No General Lee
From a sport that started with a bunch of bootleggers, the good ol' boys are now faced with a ban by NASCAR that won't let the General Lee, the car from "The Dukes of Hazard," appear. The reason: the image of the Confederate flag. What an insult.
With the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the burning of the American flag, citing it as "free speech," and the exercise of religion being curtailed in many places today, am I missing something in this picture?
Is censorship moving into a dangerous area?
What is NASCAR going to do as the Sprint Cup goes to Darlington, S.C.? There is always an abundance of Confederate flags at this track.
Thanks to Cal Thomas ("Is censorship the new pluralism?," Feb. 27) for drawing attention to this story.
As free speech is more and more curtailed, maybe when a male child is born, instead of circumcising him, we might want to cut his tongue out.
REID JOYCE
Winston-Salem
A simple thought
According to a growing body of psychology research, psychologists have determined that dumb people are too dumb to realize that they are dumb.
Perhaps this explains folks insisting they will continue to invoke their deity of choice in government meetings in spite of a Supreme Court ruling to the contrary ("Rowan board plans to flout prayer ruling," Feb. 22).
I think we all understand the righteous insistence on having it one's own way, but what these people fail to understand, apparently through no fault of their own, is this: The laws that would prevent them from invoking their preferred deity at a government meeting are the same laws that protect their preference of deity from being dictated, or outlawed, by the government.
I won't go into the whole slippery-slope concept for obvious reasons, but here's a simple thought: Be careful what you wish for.
MICHAEL MITCHELL
Winston-Salem
Sum It Up
Are you satisfied with the crop of North Carolina candidates who filed by the Feb. 29 deadline? Respond to letters@wsjournal.com and put "Sum It Up" in the subject header. Only signed entries, please, no anonymous ones. Briefer responses receive preference in print.
Interesting pairing of letters today...
ReplyDeleteLTE #1 - A perfect example of a Gingrich supporter...remember, Newt is a dumb person's idea of a smart person.
Dumb people just don't get what comprises censorship. If the US government, or the free nation of South Carolina or the City of Darlington banned the General Lee, that would be illegal censorship. (Believe me, in the case of the City of Darlington that would never happen...Boston is a pretty racist city, but they can't touch Darlington)
On the other hand, a private business, such as NASCAR, may do pretty much as they want...and believe me, poor ole NASCAR is doing everything they can to erase their southern redneck image as tracks outside the South become crucial to their future success.
LTE #2 - As any good Southern Baptist will tell you, god works in mysterious ways, his wonders to behold. He seems to have a strange affinity for making dumb people...and those same dumb people seem to have an affinity for the office of county commissioner (see Forsyth County, NC).
Lte1...new pluralism? Political correctness is the new censorship. Use it to take over the culture, legislatures, law schools, churches, on and on. PC keeps certain people from having to hear things they don't want to deal with and debate. Kind of the last resort of a lazy coward. This censorship will reach the boiling point one day and it will end rather mercilessly I imagine.
ReplyDeleteCarry me back to Old Virginny...
DeleteWhen I was a kid, most white people used the "N" word every day and black people were not allowed to sit and eat at lunch counters and were unwelcome at many retail businesses, including gas stations, for chrissake!
That all changed, not with the 1960s' Civil Rights Acts nor any other legislation nor so-called "political correctness". It changed when the smarter business people realized that racism hurt their bottom line. You don't invite black people into your lunchroom or your upscale restaurant or your Buena Vista clothing shop and continue to use the "N" word, at least not in public.
That had nothing to do with political correctness...it had to do with business common sense, just as NASCAR's decision does.
You want to watch a business executive sweat bullets, go to the one remaining race at Darlington. There you will see thousands of Confederate flags being waved by the redneck remnant.
NASCAR finds itself in a dilemma. They could ban the flags, thus offending the still substantial remnant. Or they can do what they do and allow them, at the risk of offending far more potential customers.
One of their solutions has been to cut the number of races at Darlington to just one, and move it from the prominent Labor Day slot to a less visible one and also to do less promotion for that one race, thus hiding that particular light under a bushel as well as they can.
There may come a day when both Darlington and Talladega disappear from the NASCAR schedule. That will not be censorship, nor will it have anything to do with political correctness. It will be filed in the correct place, under "business sense".
I remember that too. Can't say I pay much attention to NASCAR, but I do pay attention to PC. NASCAR does not infiltrate every facet of American life- outside of some trailer parks- but PC does.
DeleteI'm no fan of PC, but most of what people say is PC isn't PC...it's simply good business or political sense.
DeleteAnd the terms "trailer park" and "NASCAR" no longer fit like a glove. The growing number of tracks outside the South draw a pretty sophisticated brand of racing fan, and a lot of very attractive women, I might add.
In May of 1953, the Danville (VA) Fairgrounds race track was having attendance problems, so they decided to try a new attraction. They asked the local police who the best black driver in town was. The answer was Wendell Scott, who, like Junior Johnson, was a smart, savvy bootleg runner.
