Mixing Political views with business is less than brilliant

[Wazu]

Dear Dirt Rag,
My name is Gerald Daniele. I was reading DirtRag #99, and the whole "Give Peace a Chance" reply from Brad Read of Johnson city Tennessee. I also read your reply to him. I have some advice for you, and I would think you owe Brad an apology for being so rude with your "In case you didn't notice" b.s. By the way, I will continue to buy your magazine. It is hands down the best, down to earth read on the face of the bicycling earth. I'm to smart to let your brain fart stop me from enjoying this magazine. I make mistakes too. Then I man up to them. Here is why.
Two things: 1. In business, never, ever show your political view. You will invariably alienate 50% of your audience. Sports too. This is business 101.
2. Do you call being scared as hell to fly a plane peace? Do you call fearing the subway peace? What about the effect on the airlines, the car companies, the stock market, and the whole damn economy? This is peace? Did I mention anxiety medications tripling, and the fear many many Americans have? Do you think that Brad Read doesn't want peace? You are insulting to him, and to the MAJORITY OF AMERICANS who are behind taking care of this whole terrorism thing once and for all. I think he is of the thinking of the OTHER 50% of people who want to insure REAL peace. The real issue here isn't who is wrong or right, cause ya never know who is gonna be the correct one till the situation unfolds, and, there is more than one way to skin a cat. The issue is to not mix your opinion with a magazine that isn't broken. The difference is not the difference in our opinions, but the fact that I respect your opinion, and you don't respect mine, Brads, or the majority. I think he wants peace every bit as much as you do, and you should fess up for being flat out wrong. In case YOU haven't noticed, the people who back the war spend money on your magazine, and want peace maybe even more than you do. Use your head, Ed. I respect most everything that comes out of your mouth, but this is unprofessional. I doubt you will give brad the satisfaction of printing this, and you probably totally disagree as well, but I had to write you so that you don't make the same mistake twice. It's all good.

[kennbenny667]

I just wanted to say that I support Dirt Rag's (and its reader's) right to freedom of speech. It's cool to see ANY independent magazines stirring up the political pot! I think that most people would be shitting themselves if they knew about how many different publications are owned by the same, mostly evil, large media corporations. They feed you their skewed political views (Money = prosperity= good American citizens and the like) almost subconciously! Buy our records! Watch our cable! Get our ISP! People have the right to say, publish, and broadcast, almost anything they want here, but it's unfortunate that those who control the media control a large amount of America's wealth.
Why is that? Because MONEY TALKS and BULLSHIT(or a valid counter-culture view) WALKS! It doen't matter if we agree or not. If you don't like what Dirt Rag, Time, Fox News, or the Chicago SunTimes says, pick up another publication(s) Which brings me to the whole terrorism thing. Invading/being present in foreign countries and shitting on centuries old traditions, culture, and religion, is what causes (and will continue to cause) global and domestic terrorist attacks. I wish OUR government would spent as much money on developing fuel cell/hydrogen/zero emission technology, bike lanes, etc... as they do perpetrating a vicious cycle which WILL NEVER ****ING END! If one of Rupert Murdoch's family members was shot down in the street by "soldiers" in Israel who are supplied, trained, and heavily funded by the U.S. Fox News would be a different network. But Murdoch probably played golf with Cheney and Bush at Camp David last weekend! I don't really feel like getting started on The "Patriot" Act, Terrorist information act, or the Halliburton thing. Just staking my political views, just as I'll do if I ever get my own business. People can't smoke pot in this country, but we see companies sell cancer and addiction to young Americans everyday!!! WTF!!! (Google Aol-Time Warner's holdings, you'll be surprised!)

[DirtRagArt]

Yes, you take chances when you go through life with your heart on your sleeve, but it's chances we're all willing to take here.

Additionally, look at the effect our political content has had on our readers: you guys are involved and making the most of "the mountain bike forum." As artists, the most we could ever hope for is to evoke a reaction from those who come in contact with what we create, and judging by the influx of well-thought responses (like yours) I would say we are succeeding.

