• cmbabul@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    2 months ago

    I know it seems silly, but Dale Earnhardt is someone you do not speak ill of in the southeastern United States if you value your safety.

    ‘Number 3’ has a particularly high level of reverence amongst folks from the south of all opinions and philosophies, the others are by far more historically relevant but “Raise Hell Praise Dale!” is a rallying cry for proud people of the south and has been since he started racing. He was also pretty based politically: working class champion, ripped down a confederate flag he had flown immediately after it was explained to him what it meant to black Americans versus what he had been taught at a time in which most didn’t bat an eye at that sort of thing. The only person on the list that will elicit a more emphatic reaction from a person from that part of the country is Dolly Parton.

      • cmbabul@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 months ago

        You for sure have, he probably wasn’t a straight up communist or anticapitalist but for a southern NASCAR driver he was about as woke as anyone during that time.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 months ago

      ripped down a confederate flag he had flown immediately after it was explained to him what it meant to black Americans versus what he had been taught at a time in which most didn’t bat an eye at that sort of thing.

      I knew he was a friend of the working class, but goddamn, that’s based