In 1995, Cartoonist, Illustrator and faithful reader Paul Jamiol did a cartoon to denounce biker violence.
Last Sunday’s deadly shootout in Waco, Texas between motorcycle clubs inspired him to rework his cartoon.
In this new version Jamiol pens his comment on the incident, showing the dark cloud and negative effect it has on all motorcyclists with the public at large.
All that violence over which gang thinks they own Texas [ it had nothing to do with parking and everything to do with the kuttes ]
Hate to inform both parties but … Texans own Texas . Not any one gang of thugs .
Sad thing as the poster depicts is ; Once again the actions of a few will have a negative effect on the many
The cartoon was and is b.s. Total extrapolation.
I don’t know if it is complete B.S. ….
Just peruse through some of the comments from the general public on any article covering this story, such as this one: http://abcnews.go.com/US/waco-texas-biker-shooting-caught-video/story?id=31143743
Mike Greewald. Please explain to all the meaning of your comment.
I think Mike is saying that the general public’s perception of your average motorcyclist is not that of an outlaw. In other words, the general opinion of motorcyclists is not affected by this incident.
The image of motorcyclists is not affected? I recommend that you visit online any news magazines and look at the comments. Tons of of them in the genre. “Let’s run over them when they ride in group on the highway”. “I will cut them off.” “All bad, all obnoxious.and loud” “All criminals” etc… So, Mike Greenwald, explain how Waco has no incidence on all motorcyclists.
This whole deal just makes all the rest of us look like the guys in Waco to the general public for the most part..association by motorcycle..all the good done by all the groups who contribute 100s of thousands of dollars to all the worthy charities just received a huge black eye..
Greeko,
Club business has nothing to do with the motorcyclist nor is it a reflection on the motorcyclist.
J Lane,
4 of the people who were shot were shot by LEOs.
In my opinion, government involvement in these affairs started before, and or, caused the fracas.
Mike
Mr Greenwald – The whole point of the cartoon is not to say that is who we … the other 99% are .. rather what it is saying is that the image of the 1% looms over us all like a dark specter .. causing an uninformed general public to assume we all are a bunch of criminal thugs
Like it or hate it Mike … the facts is the facts and thems is the facts . No bs about it . Just pure and simple telling it like it is
As to your reply to Greeko … Seriously ? So which conspiracy theory quack do you subscribe to ? And what aspects of reality when it come to the 1% so called … clubs [ yeah right … and the Cosa Nostra is a charitable organization ] behaviors and motus operandi are you unfamiliar with ? What caused the conflict is a Turf war being waged by a bunch of thugs .. and a restaurant owner inviting trouble … period .. so wake up and smell the fertilizer .. this from a former ‘ friend ‘ of one of those so called … clubs
😉
M. Greenwald. and what is exactly the “Club Business” justifying to claim geographical ownership…for business purpose? How do you explain that each time something like that happens, the public turns against all those riding a motorcycle for pleasure…not no business
Looks like the debate just got started.
Dying for a piece of fabric saying Texas? I understand fighting for freedom, not for controlling business in any state. Texas belongs to Texans. America belongs to Americans.
And now Mike Greenwald blames police and the government! A good one. What is the conspiracy theory?
Richard Lester Ambulance chaser invented “Colliltion of Clubs” with chapters all over the country with one National meet every year. Waco was a scheduled “Colliltion” meeting that went bad.
It would be incredibly foolish to think the actions of the 1% criminals, thugs, and gang members don’t affect the rest of us. Consider this, 99% of the protestors in places like Fergusen and Baltimore were peaceful members of the community excercising their constitutional rights. Did they get judged by their own actions or did they get lumped in and judged by the 1% criminal-thug-gang member’s actions…This is exactly why I reject “the lifestyle”. I am a rider and a motorcycle enthisiast. I’ve made a concious choice not to look like the thugs, criminals, and gang bangers. I don’t think they’re cool and I don’t want to dress like one.
I agree with TJ Martin. I think he summed it up succinctly and accurately.
