
instead of their bike because the weather had turned inclement! Showing regard
for one’s own life in favor of others might contra-indicate that a rider is a
‘true” biker. Anyone not attempting to do the “ton” (100mph) even if their bike
is totally incapable of doing so, often at risk of life and limb both to
themselves and others loses face with the Biker’s Code clique. The list is long
and exhausting but the problem is that people are people rather than being a
rider first and dedicating their life to a fantasy lifestyle dictated by an
internet meme!
I don’t make the cut either. I drive a motorcycle with a
sidecar attached thereby being disqualified by virtue of having 3 wheels. Those
who ride trikes also are disqualified even if they do so for very sound
reasons. There are a few hybrids on the road such as the “Stallion”, a very
nice 3 wheeled vehicle which unfortunately has a steering wheel like a car and
an automatic transmission. There are 3 wheeled vehicles that have 2 wheels up
front and one rear. They’re out. The Ace Cycle Car costs near $50K, is capable
of over 100mph and offers unique luxury. It’s powered by a clone of the Harley
engine but it has 3 wheels. Morgan once offered a 3 wheeler similar to the Ace
Cycle Car but which was discontinued quite some years back. “Boston Blackie” (television detective of
years back) drove a Morgan 3 wheeler. Morgan 3 wheelers still participate in
vintage races in the UK
but the Biker’s Code followers lump them in with the rest of us misfits. In
fact, it seems as though anyone who doesn’t ride a fire-breathing, over-powered
2 wheeler with little regard for safety, common sense and self preservation
probably doesn’t qualify as being a “real” biker. Those who ride scooters, mo-peds and various
types of streamlined, full bodied 2 or 3 wheeled vehicles need not even apply.
I live in Dallas, Texas,
USA and the Texas Department
of Public Safety says my rig is a motorcycle. Their minds are made up and it’s
useless to argue with them about the finer distinctions. In the UK,
however, a person can operate a 3 wheeled vehicle on a auto license. The
regulations differ even in other states of the US.
Some say yes and some say no. In Texas,
one has to have a motorcycle endorsement and the endorsement can only be gained
by taking and passing the test on a 2 wheeled vehicle. Once the endorsement is
gained Texas doesn’t care if a person
straps training wheels on the bike. It’s still a motorcycle! I, for one,
wouldn’t approach a 6’plus, hairy, badass rider on a scooter and even dare to
insinuate that he or she wasn’t a “real” biker. I need my health and prefer to
keep all my teeth!
Instead of basing my
identity on an internet meme I’ll continue to stay mostly within reasonable
speed limits, wear protective gear appropriate to the job at hand, watch the
traffic and the environment around me and keep my hands on the bars, be insured
against misfortune, be properly inspected and licensed and maintain my rig in
good mechanical condition. I’d much rather to remain alive and unharmed while
riding than be a “True” biker. My life is much more important than internet
memes.
Give up anonymity, forget about internet memes and ride
safely! Your life depends on the “real” or “true” WORLD far more than the
internet!
Ride safe out there, kids, because your life. far more than
your image, depends on it!
1 comment:
I've been waiting on your next essay. I really enjoyed the one about Mimi. Would you be willing to write about papaw? If not I understand, I don't know how you choose to write about what you do. Please don't put so much time before the next one!!
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