Where Do I Begin With This?!?!?

When I tuned into the Nascar channel on my XM last night on my ride home from work there was some kind of hub-bub swirling around but because I missed the first five minutes of the show I wasn't sure what they were talking about. When I got home I made a quick visit to Nascar.com and I soon figured it out. It seems the people at Dateline NBC want to investigate/exploit the alleged increase in anti-Muslim feelings in America by planting either Muslims or people who look like Muslims in the crowds at events across the country to see if their hidden cameras or microphones pick up any racial incidents or discrimination.

This past weekend (4/1/06) they "inflitrated" the NASCAR races at the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia in hopes of baiting fans into making insensitive remarks to the Muslim/Arab people they planted at the track. Much to NBC's chargrin, I'm sure, no one bothered them. When confronted by NASCAR, NBC indicated they are planning to do it again at other venues, undoubtedly to try and get the type of response they thought they'd get at the Nascar races. NBC's actions force us to infer that they think Nascar fans are stupid, racist, bigots who'd fall for their tricks. That's interesting, since we're the same stupid, racist, bigots they've spent $1.2 billion dollars courting over the last six years.

The director of public relations for Martinsville Speedway, Mike Smith, was quoted as saying:

"If there is an upside, it shows that the image so many people have of NASCAR fans is a false one, and it shows that not only at Martinsville Speedway, but at NASCAR tracks in general, it shows what type of security we have in place that can discover something like this, observe it and make sure nothing happens. As disappointed as we are, we feel pretty good about the end result." - excerpted from an article by B. Duane Cross, NASCAR.com

I am proud that things turned out the way they did during Dateline's Martinsville "experiment". As a fan of NASCAR for many years I can deal with people thinking we're a bunch of rowdy drunks but that doesn't mean we're racist or bigots. NASCAR is a big family with deep pockets and wide ranging influence. If you want to tell Dateline what you think of their tacky, shameful tactics you can email them at Dateline@NBC.com