Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs or Gangs of Outlaw Morons?

OMG.

That is seriously the acronym that the Department of Justice calls Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, referring to bands of chopper-riding thugs whose main purpose is to engage in lawless activities, not promote the wind-in-your-face pleasure of riding a Harley.

I’m having a really hard time comprehending the events in Texas on Sunday where nine bikers were killed, more than a dozen injured and almost 200 arrested because one gang was on another gang’s turf, and someone ran over someone’s foot in the parking lot, and not even the notoriously busty waitresses at a risqué sports bar called Twin Peaks could distract these mostly middle-aged men from brawling with knives, brass knuckles, chains and guns.

I have never understood gang mentality, not since Tony and Maria sang about it in West Side Story, or when I read Romeo and Juliet in high school and pretended it was a love story. It was not. It was a story about ignorance and prejudice that led to tragedy.

That sounds like the rival Bandidos and Cossacks, who started a stupid, Texas-sized bar fight in Waco to prove, in my opinion, who could be the biggest morons.

I don’t really care who wears what patch sewn on their black leather jacket or tattooed on their thick necks. I don’t care if 99% of bikers are good law-abiding citizens and the remaining 1% are ugly, lawless bad guys and proud of it. If gangs are about “brotherhood,” then you’ll have a hard time convincing me that there is some noble purpose for beating and shooting up other gang “brothers” in a mini-mall parking lot.

That’s because OMGs are not about brotherhood. They are about money. Crime pays for cash “crops” like cocaine, meth and heroin. Yeah. I watched all five seasons of Breaking Bad. But this isn’t a situation where Walter White uses his wits and guts to secure his family’s future and try to save his increasingly morally-decrepit life for the enjoyment of millions of Netflix viewers. The Bandidos, Cossacks, Devils Diciples, Sin City Deciples, and every other Outlaw Motorcycle Gang who use violence and intimidation to protect their “turf,” or who don’t know how to spell the word Disciples, are nothing but greedy, corrupt thugs.

This is not the way the world has to work. Go watch small children play in a sandbox. Toddlers perceive all kinds of slights and offenses when they don’t get their way, but with a little adult supervision, they can usually work out their grievances without major tantrum-throwing.

Who’s going to supervise Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs who are determined to pick a bloody fight for whatever slights and offenses they perceive? No one. Because when weapons come out, there’s only so much law enforcement can do to stop Gangs of Outlaw Morons from killing each other.

OMG.

And this time, I mean Oh My Goodness.

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photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/34120957@N04/6748309015″>The Australian Biker</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/”>(license)</a>