Hypocrisy Extreme
My first instinct is to look down my nose at these guys ... folks who are too dumb to cover their own asses appropriately and who take their tricks to Main St. where kiddies, oldsters, and kittens teeter dangerously in the mix.
But who the hell am I to talk? I love ripping a wheelie just as much as cruising an empty mountain road or knocking seconds off my pathetic track times. It's all part of motorcycling ... it's an appreciation of the machine and how you interact with it. Sure, these guys are idiots, but you have to appreciate the fact that they have skills and abilities that you and I will never approach.
Some may rationalize these stunts away as testosterone-induced stupidity, teen angst, or post-punk nihilism (and they might even be right), but the fact is these guys are simply amping up the same love we all have for motorcycles, freedom, horsepower, and psychotropic drugs (optional). More power to 'em, especially if they keep the cops occupied while my buddies and I scoot out to more covert back roads at moderately indecent speeds.
And, c'mon. These guys are no more shaping the Image of Motorcycling than Vin Diesel is shaping the Image of Automobiling (or Bad Acting). Sure, some people take their cue from this kind of stuff, but by and large the Masses draw their impressions from who they see every day, and that's you and me.
The extreme riders are the 1% of the 1% ... i.e. a handful of guys who stand out like a canker sore on a Nun. The cops in their areas know who they are, and most aren't going to pull over Joe RUBbie on his Fat Bob Heritage Softspring Classic (with fringed saddle bags), or even Kip Squid on his Race Rep GIXulater 1000 SV-R Special Edition (with leopard-skin tank bra), if they're riding within the realm of sanity and wearing regular gear.
If you don't like these hooligan antics, the best thing you can do is ignore it. Take a lesson from 2Live Crew and all the other no-talent hacks who have made millions simply because some overly-righteous moron got their panties in a wad. Nothing drives sales like overwrought do-gooders drawing attention to something (seemingly) rebellious.