On my way home tonight, I was listening to my iPod in the car and the song “Tearing Us Apart” by the Plain White Ts came on, it was so ironic because the meaning of those lyrics fit what has been weighting on my mind to a T.
I’m a new fan of NASCAR and a fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr. I know, the most popular guy, the fan favorite even though he hasn’t won a Sprint Cup race in years. I’m not a fan of Dale Jr because of who is father was, because it’s the “easy thing” to do or because he’s attractive. I’m a fan of his because of who he comes across off as being and for the fact that I admire him for how he deals with the baggage of living under the shadow of his father’s legacy. He doesn’t have to race cars but it’s obvious that he loves all the aspects of it.
Dale Jr comes across to me just like a lot of the boys I grew up with in rural Illinois, the boys that teased me, fought with and for me and inspired me. They were strong, often silent about their emotions, thoughts and fears, but they were the boys you wanted with you in a fight of any kind. They worked hard and played harder and loved the hardest. What also impresses me about Dale Jr is the fact that he does so much for charities, especially his work with the Make a Wish foundation. He gives so much of himself and his money to children in need and that is something that I can put my support behind.
I also believe that he has talent on the race track, I don’t believe that he would have gotten this far without talent, drive and determination, with or without his father’s help. I also don’t think that he is his father or a replacement for his father. It’s obvious by their driving styles that they are not similar really in any way, except maybe on restricter place racing. Dale Sr was a force of nature. Dale Jr is the silent type that you may forget is in the room until he wants you to. But I digress from the point I wanted to make with this blog.
I don’t understand why people in general can’t accept the fact that they are not the same man nor why they delight in saying the most absurd and offensive things they can about him or honestly anyone else. I love the Internet, Twitter, blogging, all of those aspect of social media have made the information that is important to me almost instantaneously accessible. I also enjoy how one can create strong and healthy friendships with people that you probably would have never been able to meet otherwise. Hell, I met two of my best friends on a message board years ago. I absolutely adore that and am very thankful for it. But what I hate about it is the fact that some people use it as way to say things that they would never have the balls to say to someone's face.
On Sunday, Dale Jr won the Daytona 500 pole and Jr Nation was happy and excited, myself included, and almost immediately some people started throwing out conspiracy theories. For the most part it was just articles talking about how it would be a "storybook ending" ifnDale Jr won the Daytona 500 this year since its the 10 year anniversary of his father's untimely and horrible death at the same track and the same race but then Tony Kornheiser on ESPN got wind of it and most of us know what happened next. Now some NASCAR fans are pissed, Jr Nation is pissed and NASCAR journalists are talking about it and trying to reassure fans that its not possible to rig winning the pole or winning races. There are just too many variables to consider. (Which I agree with, it would be close to impossible to rig a race.) But those fans, who I believe share the same need to start shit and cause ridiculous controversy, have taken it and are running with it. And then during practice on Weds Dale Jr gets into a wreck and totals his pole winning car and has to go to his backup car. That means that he loses his starting position for the 500 and the duels and has to start in the rear of the field. It's a rule all NASCAR fans know and it always sucks when its your driver. But what sucks even more about it, this time, its the addition of the duels so no matter how well he does on Thursday he still starts the 500 in the back.
I, like most of Jr Nation, was upset when I heard the new and even though I know better I started reading the comments on some of the articles on the different websites that I go to for my NASCAR news. And once again I was shocked at the things that people feel they have a right to say under the mantel of anonymity. I read through over 200 comments and was ashamed to think that this is what our society has started to become.
What should be a medium that allows us to express ourselves and find people with similar interests and outlooks has digressed into something that has allowed us to believe that we have a right to say what are often the foulest and cruelest things on our mind while safely behind a computer screen and anonymity. People think that because no one really knows who we are we can say all the cruel and nasty things that our little brain comes up with and people just have to accept it because it’s their right to freedom of speech. But the question remains, if you were alone or in a small group of people and facing the person you were writing these things about, would you still be able to say them? Or would you hold back from saying those things, the words that you feel so free to use online?
Has this ability to say our deepest thoughts while hiding behind a computer screen, almost instantly, slowly turned us into a people that no longer have any common curtosy, no regard for another humans feelings? And do we no longer take responsibility for our actions or the result of them? Are our children who are growing up in this culture that we are creating going to forget what it means to be polite, to respect anyone? As a mother, let me tell you that scares the hell out of me. I don’t want my son to become that kind of man and I don’t believe that I am alone in this fear, this worry.
I know that some of you may find my thoughts hypocritical considering that I use a handle for this blog, for my twitter and most everything else I do online. I can understand that. But I do honestly enjoy the anonymity that I can have online as well, I just don’t believe that it gives me the right to be cruel, nasty and inflammatory. I believe it gives me the right to be me without having to give up my privacy except to those that I trust.
This blog really isn’t about why I’m a Dale Jr fan, it’s about how as a Dale Jr fan I’ve come to see a side of our society that frightens me and makes me fear for my son’s future. I don’t want him to grow up in a world that lacks common curtosy, manners or simple politeness. But I’m at a loss at how to keep him from it or to stop it when it is more and more apparent that he is going to be surrounded by it.
