I'm Blue, But That Doesn't Mean I Can't See Red

Tchaikovsky Sounds Funny

I have been reading some of the recent emails sent to everyone by several, including elected officials, regarding the NASCAR license plates. It seems there is a feeding frenzy of making fun of these plates. I know a sport where the seeming skill appears to be the ability to turn left is open to ridicule, it really is a difficult sport (I challenge anyone outside of Los Angeles to drive more than 90 miles an hour with cars inches apart from you ahead of you, behind you, and beside you: of course, in L.A., this is a daily experience) and believe it or not, it draws a higher turnout of people than any other sport.

One thing the so-called cultural wars should have made us realize is we shouldn't criticize others. While we proclaim the right to free expression, that freedom shouldn't stop just because someone wishes to state they then wish to proclaim something that is ordinary, average, moral, religious, in support of NASCAR, or whatever. While I used to cringe over the stereotyping of people according to being a racial minority, gay, or (which is popular to make fun of these days) Islamic, what makes it then right to delight over stereotyping someone for being Southern or middle class or poor or a Redneck? Just because we support the right of Howard Stern to say what he does, we don't have to then censure Billy Graham.

At the same time, some of the stereotyping we continue as part of our enlightenment remains questionable. Are the comedic displays of gay people on dramas (I will give a pass to comedies as they are meant to go for the laugh) as people who dress, talk, and walk in exorbitant fashions going to someday be looked upon as disrespectful as we now view portraying African Americans in blackface? I think so. While I realize there are examples of some stereotypes in that such people exist, and they have a right to be portrayed and have an input into society, it is unfair to broadly categorize an entire group of people as represented in a manner where they are only being set up for ridicule.

Someday we will all appreciate everyone for who they are and we will resist the kindergarten temptation to make fun of others. And, someday, a man in a flaming red dress will be the winning driver of a NASCAR race and have his own license plate. And who knows, maybe you'll have that license plate on your car.