So we get our fair share of fan mail but from time to time I feel like we need to respond to one. This cat said he didn’t want a response but I’m gonna print it here and in the mag just so he and any other doubters will see that there are still a few of us willing to go to blows over pride in our country. Now I don’t claim to be right at all, just that I am American and that I have pride in our country and our people, even those I might not agree with. Below is his letter and my responses in red.
Chris,
“Buy Amerikan” again?
How can you in good conscience tell your readers to buy Amerikan while your mag runs a full-page Harbor Freight ad? Everyone with half a brain knows that every item sold through Harbor Freight is an inferior product made in China.
Then, maybe they’re fooled by items with “manufacturer” names like Pittsburgh, Chicago Electric, US General, Central Pneumatic, Drill Master, huh? They’re all junk. You get what you pay for.
While we can’t control what any other companies policies or practices are this advertiser never once tries to dictate our editorial policy, including the “Buy American Issue.” You will notice that many of the parts manufacturers that you might see in other publications are NOT in our magazine and this is because they would like us to follow the line and we do not. Face it, from Wal-Mart to Harbor Freight, in hard times people need a place to save money until they have the means to buy the best. I stopped judging about this a long time ago and decided to focus on reminding my countrymen of the responsibility their choices come with.
Do as we say and not as we do?
No…… Ummm…. Haha
If something does not have a patent, anyone can make it. For better or worse.
Now here is a slightly relevant point. The truth is that even with a patent international patent laws do not or hardly exist. Moreover the cost of defending a patent in this country, let alone overseas is to the point that small manufacturers can not hope to. What ends up happening is most of us follow a gentleman’s agreement to let another man or company make his money from the ideas and hard work he has put out. Of course less of this is present today than in generations past, but again these editorials serve as a simple reminder that it’s our choice to hold true or to sell out the values they outline.
It’s difficult to build “your” bike when bikes have had 2 wheels and a motor in between for the last 100 years or so.
Not really even sure what to say about this….. I suppose that you mean it’s difficult to invent the motorcycle and you would be right for that but as far as BUILDING a complete bike there are plenty of cats out there pouring their own castings, jigging their own frames and using almost nothing from the shelf. The question is, how and what do you want your bike to be?
When I want to see real craftsmanship and real engineering and new ideas, I subscribe to a few UK, German and Italian mags. They know how to create. The US knows how to fit different parts.
Funny that a lot of these fine magazines, and many of them are friends of ours so I won’t discredit them, are looking to feature the same American Builders we US publications do and vise versa. Truth be told there are more actual craftsmen coming up now and over the past ten years than there have been almost ever before in this culture. What used to be rough chopping and shitty welds for the most part done in the backyard shops of wherever…… have turned into science and machine skills. The precision and talent is overwhelming and if you seriously can’t see that in the US along with the other countries you are either blind, reading the wrong magazine or you are prejudice against Americans.
Do things like we used to do in the ’70s? You would need those people from back then, and most of them are gone. Amerikans today are illiterate slackers. Don’t want to work.
I take personal exception to this but not even for personal reasons, since I am of the between generation as it applies to your comments. The problem with what you say here is that I know plenty of young Americans (one is pictured above) that work their asses off and have good values and exhibit great moral behavior. If you poke at them they will be the first to jump up and sock you in the jaw too. What the bitch is most times they don’t want to work for nothing and that is a problem that arises in a country from unfair trade and weak foreign policy, but I digress.
My father was a pilot in WW2. My generation had a far better life than any of you could even dream about. We saw the next generation as kids and said, “When they get in control we’re going to be in trouble.” They did and we are. And it’s getting worse.
Man, where do I start…? Well first off, most people that lived through WW2 in any country has a hard life. The comparison of the generation after is impossible to make because the world was rebuilding and times were good everywhere…. mostly. Industry thrived and it became the model for the two cars and one member of the family working in every household. Unfortunately the statement of “When they get in control we’re going to be in trouble.” has been made by every generation since the turn of the last century. I will say that most people from the WW2 era lived to be like 50…. they worked for horrible wages in terrible conditions, your generation was better but hardly had the technology or facilities we enjoy today. Truth is that the advancement of a society comes with good and bad, and that’s everywhere.
The last 2 generations in your country are worthless with the last generation producing more faggots and lesbos than you can count. None of them are going to buy ANY motorcycle.
Again, not sure what to say here other than I think you’re out of line and wrong.
Face it, it’s over. At least in your country.
Fuck that!!!!!! It has just begun. You doubt that for a minute then you go back and read your history books from whatever country you come from and learn what happens when other countries count us out. From most of your statements above I would say that you are living in this country, but still claiming to not be part of it…… Take your shit and go then. I love hearing foreigners bitch about whats wrong here at the same time they soak up the benefits of being in the United States. You don’t like it…. Hit the road!
Either you learn how to live with the past, of languish in the past.
The Buy American issue is about learning from the past to build a better future for the United States and her people. You don’t like that it’s only one issue a year, send me your real address and I will issue a full refund for that copy. What I will not now, have never and will never do is be ashamed or afraid to stand up and say that this is my country and I am proud of the people in it. Especially for how we come together in the face of hard times or against tyrants that would oppress those who are weak or have less resources. If you see any of this as a reason to not buy this magazine, please feel free to contact our office and cancel your subscription. By the way, it’s spelled A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N at least have the respect to spell it right.
I don’t want a reply.
I bet you don’t, is that what you tell the kids…. “Because I said so?” No wonder why you can’t identify with them…
Gary & Daisy….
And by the way, loved the little rainbow at the end of your email signature.
