Letters to the Editor
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I don't have the words
to tell you how much I appreciated this essay. Just perfect.
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Yep, a great essay.
I happened upon a parade on Memorial Day and couldn't even bear watching it. The pretty parade is so far from war's many, many horrors. War is the only mass murder that gets a parade.
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Some did not play
Many of those fat men with ponytails on Harleys served in Vietnam. Here is a quote from the May 31, 2004 Washington Post coverage of the Rolling Thunder event "Rolling Thunder, a nonprofit group dominated by Vietnam-era veterans but dedicated to veterans of all wars."
I don't like the noise of Harleys either, but I respect those who served, often at terrible personal cost.
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I enjoyed the essay and agreed with the sentiment in a general sense
But anecdotally speaking, the half-dozen or so fat men with pony tails who ride Harleys that I know are also Vietnam vets. They take that pretty seriously, and would probably argue that they don't need to be dropped into Bagdad today to earn their right to proclaim their patriotism. Of course, the guys I know wouldn't go chuckle it up with Dubya either.
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The Vietnam vets I know...
They aren't cheering for this war. Not in any way, shape or form, much less parading around on ride-a-dildoes for George Bush's amusement.
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Um, Garrison...
I usually love your column and everything, but surely you're aware of the connection between returned vets and the biking culture. I mean, most of America's biker clubs were formed by disaffected vets from WWII and Vietnam who had trouble reintegrating themselves into society. No doubt there were many phony "weekend warriors" at the rally you saw, but this was hardly a case of the country-club set dressing up in fatigues and prancing through the streets. In any large bike rally you're bound to find a lot of men who served their time on the frontlines, and I hardly see how gazing at Impressionist paintings - no matter how pretty a metaphor they make - does the troops a greater honor.
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more on SOME DID NOT PLAY
Further, Monday's (5-26-08) story in the Washington Post entitled "An Iron Procession of Honor" quotes several participants of this year's Rolling Thunder including Jerry Irwin, who was an Army paratrooper in the 1950s; Michael T. Breighner, the national master sergeant-at-arms of Veterans of the Vietnam War; and Larry Lewis, an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War. I simply can't see how one can mock these people, no matter how annoying or noisy their motorcycles.
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But what Jim says...
...is also true, so in a sense I guess I do agree with the general sentiment of the piece.
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a few thoughts
Most of the old fat men I know who ride motorcycles are also veterans. They know what it's like to face death for this country, and they ride their bikes on Memorial Day with thoughts of absent friends riding with them.
I'm sorry you don't like motorcycles, Mr. Keillor. I don't like them at four a.m. when I'm trying to sleep. I don't ride them because I like my skin - if you ride a motorcycle, the question isn't whether you will get in a serious accident but when. But I like them. I like that they are little pieces of art, worthy of being put in a museum, little poems of curved surfaces. I like what they stand for - going places - and all the places they've been. I like different motorcycles from different countries with different vibes - Harleys and Indian Chiefs and Ducatis and Suzuki Hayabusas and Triumphs. If you park your motorcycle near me, I will pet it. I like motorcycle boots with steel plates on them and I like big scary guys who think it's funny to burn each other with lighters, as long as they only burn each other, and not innocent bystanders. Not all those big guys are dumb - some of them read poetry and ride their bikes to the National Gallery to look at Cassatt paintings - and the ones I've known were far kinder, gentler creatures than the neocons in their Excursions.
Don't be angry with the bikers because of President Bush. W is a faker who probably couldn't ride a chopper without flipping it over backwards.
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What about these fat guys on bikes?
The Patriot Guard Riders, whose maikn mission is to protect the grieving from that douche Fred Phelps and his hellbound "church."
http://www.patriotguard.org/
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regarding a past column
Two weeks ago I wrote a letter in response to Keillor's column about May weather in which I said that there weren't many tornadoes in Minnesota. Yesterday I read that a child had been killed in a tornado in St. Paul. I can't think of anything insightful to say. I'm just sorry I couldn't have been right in this instance.
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At least it's not Segways.
This is actually an interesting perspective to me, because it illustrates a generational divide and raises the question of what patriotism is.
I also find Harleys and their riders annoying. (Then again, I also find Garrison Keillor annoying.) I find the whole trend of middle-aged men riding $20,000 motorcycles and wearing black leather in order to look rebellious (in the same way every other Harley rider tries to look rebellious) laughable. Part of this I think is generational; I'm a Gen Xer, and we have a lot in common with pre-Baby Boomers (the Silent Generation). We think a lot of the stuff the Baby Boomers think is cool is embarrassing (e.g., the Rolling Stones, the word "boogie", ponytails, Garrison Keillor). We think you're a bunch of self-absorbed adolescents. Except for the ones of you who served in Vietnam.
Those men, as one letter-writer here said, are (one assumes) well represented among the "rolling thunder" riders. And of course, the Vietnam vets sure as hell got a raw deal. I think the concerns they claim to be trying to draw attention to (POWs and health care for veterans) are laudable.
Still, what the hell good does riding en masse on a bunch of motorcylces do? It's like wearing a flag pin--shirtsleeve patriotism. The same is true of protesters in general; in my view, they accomplish nothing except to alienate people otherwise inclined to agree with them.
In addition, the whole subculture of the Harley thing bothers me--the overlap with biker gangs, white supremacist groups, and with generally scuzzy types. I mean, not all bikers are ex-con meth dealers, but I'd bet that about 80% of ex-con meth dealers ride Harleys or want to.
I would be happy if the Supreme Court established that the public's right to use the public street for the purpose of transportation supersedes anyone's right to use it for self-expression, given the multitude of forums available for the latter.
Vroom vroom.