Sturgis is not just another huge gathering of motorcyclists this year as in past years. This year, 2020, it represents the best, or worst, depending on how you view it, example of how far our society has allowed itself to drop in the name of individualism. We will rue the day, if we recognize it when it arrives, when we realize we have committed ourselves eternally to selfishness over the common good.
Quoter: “If We Get It, We Chose to Be Here” (quote from Mark Walker’s editorial, The New York Times, 8/7/20 regarding Sturgis Bike rally).
“Screw Covid I went to Sturgis,” read a black T-shirt……(M. Walker, NYT, 8/7/20)
Question to these two wise men : And if you do get it, what about those people who get Covid-19 from you before you’re aware of it, and who just might die, and who didn’t choose to be there?
Friday, Aug. 7 – Sunday, Aug 16. Ten days of 250,000 concentrated brain-damaged bikers gathered in one location, Sturgis, SD. And now, WebMD recently (9-4-20) reported that 260 cases and one death have been linked in 12 states to the Sturgis rally.
I’ve been wondering what group would capture the honors for holding the gathering that would top the list of bone-headed “none of that lockdown bullshit for me” gatherings as the most selfish, pig-headed group of losers in this free-wheeling, devil-take-all, democracy of ours. They represent the extreme example of horrid events that reflect a growing number of deluded, self-identified saviors of the First Amendment in this country who espouse a simple mantra (please repeat after me):
Gimme, gimme, gimme, I worship the God of greed and selfishness. It’s what our four fathers fought for: freedom of everything. I’m a red-blooded ‘Merikan’ ‘n I believe in the Constipation.
And thus, as a result, the anti-lockdown bumble-heads probably guarantee the U.S. will remain the No. 1 outlier, certainly amongst the developed countries, for the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths, for a long time to come. Globally, the U.S. currently stands alone at 6,335,244 cases and 192,146 deaths. Brazil is number 2 at 4,046,150 cases and 125,584 deaths, and India number 3 at 3,936,747 cases and 69,749 deaths (Worldometer, 9/5/2020).
The Harley Hogsters of our culture can typically be defined by their uniforms of leather, bandanas, tattoos, blond biker babes (gawk below), a decent number of buried belt buckles and plumber’s butts, and of course, sans helmets (bandanas make better head protection, stupid!) Besides, real men don’t wear helmets because real men don’t die, and if they know, they’re quite likely proud of raising all our health insurance rates. If interested, see: (http://one.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/motorcycle/safebike/costs.html)
At this rate of lockdown defiance, the U.S. is on track to ensure that the virus will be running wild in our country until we are saved by an effective vaccine. Never mind that possibly every developed other country in the world, and even some undeveloped ones, may have eliminated Covid-19 even before the vaccine and moved on to normalcy. Never mind that our economy, our health care system, our education system, and our social communication and integration fabric are currently in shambles and could get a lot worse. Never mind that U.S. citizens may eventually be prohibited from entering any other country in the world until we get our act together (see: American bikers display of free-dumb is yet another reason to keep our borders closed. M. Richardson, The Globe and Mail, 8/5/2020). Never mind that possibly hundreds of innocent, lockdown-abiding citizens with Coronavirus will have died because they couldn’t get into a hospital in sufficient time due to all facilities being swamped with people with the American flag tattooed on each butt cheek. And of course, most importantly, never mind that the rest of us normal citizens are forced to get our tattoos and bandanas on the black market.
But, consider this: even though the Sturgis rally didn’t require masks and distancing and hand sanitizer stations were placed every mile, they did prohibit back-slapping, hugging, kissing, high fives, sharing joints and needles and copulation with complete strangers. These activities were only permitted with one’s spouse or main squeeze.
Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, encouraged people to attend the rally in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday night, saying the state had successfully hosted other large events — including a Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore that President Trump attended — without seeing a direct increase in virus cases. Plus, she said, the state’s economy benefits when people visit. (Walker, NYT, 8/7/20)
(Note: Based on reliable Fox News reporting, Governor Noem dropped out of school after kindergarten, but returned to take a degree in economics from Fox U (please be careful how you pronounce that!).
I swear, man, she ain’t plastic ‘n she’s ALL blond, if ya know what I mean?