Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Skull Masks, a rant

A few days ago, a post from Cycle World publisher Andy Leisner showed up in my Facebook news feed.

His message was directed at motorcycle industry marketing types, "Don't advertise on Facebook. Advertise in Cycle World, where your ad won't be lumped in with this tasteless shit that shows up in my Facebook feed just because I love motorcycles."

I'm not going to dwell on the fact that the small ads in motorcycle magazines are full of equally tasteless shit. Though I can't help but recall the first time Motorcyclist ran a full page ad for penis enlargement. I remember going into Boehm's office and telling him that he had to tell the publisher to stop running it.

"If you think business is shitty now," I told him, "wait until Motorcyclist's readers come upon that ad and conclude that they're holding a magazine for guys with tiny dicks. Yeah, lots of guys want to subscribe to that magazine, for sure."

Leisner's post was self-serving (or at least CW-serving) but it reminded me how much I fucking hate those skull masks.


Honestly, what fucking asshole would ever choose that as an accessory? Thank God they are only worn by idiots who also wear useless helmets, when they wear helmets at all. Do you have a skull mask? Please fall off,  so you can die as soon as possible.

Would it be legal to just shoot people wearing these masks? At least in stand-your-ground states I think you could get away with saying you thought the mask-wearer was a zombie. It's legal to shoot zombies, right? If not, it will be soon in Kansas.

Fucking skull masks. There's basically no overlap whatsoever between the kind of bikes or the kind of riding I do, and the kind of riding those fucking skull-mask-wearing twats do. But when I see one of those pathetic fucks on the road the thought occurs to me that I could walk away from motorcycling and never look back.

The next time some cager purposely narrows the gap as you're lane-splitting up behind him, or the next time someone strings a wire across trail, remember that to us, there are all kinds of motorcyclists but to non-riders, there's just "guys who ride motorcycles".

Those skull masks and all the other violent, sexist, racist, xenophobic shit worn and spewed by assholes who want to look like badass bikers... that shit sticks to all of us.

4 comments:

  1. Missing your preferred flavor of coffee this morning, Mark? Of course, i totally agree with you, but there was never any question that i wasn't already a judgmental douche.

    However, I don't know what the solution would be. For any outlying activity - riding bikes, shooting guns, scuba diving, whatever - there is always going to be a large population of responsible participants cursing the existence of a small percentage of irredeemable human trash that somehow infected "their" chosen sport.

    Maybe we should conduct a rigorous census to determine exactly what percentage of riders are making life difficult for the rest of us? But who decides? You're talking about rider population eugenics here, and that is always a risky proposition... (Insert rant about 'freedom' here.) (Insert rant about personal responsibility here.) (Insert straw man fallacy here.)

    No True Scotsman, et al.

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  2. LOL... I had the pleasure of riding with Andy Leisner once, and let's just say that yes, he's a MUCH better rider than editor! Oh, and couldn't agree with you more about these fucking douche-bag, skull mask-wearing assholes who perpetuate the stereotype that all motorcyclists are thugs. FAK

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  3. It's primarily a symbol of embracing the unique dangers posed by riding bikes. BTW,why don't you say this stuff to someone's face, man poser? My guess is a little smack in the mouth would have you crying like a little girl. Douche bag. Even soldiers use those masks overseas. But, what would you know, mama's boy, bottle sucker, politically correct internet crusader?

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  4. I remember going into Boehm's office and telling him that he had to tell the publisher to stop running it. EJEAS Q7 Intercom

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