Keep the rubber side down!

[riderx]

Originally posted by Wazu
You are insulting to him, and to the MAJORITY OF AMERICANS who are behind taking care of this whole terrorism thing once and for all. Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, you are naive if you think the terrorism thing will ever be taken care of "once and for all". Unless, of course, you are taking about post-human extinction.

[Wazu]

I think that I have been mis- understood here. Not having the war could very well have been the thing to do. That's not my point. I have two very successfull sandwich shops in New Jersey called "The Great Wazu", and I would never put a "Gore - Lieberman or a "Bush - Cheney" banner up. It doesn't matter which one, because either one shows that I like one more than the other, thus, possibly alienating my potential customers on the other side of the political fense.This was a business critisizm only. I respect your view on peace, and everyone elses. Wazu

[bikertrash]

I generally prefer to read about mountain biking in a mountain bike magazine. This idea that you have to use your freedom of expression seems alright, but most of the time when I read someone in a bike magazine make a political stand it usually reflects the stand made by the Hollyweird Elite, andI have no time for them. I didn't catch the article in #99, but then the only thing that kept me from subscribing was one of your writers enjoyed Bush Bashing to much, and don't get me wrong, I would've been just as up tight if he were Gore Bashing instead had the election gone the other way. When I want political opinion I go to sources that make statements ith sound facts to back them up. Enjoy your freedom of speech, but practicing it with out substantiation is more dangerous than not practicing it at all.

[jonassterling]

Political Statements in Dirt Rag are one of the things that keep me reading. Have you read a copy of Bicycling lately? Pages of boring writing that all seems to have been filtered through a focus group so as not to offend someone. Damn it, offend some people, get them thinking. Thinking and getting angry are not bad things. Having the gumption to print what you think because you beleive it would seem to be more important than whether or not folks get offended.
I can't see how a few political statements in a counter-culture style magazine could be called bad business practice.

[leapfrog]

the argument that politics should not be mixed with business is an obvious product of a system of capitalism that holds profit margins in a higher esteem than quality of life. not only does that train of thought further capitalism (which i'm not saying is completely horrible), but is also terribly inhuman. who runs businesses? who works businesses? humans do. beings that have the capacity to observe, rationalize, and express. asking a human to curb their worldview for the sake of profits may be good business sense, but it doesn't make for admirable living, if you ask me.

i also find it amusing that (during this current war anyways) political statements AGAINST the war were met with contempt and framed as political, while a flag on a car or a statement FOR the war was framed in a way as NOT being political. Could someone please define what exactly is and isn't a political statement anyways? life is politics. how you choose to travel (go by bike!), where you choose to shop, your opinions are all politics. making an attempt to leave your politics out of everyday life would be a task i'd rather not even think about attempting.

summary: go dirt rag! say whatever the hell you want (regardless if i agree) even if your profits dip a tad.

[bikertrash]

I generally don't see nothing wrong with political statements, provided they are backed with solid facts instead of a silly mantra that is hypnotically repeated over and over. Both sides of the war argument are pretty much guilty of that. As far as corporate stuff, I owe my job to a corporation, and if people couldn't drive cars then the economy would really suck and most of us would be out of work. Yes it's good to ride a bike instead of a car, and it would be nice if people used mass transit more, but that doesn't make them evil. I knkow I get a lot out of bike riding but if suddenly I had to get a job that was 15 or more miles away, I'd be driving.
As far as displaying the flag, there is nothing wrong with being proud to be American, where we all can speak up, especially in this world where in most nations people get arrested and executed for saying a lot of the stuff that is saidon this and most any other web page.I do wish people would display that patrioism more often, then it wouldn't seem like a political statement.

[jonassterling]

Originally posted by bikertrash
As far as corporate stuff, I owe my job to a corporation, and if people couldn't drive cars then the economy would really suck and most of us would be out of work.

I agree that the current economey could not work if most people could not drive. But I beleive that the market would quickly adjust to the change. New jobs would be created to make up for the lost jobs, and quickly. Whole new markets would open up and current ones would expand. Hell, I could open up a shop that specialized in making bikes look even more ready for off road so the owner could ride them on the bike path on the way to work. I figure the mountain bike would repalce the SUV as the ride of choice for most Americans.

