Geezer with a Grudge: You're A Bigot

Sep 4, 2013

You're A Bigot

After years of being called this by people whose opinion of me barely registers on my "give a shit" meter, today I got a huge insight on what these folks mean by this insult. Bigot means, "You refuse to bow to my sacred cow." Damn! Why did it take me this long to figure this one out?

I've been called a "bigot" by biker gangbangers, cruiser badass wannabes, actual KKK'ers and a variety of white power nutballs, military vets expecting me to "honor"(as in salute to) their service in wars that I opposed (They have my sympathy, but my respect goes to people who resist being ground up in the military machine.), and any number of religious nuts who thought I should be burned at the stake for heresy. Mostly, we're talking about people who mistake fear for respect and obedience for honor. Now that I have a grip on the underlying concept, I'm even less inclined to give a damn about those opinions.

4 comments:

Trobairitz said...: "You refuse to bow to my sacred cow." Well said.; 9/5/13, 10:45 AM
Unknown said...: This blog is as useful and important as your blog on Oury road grips, the only one I've thanked you for, until today.; 9/6/13, 10:31 AM
fishspit said...: As a retired Army vet, I do not want your sympathy and I could care less of your lack of respect of the so called sacred cow. The point is...people who serve are the last group that want to go to war/conflicts. Yet when they do, they do not fight for you or the country, but rather for each other. There is a thing called honor, respect and brotherhood, and I've yet to find any group that can closely resemble what I've experience in combat (especially anti war nuts who have nothing to lose).; 11/23/13, 9:11 PM
T.W. Day said...: Fishpit,
Want it or not, every one who has been conned into risking their lives for international corporations under the guise of "national defense" gets my sympathy. I get the "brotherhood" thing and you are right, outside of doing actual work that benefits the community, nation, or world it's almost impossible to get that unless you're in some kind of gang. Applying the word "honor" to killing civilians and forcing corporate will on innocent people is a little stretched, though. There is a reason that the US is one of the most despised nations in human history and our military is at the top of the list. And we agree that "they do not fight for you or the country, but rather for each other." Also true for every other gang in the world.; 11/30/13, 8:34 PM

The Geezer Story

I stumbled upon this column name (Geezer with a Grudge) almost 20 years ago, in 1999. The first Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly editor I worked with, in late 1999, complained that the magazine was getting no mail and the editors wanted to know if any readers were still out there. I fired off a sarcastic note, as a joke, intended to provide a little humor and some feedback. He published it as an article and later called me to say he'd received more mail on that letter than he'd received in the past year! I followed that with an offer to write a monthly column attempting to piss off a particular section of the magazine's readership to see if that tactic would generate some mail.

It did, probably more regularly than the magazine wanted at times, and I wrote a monthly column for MMM until the magazine died in 2018.

I plan to post an occasional old Geezer article into the blog, followed by short comments about the current status of my perspective on our activity/sport/vehicle of choice.