The Mighty Un-Cucked

The authentic insanity starts at 2:10 or so. I defy any "M"-endorsed rider to watch this without flinching or cringing multiple times. For me, the worst part was when I realized he was riding without gloves. I mean --- sudden death on a bike? Sure, who gives a shit, sign me up tomorrow morning. But to bail at 100-plus onto your unprotected hands? Maybe I'll drive to work after all.

I don't endorse this fellow, his actions, or his approach to motorcycling. But I do endorse his attitude. It's the same attitude I admired in the best BMX racers and street riders when I was younger. It's the willingness to throw away years of your life in exchange for a few moments where you feel truly alive. It's the belief that you can get through an impossible situation on the strength of your talent, your belief, your courage, and possibly your stupidity.

Modern Western society spends billions of dollars' worth of money, time, and effort trying to destroy this kind of spirit in our young men, trying to turn them into feckless little feminist allies and/or obedient husbands. Then we wonder why the same women to whom we defer are willing to turn their backs on us even as they import millions of men from "primitive" cultures.

This young rider has the same kind of spirit that animated Audie Murphy or Alvin York or Manfred von Richthofen; the desire to be braver, bolder, more daring than his peers. Thankfully, there's not much of a war for him to fight --- not at the moment, anyway. The near future? That might be another matter altogether.