Culture War on Wheels
Aaron Naparstek takes note of the curious phenomenon of right-wing websites juxtaposing an image of Barack Obama on a bicycle with Sarah Palin on a motorcycle with the headline “THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW”.
It’s a pretty good illustration, I think, of the fact that it’s a bit of a fallacy to think of cultural issues as something entirely separate from economic ones. Lifestyle issues about what kind of community you would prefer to live in or what kind of leisure activities you enjoy are, in some ways, inextricably bound up with substantive policy issues about regulations and what money gets spent where. Conversely, something I might like to think of as a basically technical issue — does it make sense to have a lot of tax, spending, and regulatory policies that encourage land and energy to be used inefficiently — has some culture war implications as such policies are, among other things, a covert way of subsidizing people with an unusually large number of children.
55 Responses to “Culture War on Wheels”
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September 17th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
“THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW”.
I thought Wittgenstein was out of fashion.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Hmmm, a Democrat who knows how to ride a bike, compared to a Republican who only knows how to pose by one. It really is all we need to know…
September 17th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Thus, bicycles are gay & elitist, and motorcycles are macho and common-folk, right?
September 17th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Wait a second — so riding a bicycle is elitist? Liberal? UnAmerican?
What the hell is their point, exactly? Seriously. WTF?
**shakes head**
I guess the right has finally just accepted the fact it has nothing to offer, so this is what it’s come down to.
It’s sad, really …
September 17th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I agree. Children are the bane of any civilized society. Hiding the porn gets tiresome. As does carding Lolita.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Man, that link increased the total stupid on the internet by about 14%. The current president, who they have supported for years, is famous for his fierce devotion to two things: mind-blistering incompetence and mountain-bike riding. He goes for a bike ride seemingly on every foreign trip he takes (and frequently ends up scratched, abraded and bruised). And I seem to remember John Kerry, who these same lunatics derided as a total French wuss, cruising around on a Harley.
I’ve been supporting Obama up until now, but I will switch my vote if McCain promises to expand NIH’s budget to study the shocking explosion of amnesia among American conservatives. It really is reaching epic proportions.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Read the comments on the freeper site. These are people whose greatest fear in life is being called “gay.”
No wonder the Republicans think they’re disposable.
.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
“These are people whose greatest fear in life is being called “gay.””
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, for a great many their greatest fear is being EXPOSED as gay.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
David Frum had an uncharacteristically sensible take on this last week:
September 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
OK, here’s actual video proof that, even with the economy collapsing, fake gay is still funny.
.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
You’re talking about Republican politicians. I was talking about their voters.
.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Interesting. I guess David Frum’s inner Canadian isn’t quite dead yet.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Don’t know if a family of 5 is “unusually large”, but to me the subsidies you’re referring to are more like brass handcuffs: we’re living in the suburbs for all the usual reasons (schools, safety, better recreational options for the kids). None of those reasons have anything to do with wanting to live in the suburbs per se – e.g. loving to drive, wanting a big lawn, etc. They’re simply things that are important to us because we have kids, and that current societal arrangements don’t allow us to have (at all, or at least at any kind of affordable cost) in a central city. (I live in the Baltimore-DC area, so i suppose i could be overgeneralizing based on those cities, but i suspect it’s true in most of our major metro areas.) Rework our societal arrangements so that those family-friendly features are available or less prohibitively expensive in a high-density city neighborhood, and we’ll be there in a heartbeat.
So i for one am not concerned at all with protecting my suburban-bound lifestyle, and would welcome policy changes that make it possible / affordable to live in a city with young kids.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
You are being waaayyyy too high minded on this one. The direct right wing translation of the “all you need to know” image is this: “Obama is a fag”
September 17th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
a couple things.
i’m an independent…i own a motorcycle and seven bicycles.
obama needs air in his tires… a trek not a schwinn.
i’ll bet you anything it ain’t her bike.
mccain voted against regulations requiring the secret service to buy american made motorcycles…what’s he got against harley’s?
September 17th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
No, for a great many their greatest fear is being EXPOSED as gay.
