From:
gkbain <gkbain@charter.net>
To:
me
Date:
October 21, 2007
Subject: American Angst
1. It is apparent that you do not like Harley's.
1a. Don't buy one.
2. It is appartent that you think anyone that buys a Harley is stupid.
2a. Don't buy one.
3. It is apparent that you think Harley's are as slow as an old computer.
3a. Don't buy one.
4. It is apparent that there is a lot of stupid slow people out there.
4a. Check there sales lately.
5. It is apparent that you are a stupid slow person.
5a. Wake up and grow up. A Harley is a piece of America.
5b. Check out 1a, 2a, 3a, but don't bash us that love the Harley.
PS:
Note:
I did not bash any rice burners. It's up to the rider to pay for what they want.
_________________
To which I replied
_________________
Yawn. Once again, we see a magnanimous example of air cooled ignorance (i.e. his skull whistles whenever he rides). Let's try to answer GKBain here and I'll use the same format that he has presented his position in. GKBain's strategy in life in regard to problem solving is a recurring one among HD advocates; "if you don't like it then don't do it." What a really brilliant solution! Think about it! If something is wrong ... don't do it! Can you imagine where America would be today if the war on drugs had, as its core principle, the philosophy of "If you don't like illegal drugs then don't do them." ? What GKBain (and those like him) fail to realize is that you can't solve a problem by ignoring it or (worse) coexisting with it.
Harley Davidson, like any illegal drug problem, is fought with intelligence, education, and awareness (not denial). Fortunately, in a conflict that has been going on for almost two decades now, it does appear to be a one sided battle thus far.
1. It is apparent that you do not like Harleys.
1a. It is apparent that you are just another uneducated Harley owning idiot.
2. It is appartent that you think anyone that buys a Harley is stupid.
2a. If the shoe fits, wear it. Also, see 1a.
2b. Well, you would really have to be stupid to include a misspelled word in a bold accusation like that. Smart people call what you just did "irony" and "irony" is included more often than not in a concept we call "funny." Appartent? What is an “appartent”? I looked that word up on the Internet and could not find it as a valid part of the English language. Perhaps it is a word taken from one of the obscure hillbilly barter dialects. Perhaps an “appartent” is a cross between an "apartment" and a "tent" and it’s probably marketed to redneck families that are too poor to afford a single-wide.
3. It is apparent that you think Harley’s are as slow as an old computer.
3a. Please don’t ever compare a Harley with anything as technologically sophisticated or advanced as a computer, even an old computer like a 8088 series. If Harley were to produce a personal computer today, then that PC would probably look something like UNIVAC and be built to the same standards (i.e. vacuum tubes and housed in a warehouse sized building). Harley Davidsons are not great or powerful (never were, never will be) so when you compare a Harley Davidson to anything great and powerful you do not bring the Harley Davidson up to the level of whatever it is that you are comparing the HD to ... instead, you lower whatever it is that is great and powerful down to the Harley Davidson's level and that's pretty much an insult for anything more technologically advanced, better engineered or mechanically complicated than an inclined plane. You do know what an inclined plane is, right? Here's a hint ... you use a contemporary variant of the inclined plane to load and unload your Harley Davidson from the trailer that you tow it around on; you and those like you often refer to this variant of an inclined plane as a "ramp."
Harleys aren't slower than old computers (that would be giving them way too much credit); Harleys are slower and louder than a constipated grizzly bear while being just as heavy and hard to ride.
4. It is apparent that there is a lot of stupid slow people out there.
4a. Apparently, there are a lot of stupid slow people out there indeed and you are included in that group of sub-mental degenerates. If you own a Harley, chances are better than great that you're both stupid and slow. You’re stupid for ever buying a Harley and you’re slow because your Harley is an obsolete design with a very low power to weight ratio (but a very high noise to power ratio).
4a. Check there sales lately.
4b. Yes, I have checked THEIR sales lately. Have you? Perhaps you should check my reply to JHINOL. In it you will find that Harley, in 2006, had sales of over five billion dollars while Honda (and Honda alone) had sales in excess of eighty-four billion dollars. Harley sold a total of 349,200 bikes in America and around the world in 2006. 349,200 total. In 2006, Honda sold 614,000 bikes just in North America. If you look at Honda's world wide sales, counting America, the total comes to almost ten million, three hundred thousand bikes sold in 2006. I’ll repost the data from that reply here for your convenience since you own a Harley and reading probably isn't one of your strong points.
Oh! Look! Pretty pictures! Hooray!
Honda sold more bikes in North America in 2006 than Harley Davidson sold in the entire world in 2006.
Yes, even if Harley Davidson were to somehow magically produce a million bikes a year, they would still not be anywhere near Honda. Here's the 2006 annual sales for each company so you can compare just how "great" Harley's sales truly are. In 2006, Harley Davidson had sales of over five and a half billion dollars. In 2006, Honda had sales of over 84 billion dollars. Honda (not counting Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki) had yearly sales of $14.83 to every $1.00 that Harley Davidson managed to come up with. If we add in the other manufacturers, HD looks like what it truly is in the world scheme; a garage based small time amateur manufacturer that dabbles in the market and has big dreams of grandeur but can never, ever hope to ever keep up with the Big Boys.
So ... what "sales" are you referring to? Perhaps you are referring to some mysterious, undocumented magical "sales" that Harley Davidson did not officially report in their 2006 year end business summary (a summary that was downloaded from their very own official corporate website)? Or perhaps, like most stupid Harley owners, you are simply regurgitating popular myth and / or what the dealer told you in order to get you to buy one of their ridiculous “bikes” in the first place.
Yes, I’ve checked their sales.
You, obviously, have not.
5. It is apparent that you are a stupid slow person.
5a. Harley isn’t a piece of America, rather Harley is a piece of American junk. You left off a few letters there, five to be exact, in order for your thought to be complete, Sparky. My own philosophy (and one that is shared by many, many others in this country as well as around the world) is that if Harley Davidson represents what it truly means to be American, if Harley Davidson represents the best bike that this country can produce, if Harley Davidson represents the best of American built motorcycles, if Harley owners and riders represent the best of the breed when it comes to true red-white-and-blue Americans then, boy, this great country is in really serious trouble.
5b. Check out 1a, 2a, 2b, 3a, 4a, 4b, and 5a.
PS:
Note: While the format of your email was somewhat original, your mindset and behavior were decidedly not which proves that you are a lot like the Motor Company that you swear devotion to ... oh, you can switch the integral parts of the core design around all you want in new combinations but in the end, you've got the same tired old crap (it's just put together in a different way).
You say that it is up to the rider to pay for what they want but I can think of better uses for my hard earned money than to support chronic ignorance, habitual laziness and trend-setting stupidity (like those are attributes that any smart, informed consumer would actually want in the product that they were buying).