“the image of the 1% looms over us all like a dark specter”
Oh brother.
190 people arrested under racketeering, nine dead, dozens wounded. I would venture to guess that the large majority of them held down jobs and fed families. These thugs are, the vast majority of them anyway, people who live in our towns and work alongside you. Not for a second do I think that some of them are not psycho and wastes of breathing air, just like some barbers, and doctors and Indian Chiefs are psycho wastes of breathing air.
People that watch this carnage on tv and assume that the bikers of the world are on a rampage are themselves more dangerous to the public than a group of rage monkeys that got into it with each other, and no doubt with LEO. If you don’t think cops knocked the pins out from under some of those guys what rock are you living under? If I’m a cop stationed on the perimeter of a couple hundred patchholders and Dodge City breaks out what do you think I’m going to do when the lead starts whistling past my ears? I am going to put those dogs down before they bite me. After all the most hardcore patch with the biggest membership is the one with the badge and in a turf war they have never lost any.
If somebody in a car becomes possessed to take it to motorcyclists because of what they saw on the news then those rabid dogs need to be put down as well. Crazy is as crazy does and just because grannie isn’t flying a rocker in her minivan when she considers bowling through a bunch of riders out of some misplaced fear then she is a much more likely danger to Pop than any Bandido has ever been.
Let’s try to get a grip on who is who here.
Intelligent commentary on the incident at Waco at http://www.agingrebel.com/12873
I read separately that the preliminary report found that 4 of the dead are confirmed killed by police. I would like to see the complete ballistics report.
I’d say Pop has a good handle on it.
Look, its a vary simple proposition.
What ya have here is “juvenile stupidity.” A bathroom brawl….Really?
Hell, even a feral cat knows you don’t start a fight in the cat-box.
But lets be honest about all this.
As Pop says, we all know such “people who live in our towns and work alongside you.”
And we know they act the way they do, in most part because they want to fell like they are “somebody,” not just the average-Joe.
This sort of thing was prevalent in “the bad ol-days” and the Feds invented RECO to successfully put a lid on it. Obviously, history (with the help of some morons) is bound and determined to repeat itself.
So here we go again. And i’m here to tell ya that like Chemo-therapy, the law enforcement solution isn’t going to target just the guilty. It will be applied to all, in equal measure…… Because its easier that way.
Like momma said; “your known by the company you keep.”
-nicker-
Turf = drug trade… let the big M/C clubs fight it out and when it’s done, the Mexican cartel can come in and clean house… As dangerous as some M/Cs can be, I don’t recall hearing anything like we’ve heard out of Mexico.
Can’t wait to watch this crap on the next season of Gangland.
The ripples from the rock thrown in this mill pond will travel around the world.
Aussie is already in Police State shut down. Just remember if they invented MotorCycles tomorrow they would be banned. Bad news is bad news and it travels quickly.
Joined late but have to add my 2c’s.
The cartoon is spot on – inconveniently so…
What mystifies me though is the cause more than the effect.
Why is a crime amplified to this level the moment motorcycles are a key element?
Sure the era where motorcycles dominated collective crime and -violence (as perpetuated in groups/gangs). But there was a time when horses was such an element; equally so cars, heck the greatest “crime” in history was done with a squad of passenger planes.
The often impetuous dramatization (and consequently “romantization”) of such events – particularly at/around the time of such incidents – is in my opinion a greater “crime” than the actual event. In selling stories – the media abides by few rules; less even rational ones.
Trashy soap-operas like S.O.A. do not help either (sorry to offend copious numbers).
But there is a strange trigger when it is a motorcycle – eg we do not call crimes/violence committed in/with cars, “car gangs”, or even “carers”. In fact it is most often only mentioned in passing – if at all.
Yet I believe that one is around 35 times more likely, in the USA, to commit a crime using a car versus a motorcycle.
‘Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs’ [OMG] is a minority, of a minority, of a minority.
There is something about motorcycles that trigger a chemical reaction in many people. Like sharks (in a way) – people kill thousands of times more sharks than sharks kill people; yet a shark attack is an instant headline.
