No you are not a douchebag. This isn't twenty or thirty years ago when many of us were doing pretty much what we wanted without being bothered by a pussified society that wants nothing more than to squeeze as much lawsuit money out of us as they can. We did what we wanted and we came out just fine! Well most of us did!
Check out this possible happy ending. The kid, who happens to be the best rider of the whole group, but he hits poor old Fluffy the beloved family dog because it ran out in the street. Most of us would say, "Too bad the dog should have been on a leash, let's go say sorry and then lets keep riding."
But that's not the way it works any more.
Today, everyone riding with the kid will be on the national news doing a perp walk. Weeks of news will be made on the 24 hour news networks. Eyewittness will be weeping asking why a group of dispicable motorcycle riders could be so negligent as to let a kid ride with them without a license. Years will go by with million dollar lawsuits. Lives ruined and 300,000,000 people will be focused on poor dead Fluffy and why the horrible boy without a license should be jailed. The angry mobs wil cry out and demand that justice be done and the parents held to account! Families will be seperated. Lives will be ruined forever.
But it only gets better from here. Congress, who is less mature than the "Sportster Kid", will find it in the national interest to get involved and write a 2,000 page bill requiring manditory sentences for underage riders and their parents. Huge taxes will be levied on motorcyclists because "its for our own good." You get the idea.
Rewind twenty or thirty years ago, Fluffy's owner would be slapped up side the head by the Sherriff for not having the stupid dog on a leash. The kid would get his hand slapped and a fine day of riding would continue.
Check out this possible happy ending. The kid, who happens to be the best rider of the whole group, but he hits poor old Fluffy the beloved family dog because it ran out in the street. Most of us would say, "Too bad the dog should have been on a leash, let's go say sorry and then lets keep riding."
But that's not the way it works any more.
Today, everyone riding with the kid will be on the national news doing a perp walk. Weeks of news will be made on the 24 hour news networks. Eyewittness will be weeping asking why a group of dispicable motorcycle riders could be so negligent as to let a kid ride with them without a license. Years will go by with million dollar lawsuits. Lives ruined and 300,000,000 people will be focused on poor dead Fluffy and why the horrible boy without a license should be jailed. The angry mobs wil cry out and demand that justice be done and the parents held to account! Families will be seperated. Lives will be ruined forever.
But it only gets better from here. Congress, who is less mature than the "Sportster Kid", will find it in the national interest to get involved and write a 2,000 page bill requiring manditory sentences for underage riders and their parents. Huge taxes will be levied on motorcyclists because "its for our own good." You get the idea.
Rewind twenty or thirty years ago, Fluffy's owner would be slapped up side the head by the Sherriff for not having the stupid dog on a leash. The kid would get his hand slapped and a fine day of riding would continue.