Bikers and the Collapse of Civilization
Modern Fraternities and their Role in the Collapse as 21st Century Barbarians.
I’ve been involved in the motorcycle community for quite some time. It’s a pretty disparate group bound by mutual interests. Communities like this can bond people together in a way that modern society simply does not condone. Subcultural pseudo-fraternities are one of the best modern opportunities for the development of strong community bonds. Bikers in particular have a few advantages in a collapsing society that others do not, advantages I wasn’t fully clear on until I recently went riding with a larger group of them.
Below will be a review of the cultural collapse, and I’ll be experimenting with links to footnotes regarding my sources.
The Faltering Economic System
Modern society is reaching a breaking point: socially, economically, politically, and environmentally. Scientific development has, for the last century allowed us to build up a huge industrial base and population. Scientific research, however, suffers from diminishing returns, and the rate of development is now outpacing the ability of our sciences to increase productivity1. The systems that maintains our way of life use a growth-model of economic development, requiring that each year resources be acquired more quickly and more efficiently than the year before.
The entire debt-based currency system is optimized for perpetual growth 2. Growth is required to pay back debt that is taken out to create the money, without perpetual growth the economic system either collapses, or enters hyper-inflation 3. That’s why it always feels as if every one is constantly running on an eternal treadmill and unable to get off 4. In many ways our civilization has reached the rate-limit of resource acquisition: we can only mine so much material. That, combined with the pressures of high population density are leading to an inevitable decline.
Many of these pressures have been considered by great thinkers in the past:
John B. Calhoun’s Mouse Utopia Experiment. [Article Link] [Video Link]
Theadore Kaczynski’s prophetic philisophical works in “Industrial Civilization and It’s Future” [Book Review] [Video Link]
The MIT global-collapse research [Article Link] [Article Link] [Video Link]
The experience of modern social pressures as described in Harassment Architecture [Book Review]
General analyses by whatifalthist, keep in mind some of these videos are from several years ago and have accurately predicted recent events… [How our world and age will collapse very soon (July 2022)] [We’re going to have another great depression (August 2021)] [Crises of the 21st Century (April 2021)] [Wars of the 2020s and 2030s (September 2020)]
A review of Partial Collapse and what it looks like [Youtube Video by Brass Facts].
The Broken Social Contract
Due to the forces above, effective forces of nature at this point, fundamental shifts in our way of life and culture are taking place whether we like them or not. First, we’re witnessing the collapse of the social contract as governments and society-at-large are no longer able to fulfill promised obligations. Concepts like “If you work hard you’ll get a promotion” or “every one has a shot at success” are long dead. The workforce is beginning to reflect that new reality by giving up 5. State bureaucracies are faring even worse as bureaucrats are no longer paid enough to justify their time and so simply stop doing their job (I'd know, I work in one) 6 .
With the failure of the social contract comes the problems inherent in a people losing faith in their society, government, and economy. That is, people no longer think it is possible to “win” by following by the rules (a position made explicitly clear after the GME fiasco), which means lying, cheating, and stealing, are now all on the table.
How the Left views the breakdown of the social contract isn’t entirely different, except that they spout off the word ‘fascism’ like a toddler that just learned his first curse-word 7. The Left recognizes the breakdown, but will rant about "evil fascists" and "climate crisis" and other buzzwords rather than identifying real underlying problems. The Left is, as Uncle Ted would say, over-socialized and unable to reject any values that society holds to be true.
The failure of the social contract combined with the breakdown of classical bureaucratic institutions, means that the people may be governed only by the threat of violence. That is why the IRS has recently begun hiring and arming 86,000 new tax collectors: people are beginning to ignore regulation that is not enforced by violence. Not just gangs and criminal syndicates; average citizens no longer feel duty-bound to adhere to societal expectations. Thus, the only mechanism available to the state for enforcement is direct intervention through violence. Of course, I fully expect the IRS to have the same critical failings as every other bureaucratic institution in the West.
With the rise in criminal activities become more violent and desperate, the federal government will become more heavy-handed in enforcement. The Mara-Lago raid was due to threats felt by the system. The new IRS agents will not be used against “the billionaires” they’ll be used against the paltry remainders of the middle class. Gas prices are on a temporary hiatus but will likely rise sharply after the midterm elections in November. The global economy is disintegrating.
… and I’m going to recommend hopping on a motorcycle and go for a ride with the boys.
Modern Fraternities
While I have advocated the formation of modernized neo-clannish thought before, there’s no roadmap in the modern age with precedence. Or rather, there are few roadmaps. It is important to understand that the collapsing global world order will create an era of strife. We’re seeing it already. When push comes to shove, people self-organize into hierarchical groups and fight for resources. It seems unlikely that a total collapse will occur, rather partial collapse and perpetual resource shortages are far more likely. A slow-roll apocalypse where things get more expensive, less controlled, and life gets harder and messier over time.
Bikers
Motorcycle clubs/gangs are a modern system of fraternities. They have a high barrier of entry and maintain formal associations through a common interest. Like most modern fraternities they operate in a legal grey-zone, neither formally recognized, nor completely ignored. Most importantly, they’re one of few groups that is permitted to be implicitly white.
There are a few other similar groups in the world, but they’re always difficult to find. I use motorcycle clubs (MCs) specifically, or even informal groups of friends, due to the properties of these groups. There’s a reason why motorcyclists have a reputation as “tough guys.” Building a reputation like that is critical for the modern fraternity, and some groups are far better at it than others. Professional fraternities of academics possess almost no power to sway the normie.
So what is it that MC’s have that other groups don’t?
