the serotta forum: the politics of ignorance

the serotta forum is a pathetic but mostly harmless poser circle jerk, but the politics on show in that train wreck are ugly to the core.  the important fact is this: the serotta forum is a self-selected representation of upper-middle class privilege.  for the most part, these people who gather there have plenty of disposable income and the political positions borne of overall ignorance along with koch brothers talking points, talk radio, and heritage foundation fact sheets mixed with liberal quantities of general stupidity.  certainly there are a few on show who do not subscribe to such idiocy, but they are mostly silent cowards or mealy-mouthed appeasers in the mold of barack obama.  during the fukushima meltdown, the serotta forum was graced with heartland institute and heritage foundation press releases telling us there was no way the plants would leak radiation and that nuclear power was safe in general.  you can always hear from the supposed financial planner explaining how taxes are mostly paid by the rich; the alleged business owner will tell you that democrats are bad for business so he will not invest until a republican is elected; an asshole who inherited his money from his dad will post some unattributed stats showing that the minimum wage causes unemployment; someone who claims they are a health care worker will explain that any health reform will harm patients; a purported canadian tells the group that everyone he knows goes to america for treatment because the canadian system is broken; someone who might be from europe explains that only in america can you be free; an ignorant grad student will bring up the salience of ayn rand's genius and post after post will pop with totally unironic agreement.  there's shitloads of disgusting mindless worship of authority, the military, the police state and israel.  anytime the timid opposition comes out the discussion is stopped because shining a light on the stupidity is absolutely not allowed.

there's no real way to stand up to that in such an environment; the disgusting political climate of the serotta forum is a feature and not a bug.  the company depends on that self-selected customer base of politically conservative self-satisfied provincials with abundant money to buy their bikes.  experienced riders, bike-industry insiders, middle-class enthusiasts and cosmopolitan cycling novices will spend their money elsewhere 100% of the time.