Decius wrote:
] ] For a certain segment of the population, Nascar's raid on
] ] American culture -- its logo festoons everything from
] ] cellphones to honey jars to post office walls to panties;
] ] race coverage, it can seem, has bumped everything else
] ] off television; and, most piercingly, Nascar dads now get
] ] to pick our presidents -- triggers the kind of fearful
] ] trembling the citizens of Gaul felt as the Huns came
] ] thundering over the hills. To these people, stock-car
] ] racing represents all that's unsavory about red-state
] ] America: fossil-fuel bingeing; lust for violence; racial
] ] segregation; run-away Republicanism; anti-intellectualism
] ] (how much brain matter is required to go fast and turn
] ] left, ad infinitum?); the corn-pone memes of God and guns
] ] and guts; crass corporatization; Toby Keith anthems; and,
] ] of course, exquisitely bad fashion sense. What's more,
] ] they simply don't get it.
]
] Instapundit asks if you replaced the word "nascar" with the
] word "hiphop" in this article if it would have run in the
] Times. I agree, this is garbage journalism. Its ignorant. What
] the hell does nascar have to do with racial segregation? On
] the other hand, when the "right" gets all ignorant about
] hollywood or hiphop they do things like declaring cultural
] wars and threatening to ban things. No one has ever threatened
] to ban nascar. Instapundit's point seems to lack legs.
]
] Zell Miller (who is clearly a cultural conservative) on the
] Daily Show recently: "I don't think the first amendment
] applies to hiphop..." Thats not just ignorance. Thats an
] ignorant threat.

I agree. This is shit journalism. Personally... I kinda dig Nascar. And none of the stereotypes apply to me, I just like motorsports... although I'd like to see an electric series.

I recall several years ago, in the trenches of the culture wars, a race I attended at Talladega, chasing off a group sitting next to me with repeated yells of, "Michael Waltrip for GAY RIGHTS!" each lap, after they loudly called him a "fucking faggot." God, that was great.

Decius wrote:
] ] For a certain segment of the population, Nascar's raid on
] ] American culture -- its logo festoons everything from
] ] cellphones to honey jars to post office walls to panties;
] ] race coverage, it can seem, has bumped everything else
] ] off television; and, most piercingly, Nascar dads now get
] ] to pick our presidents -- triggers the kind of fearful
] ] trembling the citizens of Gaul felt as the Huns came
] ] thundering over the hills. To these people, stock-car
] ] racing represents all that's unsavory about red-state
] ] America: fossil-fuel bingeing; lust for violence; racial
] ] segregation; run-away Republicanism; anti-intellectualism
] ] (how much brain matter is required to go fast and turn
] ] left, ad infinitum?); the corn-pone memes of God and guns
] ] and guts; crass corporatization; Toby Keith anthems; and,
] ] of course, exquisitely bad fashion sense. What's more,
] ] they simply don't get it.
]
] Instapundit asks if you replaced the word "nascar" with the
] word "hiphop" in this article if it would have run in the
] Times. I agree, this is garbage journalism. What the hell does
] nascar have to do with racial segregation? If you ever
] wondered whether red staters are justified at feeling like
] blue america is really ugly and ignorant, you need look no
] further then this.

I don't think it's garbage jounalism, it's simply a book review. The entire first half of the review talks about how the NASCAR demographic hasn't had any significant books written for it because of stereotypes such as those mentioned. It then goes on to extol the virtues of the books that have finally been written. It seems like perhaps you and Instapundit read the first 20% and stopped.

Scott