Seattle Elitism on Display

There was a great entry in yesterday's Seattle Times "Postman on Politics" blog that shows what many snooty Seattleites think about the choice of outdoor recreation for many Washingtonians.

In responding to an e-mail from someone asking [Seattle Democratic State Senator Adam] Kline why he was backing a bill that would crack down on loud off-road vehicles, the senator sent this e-mail:

Dear Mr. Helgeson,

I signed on because I have been annoyed, endangered, and angered one too many times by people riding motorized dirt-bikes and other off-road vehicles that have no damn business anywhere. To me, this bill is narrow — it doesn't include those "personal watercraft," seemingly jet-powered little missiles whose only apparent purpose is to risk death and dismemberment for boaters and swimmers, for the amusement of spoiled drunk teenagers.

Yes, I am sure there is the occasional responsible person who rides one of these machines on land or water. And yes, like every human being I have been pleasantly surprised to find my stereotypes broken. But why, why, why, do folks insist on motorized "sports"? Those two words are an oxymoron.

There is nothing sporting — athletic, physically demanding — about riding any machine anywhere. And it's a damned annoyance to folks who see the outdoors as a place to go for quiet and solitude and self-exploration. I would be happy to ban the use of the internal combustion engine off-road, by anyone without a handicapped sticker, subject to a stiff fine. Maybe we could call this an anti-obesity measure.

Please circulate this to all motorized sports enthusiasts, so they can remember never to vote for me.

Adam Kline

Kline told Times reporter Elliott Wilson that snowmobilers have ruined ski trips for him and his daughter, they make noise and pollute.

If you're a handicapped person and that's the only way to get to see the beach, I got that.

Why can't they get onto their own two feet? ... Polluting for recreation. It's polluting. It's noise. It's physical danger....

I get the impression that a lot of them are 30 or 40-year-old teenagers.
...

It's a fuel-drugged rush. Fuel is their drug. I get my rush out of physical exertion.

I guess Senator Kline won't be buying a cabin in Elk River anytime soon.