[bikertrash]

That might be a scenario in the distant future, I just don't see it in the near term, but hey even if I think your wrong, ican hope I'm wrong.

[Scott G.]

Originally posted by riderx
Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, you are naive if you think the terrorism thing will ever be taken care of "once and for all". Unless, of course, you are taking about post-human extinction.

I have to agree wholeheartedly with riderx on this one. Terrorism will never go away, it will continue to evolve whether from Islamic based groups or groups here in the U.S. Even if the U.S. pulled all our troops from every foreign base back home, some people would still NEVER forget what "the U.S. did to our country".

And given the firepower today i.e. nukes, bios, etc the chance of a catastrophic international event are pretty likely. Check out the history books, have you noticed how the "reign" or "existence" of a government has gotten shorter over time? No more Romes here. Our time in the limelight is limited.

On a positive note, at least we live in a great country with lots of places to ride:cool:

[Zinger]

I don't mind some informed political rants in DR, as long as there are similarly informed reviews of books, records, and beer, and the non-bike stuff doesn't overshadow the biking side of the magazine. It's also good form to print a few dissenting letters to the editor in the next issue. There was a lot of this between issues 99 & 100.

Jeff Lockwood's Brain Fart from 3/20 is the best way to discuss politics in a non-political mag. He takes the stand "I'm not arguing with uninformed slogan shouters. Before I debate the impending Iraq war with you, do you know the basic facts of the situation?" While I may agree or not with Jeff's politics and opinions, I've got to respect a mind open to the facts.

Because it's a magazine, meant to be read and though about, some politics in DR is fine with me. It's not like a sandwich shop, where the emphasis is on food and maybe conversation with friends. Keep the biking foremost, and a few reviews of politics, beer, whatever mix in well.

[hairygrump]

I think if I was selling sandwiches I would be more careful with where I wore my political beliefs. I think magazines like the Rag are a different thing because they're a commercial (i.e., for sale... not, like, commercialized) artistic expression. I buy a sandwich to keep from dying, and knowing your views on war or economics or anything (other than maybe sandwiches) won't help me enjoy or eat my sandwich any better or faster. There's no value added to some businesses by claiming ideological affiliation

The Rag, on the other hand, gets paid to make me think and layers of complexity are what does that. Bikes can do it, so that's your basic grilled cheese (satisfying, but you wouldn't want to eat it for the rest of your life), but bikes plus political content are like grilled ham and cheese. Throw in a hot chick-bedecked Marzocchi ad in there somewhere and you've got yourself God's greatest gift to man; the reuben.

So, yeah... depends on what your business is. If you're selling information and content, give it to me in as many flavors as you've got.

I hope I didn't insult anybody with the sandwich metaphor... skipped lunch today.

[Scott G.]

If political views are to be expressed, maybe they should be something that will make some difference. Specifically DR should post a list of Senators and House Representatives in the Nov issue that are pro-Mountain bike and trail access. The best way to exercise political power is by voting, and what do we get every election... maybe a 50-60% turnout???

I feel at least from a biking standpoint the peace/war pages could have been better utilized for access issues-which we all can affect on an individual basis. Save all the frustration over the war and peace issue for the next presidential election, and for gods sake VOTE:)

[leapfrog]

uuuuhh...

1. if you are saying that as individuals we can't affect the direction of wars...then i hate to be blunt, but you're a defeatist and shouldn't care about anything really. and you also don't realize the priveleges we as americans are afforded by the benefits of war waged elsewhere....low gas prices, safe drinking water, etc. etc. Our daily decisions, such as where we choose to spend our money, DOES have an effect on the ability of policymakers to choose war or not. it's just a matter of getting enough people to make the sensible decisions.

2. "don't blame me..i voted for gore"
"don't blame me..i voted for bush"
how about "don't blame me...im an anarchist..i didn't vote". - and i don't.