I’m a new fan of NASCAR and a fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr. I know, the most popular guy, the fan favorite even though he hasn’t won a Sprint Cup race in years. I’m not a fan of Dale Jr because of who is father was, because it’s the “easy thing” to do or because he’s attractive. I’m a fan of his because of who he comes across off as being and for the fact that I admire him for how he deals with the baggage of living under the shadow of his father’s legacy. He doesn’t have to race cars but it’s obvious that he loves all the aspects of it.
Dale Jr comes across to me just like a lot of the boys I grew up with in rural Illinois, the boys that teased me, fought with and for me and inspired me. They were strong, often silent about their emotions, thoughts and fears, but they were the boys you wanted with you in a fight of any kind. They worked hard and played harder and loved the hardest. What also impresses me about Dale Jr is the fact that he does so much for charities, especially his work with the Make a Wish foundation. He gives so much of himself and his money to children in need and that is something that I can put my support behind.
I also believe that he has talent on the race track, I don’t believe that he would have gotten this far without talent, drive and determination, with or without his father’s help. I also don’t think that he is his father or a replacement for his father. It’s obvious by their driving styles that they are not similar really in any way, except maybe on restricter place racing. Dale Sr was a force of nature. Dale Jr is the silent type that you may forget is in the room until he wants you to. But I digress from the point I wanted to make with this blog.
I don’t understand why people in general can’t accept the fact that they are not the same man nor why they delight in saying the most absurd and offensive things they can about him or honestly anyone else. I love the Internet, Twitter, blogging, all of those aspect of social media have made the information that is important to me almost instantaneously accessible. I also enjoy how one can create strong and healthy friendships with people that you probably would have never been able to meet otherwise. Hell, I met two of my best friends on a message board years ago. I absolutely adore that and am very thankful for it. But what I hate about it is the fact that some people use it as way to say things that they would never have the balls to say to someone's face.
On Sunday, Dale Jr won the Daytona 500 pole and Jr Nation was happy and excited, myself included, and almost immediately some people started throwing out conspiracy theories. For the most part it was just articles talking about how it would be a "storybook ending" ifnDale Jr won the Daytona 500 this year since its the 10 year anniversary of his father's untimely and horrible death at the same track and the same race but then Tony Kornheiser on ESPN got wind of it and most of us know what happened next. Now some NASCAR fans are pissed, Jr Nation is pissed and NASCAR journalists are talking about it and trying to reassure fans that its not possible to rig winning the pole or winning races. There are just too many variables to consider. (Which I agree with, it would be close to impossible to rig a race.) But those fans, who I believe share the same need to start shit and cause ridiculous controversy, have taken it and are running with it. And then during practice on Weds Dale Jr gets into a wreck and totals his pole winning car and has to go to his backup car. That means that he loses his starting position for the 500 and the duels and has to start in the rear of the field. It's a rule all NASCAR fans know and it always sucks when its your driver. But what sucks even more about it, this time, its the addition of the duels so no matter how well he does on Thursday he still starts the 500 in the back.
I, like most of Jr Nation, was upset when I heard the new and even though I know better I started reading the comments on some of the articles on the different websites that I go to for my NASCAR news. And once again I was shocked at the things that people feel they have a right to say under the mantel of anonymity. I read through over 200 comments and was ashamed to think that this is what our society has started to become.
What should be a medium that allows us to express ourselves and find people with similar interests and outlooks has digressed into something that has allowed us to believe that we have a right to say what are often the foulest and cruelest things on our mind while safely behind a computer screen and anonymity. People think that because no one really knows who we are we can say all the cruel and nasty things that our little brain comes up with and people just have to accept it because it’s their right to freedom of speech. But the question remains, if you were alone or in a small group of people and facing the person you were writing these things about, would you still be able to say them? Or would you hold back from saying those things, the words that you feel so free to use online?
Has this ability to say our deepest thoughts while hiding behind a computer screen, almost instantly, slowly turned us into a people that no longer have any common curtosy, no regard for another humans feelings? And do we no longer take responsibility for our actions or the result of them? Are our children who are growing up in this culture that we are creating going to forget what it means to be polite, to respect anyone? As a mother, let me tell you that scares the hell out of me. I don’t want my son to become that kind of man and I don’t believe that I am alone in this fear, this worry.
I know that some of you may find my thoughts hypocritical considering that I use a handle for this blog, for my twitter and most everything else I do online. I can understand that. But I do honestly enjoy the anonymity that I can have online as well, I just don’t believe that it gives me the right to be cruel, nasty and inflammatory. I believe it gives me the right to be me without having to give up my privacy except to those that I trust.
This blog really isn’t about why I’m a Dale Jr fan, it’s about how as a Dale Jr fan I’ve come to see a side of our society that frightens me and makes me fear for my son’s future. I don’t want him to grow up in a world that lacks common curtosy, manners or simple politeness. But I’m at a loss at how to keep him from it or to stop it when it is more and more apparent that he is going to be surrounded by it.
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