I do not want to flog a dead cliche to death twice over again, but a motorcycle represents a kind of freedom that irks the mass, caught in the mundane prison of a family, a dog, a mortgage and a dead-end job.
As was said in the classics:
George Hanson: They’re not scared of you. They’re scared of what you represent to ’em.
Billy: Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.
George Hanson: Oh, no. What you represent to them is freedom.
The reason it has come to this violence is that the drug business of OMGs has been allowed to develop and thrive unmolested for too long. “The lifestyle” of making money selling drugs to the public has as much to do with freedom as leeches sucking blood from their prey.
12 POLICE UNITS AT THE BREAKFAST PLACE TO “KEEP THE PEACE” INCLUDING SWAT..FIGHT STARTS IN BATHROOM..THEY DECIDE TO TAKE IT OUTSIDE..(100’S OF PATRONS WERE IN FEAR OF THEIR LIVES) THEY START TO FIGHT AND GET GUNNED DOWN BY WAITING LEO’S…READ BETWEEN THE LINES WE ARE SPOON FED BY MEDIA..RISE ABOVE WHATS REPORTED AND THINK ABOUT THE QUOTE FROM THE TOP COP “I HAVE NEVER SEEN A MORE HORRIBLE CRIME SCENE IN MY 35 YEARS AS A COP” GUESS HE HAD THE DAY OFF IN WACO WHEN THE GOVT. KILLED 73 PEOPLE AT THE KORESH COMPOUND. A MILLION DOLLAR BOND ON EVERY PERSON WITH COLORS ON? WOW..THEY ARE REACHING.
A1 Cycles… I agree with you. Sounds like a lot of cops with itchy trigger fingers too but the public isn’t going to see it that way.
Rodent
Did you see the press release that Richard Lester sent out.
From NCOM – Richard Lester – Bobbi
—– Original Message —–
From: CycleNewsMailer
To: AIM/NCOM NEWSBYTES MAILER
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2015 6:05 PM
Subject: [Aimncom-newsbytes] PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release May 18, 2015
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Date: May 18, 2015
Contact: Richard Lester,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists, 1 (800) 662-2453
The Confederation of Clubs Deeply Saddened by
May 17, 2015 Waco, Texas Motorcycle Club Incident at a local Confederation of Clubs meeting
The National Coalition of Motorcyclists and all of its local affiliates are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred on May 17, 2015, and are praying for those involved and their families. Immediately prior to the start of a Texas affiliate’s monthly meeting, a motorcycle club that was NOT a member of the Confederation of Clubs arrived with over 50 people and attacked members of the Confederation.
The National Coalition of Motorcyclists and its local affiliates are dedicated to peacefully promoting and protecting Constitutional rights, promoting fair treatment of its members by law enforcement, educating its members on current laws, open and peaceful communications between clubs, conflict mediation, and supporting various charitable endeavors. We are grieving.
A1,
Regarding a 12 unit police response;
Whats the alternative….. ?
Its either overwhelming law enforcement -or- every patron in the place with a carry permit defends their own families.
Looks to me like” taking it to the parking lot” was as bad a “decision” as starting it in the first place.
I can’t believe there was no vacant land available in Texas where such moronics can be played out with out the forced participation of the general public.
-nicker-
This just sent to me
Lester and his affiliates/cronies may have some liability/culpability in any incident.
I was watching this news item (below), which mentions Lester and his crew, about independent clubs having to pay dues to the Confederation Of Clubs in order be allowed to exist. I think you may be right about Lester having liability in this case.
http://bcove.me/tu54qda6
POPS
There is no doubt that the Largest Gang In The Country is Law Enforcement.
They even have a motorcycle club unit and some of the LEO clubs are on the ATF Gang List.
All of you are right. The masses are against us for the reasons mentioned. Just like they are trying to take our guns, they are trying to take our freedom to ride. whats next after they get all of that? Car restrictions, walking on the street? Be careful who you vote for.