Fraternity
Mastery
Mobility
Fraternity
Fraternity is an easily understood property. An MC is an association of likeminded individuals. They have a common interest and work together occasionally toward a common goal and share resources. There are organizations of professional academics, industry workers, and union halls that all bare the hallmarks of fraternities. A true fraternity can be hard to find, where members will back one another up when the going gets tough, but they exist.
Mastery
That is to say, these people all share a specific set of skills they can learn from. Like Union halls or ancient guild halls, these people can all learn a common skill and purpose. There are many groups that do this, particularly in the digital era. Sharing otherwise esoteric knowledge can be a powerful boon between individuals. Medical organizations, programmers on github, firearms specialists (both shooters and gunsmithers), and groups of outdoorsmen and hikers all fall into this category. In the case of MCs, there is a cooperative mastery of mechanical skills and tricks. Hotrodding a bike isn’t easy after all, and requires real (applicable) skill. Each bike is unique and most have been customized by their owners. That’s real skill. Those skills are useful even when the electric grid goes down and the phones stop working.
Mobility
Mobility sets MCs apart from other groups. Outdoorsmen maybe have it, but few other groups do. Clock makers, professionals, and similar organizations totally lack mobility. Mobility is what creates the biker “tough-guy” reputation. When on a ride, they’re rarely in their home county or state. They get in a scuffle and break some ones jaw, they can be halfway to the next state before local city police even finish taking the report. Mobility is a powerful too, used by groups like AntiFa. It represents a threat to the underlying cultural systems: “I can get into trouble and be two states away before the justice system comes after me.”
Given the decaying state of our bureaucratic institutions it’ll be increasingly difficult for personnel to go after criminals across state borders. As long as the criminal activities are sufficiently small scale, mobile individuals can get away with quite a lot. Mobility is what turns a fraternal group of skilled misfits from a local curiosity to an implicit force only tacitly subject to legal regulation.
That and the occasional ex-con with little to lose, less self control, and a few screws loose.
Barbarians of the 21st Century
Bikers, in addition to being an effective extra-legal subculture, also tend to align with ultra-conservative ideals. Even the “left wing” ones are still nationalists, just black nationalists. They tend to have a strong appreciation for hierarchy, a clannish and highly gate-kept community, and a total lack of fucks to give about what other people think of them. Some are also unstable, which is a useful sword if a double-edged one. In many ways most are like the flip side of the coin from the academic right-wing philosopher.
These groups form a counterweight to violent leftwing extremism, and have a history of active resistance. They are not the only subculture that behaves this way, but they are one of the largest. On top of that, their tolerance for discomfort is quite high, long rides and camping in the wilderness a few nights in a row is excellent training. In the event of significant cultural collapse, bikers and militias are likely to form the backbone of whatever militant warlords take power8.
Because groups like this operate in the informal arena, it’s very difficult for (((government forces))) to isolate them in the same way other subcultures are targeted and broken up. “Diversity and Tolerance” is hard to sell to a group of guys with a close connection to the underworld where “Loyalty and Honor” run everything.
In a time of collapsing civilizations, it’s the barbarians on the fringes who seize power. The precedence of history is undeniable in this regard: the Visigoths sacked Rome, the Sea Peoples destroyed Mycenae and Egypt. The Vikings wiped out the Anglo Saxons. Barbarians have a number of traits that benefit them of a decadent and collapsing empire:
A tolerance for discomfort
Familiarity with Violence
Survivalist tools and skillsets
An honor-based hierarchy
A culture of self-reliance and small communities
The (heavily gatekept) culture of motorcyclists has trappings of the proverbial “barbarian.” Additionally, by rejecting modern conveniences, they develop skillsets and associations that have significant application in a partial-collapse scenario. While there is no guarantee that this specific subculture will wield political power, it is certainly well positioned to do so. There are a number of others: HAM radio enthusiasts, militias, cypher punks, etc. Still, few have all of the cultural assets that bikers do. They’re likely to be the barbarians at the gates should a Fall of Rome scenario occur, or at least those who pick up the pieces.
Combine their culture of radical independence with a monetary system independent of government and we might see some real sparks fly.
An Asset to Our People
Radical independence from the governing system can be both a good and bad thing. Those seeking social position often become hopelessly psychologically bound to the current governing structure. If that structure is decadent, those people, too, become decadent. Simultaneously the occasional academic and philosopher who sees the coming breakdown rarely has means to establish meaningful independent systems. Uncle Ted left to a cabin in the woods for 20 years, forced to do radical things merely to get people to listen to him.
When a partial collapse occurs, what we’re likely to see is growth in anarcho-tyranny to the point
… besides, it’s fun to ride.
On top of seeking political affiliation:
Locate interesting subcultures that include real-world skills (farming, mechanical skill, medicine, firearms, outdoorsmanship etc. )
Join a few of those dedicated subcultures yourself
Make friends and network in those subcultures and establish a group of friendly faces
Included in those groups should be both academics and ex-cons, as each possesses their own networks and skills separate from your own.
Scientific Diminishing Returns [Link (2010)] [Link (2018)] [Link (2019)]
Infinite Growth Economist Meets Finite Physicist [Link (2012)]
Collapse of the American Dream [Link (2011)]
Anti-Ambition [Link(2022)]
Bureaucratic Breakdown [Link (2022)]
Eudaimonia and Co [Link(2022)] (Warning, this guy is a terrible author).
Biker Gang Violence in Australia. [link (2012)]
I have had similar thoughts myself. If 'what is to be done' is 'build a state of our own within the state' then something an MC or a Mafia is an excellent starting point.