Scott entered his bootleg car at Danville that month. The next week he was banned from a track for the first time...Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem. The next week he won his first race, somewhere in Virginia.
The first major track to ban him was, you guessed it, Darlington. But with the encouragement of Bill France, he soldiered on and had a long career in NASCAR. Now there is a push to put him in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
NASCAR would give a lot to have a black driver today, but good black drivers at any level of racing are rare and the old "trailer park" stigma is still too strong.
"I'm no fan of PC, but most of what people say is PC isn't PC...it's simply good business or political sense."
DeleteI'm no fan of pc but I'm big on respect, esp. of other's sensibilities. The use of the Confederate Flag, for instance, (esp. in the South) would mean something totally benign to the user but would heighten the sensibilities of the person who notices it in passing. What would keep me from displaying the flag would depend on many factors, mostly if I'm flag on my personal property.
LaSambra. I know what you mean about that flag. Would you believe the largest Confederate flag I have ever seen was flying over a truck stop/restaurant in central California about an hour north of Simi Valley? Never had seen one that size
DeleteIgnorant liberals don't know that the south's history includes more than just slavery.
DeleteWhat keeps me from putting a Confederate flag up is because I know some intolerant, bigoted liberal might come by and shoot a gun through my window.
Respect includes refraining from name-calling.
DeleteIf you are accurately describing people, then it's not name calling.
DeleteLaSombra, we all have the right to fly a Confederate flag on our own property. Would you fly one over your business? Not likely, unless you were running a biker or country/western bar or a gun shop. You probably wouldn't be in business very long, otherwise.
DeleteWould you fly one over your house? That would certainly have an affect on who did and did not feel welcome at your house.
There are proper places for Confederate flags...museums and battlefields and Confederate memorials...all of which are necessary and proper places.
But people have to understand that the flag stands for the Confederate States of America, a monumental mistake whose founding principle was slavery and nothing else. Waving it in people's faces is rude as well as stupid.
Unfortunately, most people cannot tell the difference between that and our own local memorial, which was dedicated to the memory of the soldiers who died for their country, not the country that they died for. It is fitting and proper that such a monument exist, just as it is for soldiers who died in all US wars, even the stupid ones of recent times. In no case were the soldiers responsible for the stupidity of their leaders.
O.T: To display ANYTHING that one SUSPECTS to be inflamatory would disregard ANYONE'S sensibilities. To answer to your question: Yes, I would CONSIDER flying the Confederate flag over my business. I would also consider the sensibilities of my patrons and that my patrons would also consider MY OWN rights ON MY OWN PROPERTY. I would also fly one over my house, considering MY OWN sensibilities. I AM from Texas; Texas is in the South, although it's not THE South.
DeleteTo answer YOUR question you posed to ME is somewhat pretentious, don't you think?
O.T., re-reading your post leads me to add that the Confederate flag means SO MUCH to SO MANY people; it means only what one WANTS it to mean. It takes ONE WELL PUBLICIZED sensation to have a discussion about it and when the discussion is over the sensation is over. I am proud to be a Southerner and I am keenly aware of all the symbolism associated with it. The "proper" place for ANY iconic symbol is where ONE WANTS IT TO BE. The key is to be aware of where one comes from in order to know where one is in this diverse country.
DeleteReid, you've got 'free' speech as long as you say what liberals want you to say. Haven't you figured that out yet?
ReplyDeleteWe're seeing it all over America. Even though some of the brightest minds believe there is a God or higher power of some form, that hasn't stopped liberals from ridiculing them and calling them dumb.
CNN has an article on their website today about NASCAR conducting 'church' after the pre-race meetings on Sundays. A clear insinuation that the dumb, southern boys still believe in God. Can you believe it? How stupid!
Even though God or a higher power to some people played a vital role in constructing this great country we call the United States, that hasn't stopped liberals from their intolerant quest to curtail religious freedoms. After all, they know everything, remember?
So, you can say whatever you want. But liberals will try to make you 'pay' for it if they don't approve. It's a new day for 'free' speech in America.
Lte2...democracy rarely finds the very best to do the business of self governing. It does however keep those of the lowest intelligence from the responsibility of governing....except for a fluke now and then. If I was this writer, I would not invoke "the laws". Lately it seems to be fashionable to break and even ignore inconvenient laws. More will come I'll bet.
ReplyDeleteAm I satisfied with the crop of candidates? If I'm not, do I get to hook up my tiller to my tractor and replant?
ReplyDeleteThat is always an option...but beware the "grass is always greener" fallacy.
DeleteRush Limbaugh said that if Obama won the Presidency, he would move to Costa Rica. Maybe that wasn't just another of his lies. Maybe he took a second look at the color of the grass down there and found it wasn't as green as he had thought.
Well I guess grass could always end up being replaced by kudzu?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt costs $46,000 a year to attend Georgetown Law School, yet Sandra Fluke can't seem to budget enough money for her contraception?
ReplyDeleteShe'll be forever known as the person that made a fool out herself before she became a lawyer.
DeleteShe'll probably go on to make a bigger fool out of herself as a lawyer. Most do.