Richard Lester is one of a group of operators of lawyer referral services. There is the Law Tigers, Russ Brown among others. They actively solicit sign ups at motorcycle events and indiuce you to call them if your are involved in a motorcycle accident. They will then send you one of their lawyer friends. For this they take a piece of any settlement you may get.
Only the bikers are solicited in this manor. I’ve never seen these kinds of outfits at SEMA show, Pebble Beach or any automobile event.
RE:
“… about independent clubs having to ……… in order be allowed to exist…”
Nothing new about that….
It was going on in the SF Bay area in the late 1960’s
-nicker-
NICKER IT WASNT A POLICE RESPONSE…IT WAS POSTED BEFORE THE MEETING SHOOTING HAPPEND AT NOON..MEETING WASNT SCHEDULED TILL 1 PM.. HEAD SPEAKER WAS EN ROUTE NOT EVEN ON SCENE YET. AND AS FAR AS EVERYONE CARRYING GUNS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES…I DO. AND I BELIEVE EVERYONE SHOULD LEGALLY..
A1,
I have no problem with carry permits. Probably would make for a more “civil” society in the aggregate.
A little paranoia can be a good thing 🙂
My point is simply that nothing will stop the wrath of the general public when triggered by the stupidity of those who don’t have the brains to take their beef out of sight. In such cases the Cops simply become a tool of the public.
It happened in the bad old days. It can happen again.
Hows that old saying go….. “…A smart animal doesn’t soil its own nest…”
-nicker-
Some of you have obviously not been around long enough to know what the outlaw club scene is about, I have been, 40 to 50 years, it was the same then, there were bars with coat racks by the door with signs that said” leave your colors and your attitude here” the cop theory is BS, clubs have had it going on for many years, and they bring it, this doesn’t affect Joe citizen riding his Goldwing or bagger, yes it does affect club guys and weekend warriors playing biker, no excuses. The serious clubs bring it, sure those who got shot were not peaceful guys sitting in the back of the restaurant eating a corn dog.
The folks that I hang out with at the TIKI BAR in Maggie Valley, North Carolina are hard core bikers an definitely look the part, however that is where the difference begins. We are just good old boys and all are welcome to our hangout. Try and make it on Sunday for live entertainment. Plenty of older bikers if you wish to relive the old days. Personally, I have been riding for more than fifty years and now ride a Road King Trike. My knees are shot and can no longer hold up a two-wheeler. The trike is a great platform to sit on waiting for the light to change. My woman loves it as well. In my youth I rode with the screw balls, as well as other clubs. They were mostly great people and not deserving of their nasty reputations. Again, I invite you to join us on Sunday or any other day, The Tike Bar is a part of the Maggie Valley Inn with full hotel services. Great rooms and great food. Visit with us once and I guarantee that you will return. The owner’s are bikers and sponsor many biking events during the year, especially group rides for injured bikers. My name is John but I am known as Jack Shit.
Who rides free & who doesn’t
Who a member of the C.O.C. and who isn’t
The one percenters have been doing this for decades
from north to south, east to west, coast to coast and overseas in Europe.
the no problem when it’s kept small & quiet, but, when they do it loud enough
and/or the body count is high enough to get the attention of the general public.
I disagree with the thought that “Joe Blow” average cycle rider
no matter what brand he’s riding, escapes the fallout from something like this.
All of the “clubs go on high alert & “Joe Blow” is looking over his shoulder
at every event / run / shop anywhere where bikers gather,
wondering what’s going to happen next , if he bothers to go at all.
That cuts into the charity work a lot of people work all year for & depend on
“the average biker” to support those causes.
Also make sure you take a Good look around at your next biker event/party/Run
and see who’s presence is increased. That’s right our good buddy, “The Man” !!!
nobody wants or needs that kind of attention.
So here’s an idea take all 6-8 of the major 1% players,
go out into the deep desert & settle it once & for all.
Look this isn’t a “Sons” fantasy camp or the “Laughing Dumbells” playing around.
Those guys are for real & they play for keeps …
And the 1% just keeps on casting a shadow over the 99%