Bikers Still Have a Bad Reputation

This article published by The Daily Texan illustrates that news reporters still like to paint bikers as drunken out-of-control lunatics...

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/....2816407.shtml

It's a story about Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) and their mission to provide protection for abused children. Yet, The Daily Texan makes it sound as if normal everyday bikers are drunken derelicts looking to start fights...

Members of BACA aren't there to start a drunken brawl or rough up anyone - quite the opposite - they come dressed in slacks and button-down shirts for the formal ordeal.

Sure, bikers usually look mean and tough with their tattoos, leather and unkempt pony tails, but don't let that fool you. BACA is different from other motorcycle clubs that have bad reputations such as the Hells Angels or Warlocks. Instead of riding their motorcycles from bar to bar raising hell, members of BACA spend their time with abused children, helping to make reality seem a little less like Hell.

This reporter is trying to establish a contrast that paints BACA in a special light. To do this she created a stereotype, or reinforced the stereotype, that most bikers out there are Neanderthals on two-wheels. While that's great for BACA, what does that do for the rest of us?

This is how prejudice grows against bikers, and this kind of prejudice is what allows lawmakers to easily create laws that restrict the freedom of bikers.