I attempt to teach a subversive slogan to Italian H.O.G member and rant about things that probably won't make any sense to anyone else

I do not think of HOG owners when I think of European Bike culture. I think of cafe racers, athletic guys on impossibly huge dual-sport motorcyles, crazy guys on extreme sport bikes or maybe a scooter gang with lots of mirrors on their vintage Vespas, but not a Harley Owner's Group.

 Alta Via one starts at a major tourist destination. Lake Lago di Braies is beautiful turquoise alpine lake at the north end of the Dolomites. Hotel Lago di Braies is right beside the lake and right at the start of a trail that runs around the lake. You can also rent a row boat and row across the lake. This is a very popular tourist spot.

The tourists were interesting. I have never really seen the influencer tourist before. The boyfriend taking photos of the girl friend with the perfect scene in the background. Selfie sticks and even a drone or two. A lot of Asian tourists and a few Americans, and then the 24 of us.

I was half way around the lake and almost to the trail head when I spotted these folks. 

 

Meeting interesting people is really the point of traveling. I am not great at it. These bikers were so completely out of place on the trail I stopped and tried conversation. We showed each other pictures of our motorcycles on our phones. The lady had great helmet art. The guy had rebel flags. It was a good meeting.

 

I wish I would have taken a picture of the lady's helmet art. It was 1950's tattoo style line drawings and was pretty cool. But, I was distracted by her beefy boyfriend's dual rebel flags on his helmet and his numerous patches. 

I attempted conversation...

He showed me his patches. I tried to teach him to say, "The South Will Rise Again!" This was not very successful and I was getting left behind.

 

Rockabilly Rebel and the South Will Rise Again. Harley Owner Groups are a thing in Europe. Something I never really thought about. Not really a good place to ride a cruiser in my humble opinion. But what do I know? I was WALKING...

 

Other members of the group were shocked and amused by his racist symbols. I started to explain European "rebel" biking culture and vintage Rockabilly but decided that was a "lost cause." (See what I did with that...lost cause?) (NOTE: you need to click on this link... There is a absolute divide between social classes world wide.  The Huff Post types are everywhere now. People wear the rebel flag because it has been a symbol of countryfolk, working class, rock and roll, down and outers, sticking it to the Man. The Man being, as it has always been, the Yankee, Elitist, Smug, Pricks that are always telling you there is something you can't do. No one gives a rip about black people being enslaved 300 years ago. We got our own problems... The Yankee, clings to the Rebel Flag and cotton, and lynching, as their icon of white guilt and they have emotional melt downs when ever they see it.)

Which brings me to another observation. It was pretty interesting to see the difference in culture between people I work with/live with, and the kind smug liberalism that Ivy league educated, city educated, environmentally aware, pop culture involved people have. Super nice people on the trip. Nothing against any of them. I just understand why a certain social/economic/cultural group of us voted Donald Trump even though we kind of hate him. 

I just wish I could articulate it as well. I would be with the group and then I would find some person like me, couple kids, the receptionist at the hotel, I would start talking farming, or motorcycles, or thin crust pizza and all of a sudden our social class clicked, and we were friends. 

If you are interested in my crazy political commentary...

Another article about the rise of the Lost Cause Movement from the Yankee perspective. Yankees doing what Yankees do... Telling the world how to live their lives and at the same time, Owning slaves, flying on Epstein's Jet, telling the Hungarians to revolt and then hanging them out to dry, telling the Iranians to revolt and then hanging them out to dry, telling the Ukrainians to resist and then milking them for every red cent they have... 

Edit: I had to come back because I realized I had started something sideways and I should either delete or explain. I resent seeing social manipulation and it not being called social manipulation, but rather being called "woke," or just the assumption that because I went to college and listened to a communist for the first time, I am undeniably right because I believe what I am saying.  In fact, Lenin explicitly taught and practiced the tactic of capturing and weaponizing political language and symbols. The technique is to take an opponents language and symbols, reframe their moral claims, turn the imagery against them. The rebel flag and the lost cause ideology was an easy thing to reframe because the Confederacy supported slavery. What really pissed off the Yankee was that the lost cause mythology empowered people they prefer to keep down. (not to mention the culture war between English and Scotts-Irish).  The mythology was not the noble North freeing the black man, it was becoming the Bully North kicking poor southerners to the curb. The educational elite really hate that narrative and they really hate people who question their authority. 

But I might have some bitterness...