dale earnhardt as god
i just got back from a weekend vacation with my girlfriend to gatlinburg tennessee. it was fun. if you’ve never been there and are thinking about visiting, i’ll let you in on some things i’ve learned. let this be a warning, this post may start out being somewhat entertaining but takes a deep dark turn for the cerebral. turn back now. okay now the things i learned over the weekend:
the mustache is extremely popular. i counted in a room once–about 9 our of 10 dudes. no joke. i included myself.
even the salads and potatoes have meat in them or on them or carefully surrounding them. getting bacon bits on a milkshake would not have been too surprising.
there are two radio stations, christian and country.
there are bears!
real, live ones out in the woods of the smokies. i know that’s obvious but you don’t realize it fully until you see it. i saw a small black bear with my own eyes, scurrying up a mountain from a stream. i was riding a horse. this is a true story. it was not scary though. exciting maybe. when i am outside and i see a special animal or insect i often feel privileged that nature or fate or god has chosen me to experience the creature in that way at that time. i don’t get that feeling very often but i do in nature, a sense of wonder and satisfaction, sometimes from the simplest of things. if there is a god it lives in the woods and in the sea.
the smoky mountains are truly beautiful and awe-inspiring. i swear i didn’t scan these from a nature calendar.
another highlight was the aquarium. there were very kind stingrays that you could pet. they are the nicest creatures! they were curious about me like cats are.
also in the aquarium they had this huge (unexpected) mars exhibit, where i read as much as i could about the water on mars. this has always been interesting to me, and i’ve been hearing more and more about it. i was reminded that the boiling and freezing temperature of water on earth is different than that on other planets. i don’t know the specifics but it’s something about the pressure. the atmosphere on mars is much thinner, so water cannot become liquid. it changes tragically right from ice to vapor. however, in the future if we need another planet to slowly destroy, we could release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the martian atmosphere. this would heat up the planet enough to provide the right kind of atmosphere to make lakes and rivers possible. at the aquarium was the first time i have heard of scientists suggesting this. while it appeals to my sense of science fiction curiosity it kind of begs the questions, “why don’t we fix the planet we already live on?” although i suppose this is the same kind of capitalist spirit that drives us to purchase new cars and new toasters and sunglasses when our old ones no longer gleam. especially in the case of the VCR, it’s easier just to buy a new one.
i also learned that dale earnhardt, the late race car driver, is on the fast track to diety status. no pun intended. i like to read about buddha and his quick transformation from man into a god-figure by the indus valley people. remarkably, preserved in his teachings are specific warnings against this, things like “work out your own salvation”. because of this i think buddha is the best example of the unstoppable temptation to elevate celebrities and leaders to saintlike or godlike status. happens everyday. it’s through studying buddhism that i started thinking objectively about dale earnhardt.
in contrast to ancient civilizations like the romans who diefied (often by force) their political and religious leaders, today’s recently deceased saints include secular, nonpolitical, nonreligious, nonphilosophical figures from pop culture, people like kurt kobain, tupac, and dale earnhardt. it is no stretch to say dale earnhardt sacrificed his life so that others may have…entertainment. self-sacrifice, i think, is a big step toward divinity. in our culture entertainment is one of the most valuable commodities. also on the shortlist are money, celebrity, worldly success, and machismo. so it is no wonder that a guy like dale earnhardt who had tons of money, was very famous, had an excellent record of winning and success, and who lived fast and dangerously to entertain others has been so quickly deified–he embodies a lot of american ideals. where i’m from in Trenton ohio, i see a whole lot more winged number 3 window stickers than presidential campaign stickers. and i’ve seen little to no decrease in the amount of these stickers since his untimely death in 2001. if anything, they’re getting bigger and more prominent, often occupying the entire surface of a rear view window or side door. it is not uncommon to see an enormous winged 3 on the back of a vehicle filled with a family of people wearing hats and jackets with winged 3’s on them. the wings are of course to suggest his angelic life after death. it is my prediction then, that the outright worship of dale earnhardt as a god could be in the not so distant future, if only in isolated pockets of america like trenton and gatlinburg tennessee. there may be forces at work which could prevent him from becoming a full scale god, such as the fickle nature of pop culture, but it’s important to remember that sports fans are extremely faithful. and dale earnhardt is probably as close of a model of american ideals as buddha was of the hindu ideals in india in 500BC. in india it only took a few hundred years, if that, before buddha began showing up in art with indra and vishnu and other existing gods. dale earnhardt depicted next to jesus? if it sounds preposterous to you, you’ve never been to gatlinburg. it’s not only a very real possibility–it’s happening already. now i’m not saying this is good or bad and i’m sure he was a great guy, but it is a reflection of the type of things we value as a culture.
anyway those were my thoughts in gatlinburg. with the exception of the weekend, since going back to school i have been nonstop. come to think of it even the vacation was pretty nonstop activity. and now it really is an indulgence even to write a blog, as i always have so much to do between music, reading and studying for school, and work. but i like writing them. they are fun to write, clear my mind and organize my thoughts and always elicit a few fun or interesting responses from you.
the next five weekends we are traveling doing shows, cleveland, columbus, cincy, atlanta, LA, etc. that’s insane. i am considering taking november off completely from shows. that could give me at least one weekend to truly relax or at least catch up. that’s a ways off though. for now, we are looking forward to this weekend in cleveland!
thanks and love always, joe
