Canadian Journalist Writes that Motorcyclists are "Idiotic"

Over at Motorcyclebloggers.com Retrorider has written an article about a Canadian journalist. This Canadian journalist, Earl McRae, has decided that all motorcyclists are and the following is excerpted from his article:
"In my opinion, only idiots drive motorcycles," "While to me motorcyclists are recklessness-dating idiots flirting with death..," "What got me thinking again of motorcyclists as idiots..," "..idiotically wasn't wearing..," "..he idiotically chose not to..," "..he idiotically wasn't required to," "..that idiotically doesn't have..," "..his idiot thinking..," "..motorcycle idiots nationally..," "..idiotically take macho delight..," "..idiotically take macho delight..," "..in idiotically thundering up..," "..idiotically rocketing..,"

And then Mr McRae goes on to say: "In individual-freedom-fetish America.." (and it goes on). You need to go read this whole thing for yourself at the above link. I just can't believe all the stuff I have been reading everywhere all because Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers had a serious motorcycle accident this last Monday morning, June 12th. He wasn't wearing a helmet, his choice, and went head first into the windshield of the car that hit him. He sustained a broken jaw and lots of other injuries, which you can read about at WTAE TV4.

I am really mystified by all the discussion on motorcyclists this has created. There has been a lot of talk around the motorcycle blogging community about how well-known athletes and celebrity motorcyclists are to blame for the bad rap of the motorcycle image. But I think we really can’t blame the well-known athletes or celebrity motorcyclists, of course when they do stupid stuff it doesn’t help.

I think it’s the day to day motorcyclists that hurt the image. I have seen motorcyclists race down the main roads, cutting between cars in traffic. I have seen a few of the sport bikes pop wheelies on the main roads and the list just goes on. We’ve had two fatalities here over a month ago, within a week of each other. One was drunk and one was going too fast. They ran off the road and died. I'm sure that some of you have seen others doing these stunts and have even gotten after them for their reckless acts on the public roads. And if the police catch them, which some do get caught, they get tickets. That's the best anyone can do at this time. Many think that those who don't wear the gear is creating a bad image, but people need to remember that that is THEIR choice. There is lots of motorcycle education now available, that wasn't before. ABATE, MSF, AMA, etc are working hard on all these issues.

I do think that the good image of motorcyclists is slowly getting better. More and more ordinary people are buying and riding their motorcycles responsibly. When I got my bike so many people told me they just NEVER thought of me as a biker. And they are very use to the idea now.

Now when you get irresponsible journalists like Earl McRae pretending to be an expert on motorcyclists you just have to ignore them. There is always going to be the "Earl McRae's" in this world. I do think the image of motorcyclists is getting better. It will never be perfect. And we just have to live with that and do the best we can to improve the image.

So there's my two cents to add to all the others, lol. I do wish Ben Roethlisberger a speedy recover.

Wishing You Safe Journeys in Your Part of the World,

Betty :)