Thursday, January 8, 2009

Should this piss me off?

I love my Google Reader.  I make a list of stuff I like to read, it shoots me updates and I'm happy.  It even makes suggestions for me of things I could possibly like to read.  One suggestion is Motorcycle News.  

Today's two cents from Motorcycle News is referencing the Brad Pitt article in W magazine.

EXIT 99:
Last year when Mr. Pitt was actively riding his chopper around LA - before the family bolted to France so Angie could pop out the twins - I tried contacting Perez Hilton and asking him to include a "May is Motorcycle Awareness Month" message when he posted photos like that.  The email was not answered and that project never got off the ground BUT at that time I had considered Mr. Pitt to be a good diving board for the message since he did occasionally ride around town.  Back to the story...

So TODAY, when the Reader gave me this article, I think I got pissed.  I'm almost certain I am pissed.  The MCN link is here.  They also provide a link to the article in W.  Here's what offends me:

The interview says: “As he gets up to leave, Pitt says that the family is awaiting him at home, where they’ll all have dinner together with Pitt’s parents, who are visiting from Missouri. All he must do is evade the paparazzi to get there—and he’s confident he knows how.

"“This is my anonymity,” he says, brandishing the motorcycle helmet in an upraised hand before he breezes out the door. “With it, I’m just another a--hole on the streets.”

Am I reading this too "PC"?  It drives me bat-shit insane to read/watch/listen to certain things about motorcycling.  I've written many an angry letter to the local TV news outlets and newspapers when they concentrate their focus of an m/c crash story on the magic helmet status.  NC law states you must wear a helmet and generally crash victims are wearing helmets but its magic DOES NOT save you from a drunk driver/distracted driver who crashes into you.  

Mr. Pitt is a celebrity who rides, and that's a good thing.  I like seeing motorcycling promoted.  Molly Culver did a great job here.  (FYI - I don't believe the MSF is the actual devil but they can be rather snobbish and unruly at times.)  I appreciate any good message regarding motorcycling. 

Is Mr. Pitt's statement of "With it, I'm just another asshole on the streets." relegating the wearing of a helmet to mean that folks who wear helmets are assholes?  I personally believe helmets are a choice.  If I wear a helmet that doesn't make me an asshole.  The dark parts of my heart and ego make me an asshole.  Fortunately for me, I do know how to use my powers for good or evil.

Is Mr. Pitt implying that folks who ride motorcycles are assholes?  Motorcycles reduce parking congestion (2 or 3 in one space!), ease wear and tear on roads (2 or 3 wheels pounding instead of 4 to 18), consume less fuel (dude, mc sales thru the roof when gas got so expensive!), emit much less bad stuff into the air and have a greater passenger ratio or something like that (I ALWAYS got that one wrong but its supposed to be something about moving two people more efficiently on a bike than in a car).  When you look at all of those points, basically bikers are a bunch of tree huggers doing good for Mother Earth.  Is Mr. Pitt calling these tree-hugging bikers a bunch of assholes?

It is possible that Mr. Pitt is referring to traffic in general as a bunch of assholes.  Right?

I know Mr. Pitt is a do-gooder.  I appreciate how he has donated his time and money to various causes and charities.  Somehow, I don't think he's ever cut a check to any ABATE chapter (or any MRO - local, state or federal).  Could you imagine what kind of good an MRO could do for bikers with that kind of money?  Hell, we manage to scrape by just visiting the local area high schools in the driver's ed classes.  It only costs a couple hundred of bucks a year for OUR county, one in 100 state-wide.  And that's just driver awareness/sharing the road with motorcycles.  We could host motorcycle training/refresher skills once a month with a fat budget. 

There's currently no comments on the article so I'm just not sure how I should feel about this one.  What do you think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate helmets. I like the feeling of wind whipping through my hair and cold air on my face. However, my fiance would still be alive if he were wearing a helmet (not a motorcycle accident, but still). So who knows.

I think Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with their Skittle children are assholes anyway.

I'm all for adoption, foreign or local, and multi-cultural families too, but what are they up to? Like 9 kids and 4 nannies now? Plus still pumping out their own crotch demons?

How about using some of that money to promote birth control.

Anonymous said...

If Brad and Angie's 'charity' and 'humanitarian' work is legit, then why don't they donate directly to the most efficient charities to begin with? Why must the funds be donated to their own foundation first? Why are the donations to and from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation publicized so often within a week of their latest film or DVD release? Why isn't their foundation rated by any independent charity watchdog? Why havn't they spent or granted the majority of their funding so far directly on 'humanitarian' work? Why are the private jets and super high-end accomodations around the world necessary to promote 'good will'? Why would Brad Pitt compete for funding, awareness, and support with the most efficient home building charity organization in the world (Habitat For Humanity)? Why not just endorse and support Habitat instead?

Why in the name of all that is right and logical would a 'humanitarian' squander such obscene levels of limited life sustaining resources on multiple mansions, private jet rides, private helicopter rides, and super exclusive super high-end accomodations around the world? Why in the name of all that is right and logical would a 'humanitarian' deliberately concentrate the world's wealth and resources? Why would they DELIBERATELY expand the gap between the rich and poor? Why would they promote, accept, and celebrate the concept of extreme wealth or obscene compensation for the making of movies? Even now when so many people worldwide struggle to survive? Why not call for a more reasonable, moral, and logical pay-scale for all people? Why not call for a more reasonable distribution of wealth? WHY ARE HOLLYWOOD HUMANITARIANS SUCH DISGUSTING HYPOCRITE SLOBS?