Biker down: Murrays Bay, Auckland - what the heck happened??? (17 August)

[Lou Girardin]

Trust Ixion to get all poetic on us.

[Drunken Monkey]

Anyone see the paradox in grieving about a dead biker, then telling a live biker to "go fuck himself"?
We're a close knit group alright.

Maybe we're just getting old and her "irony" was lost on us?

[The_Dover]

Trust Ixion to get all poetic on us.

He's stoned again.

[judecatmad]

If retaliating to being told to piss off and to learn to read causes offence, then I'm dreadfully sorry......

However, what part of:

It's a sad thing to happen to anyone and my thoughts go out to all those who knew and loved him, but the saddest thing is he didn't have enough respect for himself or his family to get a taxi home.

is grieving for a dead biker?

Clearly it isn't just me who needs to learn to read

[ManDownUnder]

I totally agree Lou.

I was having this conversation on Friday night. Does anyone really shed a tear when they hear about the death of a random stranger? Even if they did ride the same bike, wear the same underpants and drink the same horrendously overpriced european beer?

Being a biker doesn't give me any kind of hidden connection with other bikers, just a subject to talk shit about it the pub. No more so than playing the guitar or being a fan of Boyzone.

Agreed 100%... problem is it doesn't undo (or take into account) any existing relationships that people DO have with the person that died. We need to be sensitive to those.

We've all done stupid stuff, God knows I have. Some of it was high risk, and I was (quote rightly) berated for it.

I think a condolences/RIP thread is entirely appropriate for those that want to post. Who am I to say they're wrong? Go for it. Awareness of the death, and in this case the contributing cause is a good thing. Don't get me wrong - I'm not shedding a tear for him... I didn't know him.

I'm simply not ruling out the fact there are others out there that ARE shedding a tear for him.

Is the outpouring of faux pseudo grief really necessary? You don't know anything else about that person other than they died on a motorbike. They could have a number of hidden interests or dark secrets that would make them your most loathed being.

If you know them then fair enough, there is a personal connection and the grief is understandable but there are plenty of other non bike related deaths that no one seems to be too affected by.

Fair points and good call.