And for those of us who really are gay, our greatest fear is that some of those drooling troglodytes might actually BE gay.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
We live in a hilarious country where the bicycle is an elitist vehicle and the motorcycle is for the working man.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
All — you’re missing a key fact. Please note the strange device coming off the back of Barack’s seat post — that’s the front end of a “tag-along” bike, also a Trek (we use the same one nearly every day). No doubt he had a daughter riding behind him (though maybe he had dropped her off before this picture was taken).
So the complete picture should be Barack the family guy, teaching his kids that riding a bike is fun and smart. What a dweeb, eh?
Motorcycles are great. I’ve owned several. Bicycles are better, especially for kids, and especially in the context of an overfed, underexercised and oil-addicted America.
[Just like a winger to recognize a Harley but mistake a Trek for a Schwinn. Pinheads on panheads. They'd pop a gasket if you called their Chevy a Ford, of course.]
September 17th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Well, she definitely didn’t arrive on that Harley, nor will she be leaving on it, right? Not dressed like that.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Maybe somebody needs to remind these nuts, that their patron saint, the President, expends a non-trivial percentage of the federal budget on Secret Service detail to follow him while he rides a bicycle.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Who gives a crap if he rides a bike; good for him.
The Secret Service has been keeping up with Presidents and Candidates for ever.
Ride it like you stole it
September 17th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Does she come with the motorcycle?
September 17th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Obama’s bike says Trek, clearly indicating to these detectives that it’s a Schwinn, that Saddam was behind 9/11, and that the earth is 4,000 years old.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
This is part of a theme. At various times, Obama has been accused of being out of touch because:
* He vacationed in Hawaii (his home state).
* He order orange juice in a diner instead of coffee.
* He raised the issue of arugula prices.
* Although he has basketball skills, he’s not very good at bowling.
* He was asked about not being a big beer drinker.
One can also include charges that Obama supporters are “latte liberals” and “wine-track voters.”
The fact is, these critics will see whatever they want. McCain is clearly far wealthier than most Americans, but Obama is the elitist. Palin shoots wolves from helicopters and enjoys moose burgers, but Obama is the exotic one. New Yorker Rudy Giuliani, who has photographed cross-dressing for entertainment purposes and who moved in with his gay friends temporarily, lectured Obama on his cosmopolitanism.
Facts mean nothing here. Bush bikes for seven years, but he’s a regular guy. Obama has a photo on a bike, that means he is not.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Re Whitey
We live in a hilarious country where the bicycle is an elitist vehicle and the motorcycle is for the working man.
Well some bicycles are elitist. Senator Kerrys’ Serotta Ottrot (which currently runs about $10,000 if Campagnolo record equipped) for instance.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
September 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
September 17th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
About the cost of a new Harley, you mean?
September 17th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Obama looks like a dweeb on his bike. That’s the problem bikes are for kids and motorcycles are for fat ugly grownups.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Sarah Palin on a motorcycle may only further cement McCain’s reputation as a old man’s candidate because nowadays only people over 50 seem to be riding Harleys.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
That’s the problem bikes are for kids and motorcycles are for fat ugly grownups.
Right, because nothing says “responsible adult” like driving a chopped Harley.
September 17th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
The funny thing about the Obama picture is the extension on the end of the bike: everyone has missed this. The extension is there to ride around with a young person in tow, presumably his daughter.
So Obama is being ridiculed for biking around town with his daughter, which is something an idyllic American family would do in their down time.
Who, again, represents family values in this election?
September 17th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Did anyone point out that Obama is actually riding the bike in the picture, while Palin is merely posing.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Which GOPper in Congress was it who held up a picture of a SMART car in 2004 and said that John Kerry wanted to put Americans in cars like that — the unstated implication being that he wanted to take away their penises?
At over $4/gal now, that looks a bit stupid.
(And Kerry, of course, rides hogs, while Bush rides mountain bikes. But Bush also drives his pickup on his fake ranch, while Kerry, oh noes, went windsurfing.)
September 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
The direct right wing translation of the “all you need to know” image is this: “Obama is a fag”
Thus, in wingnut world, ‘total fag‘. Except not. Curious.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Re: Thus, bicycles are gay & elitist
I’ve lived some places (e.g., Florida) where bikes are for trailer trash: generally, people riding bikes are either too poor to afford a car or else they are hardcore boozehounds who have lost their licenses forever.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I think “Hockey Mom” strikes most people as elitist, as it is a club sport. For 90% of the country, only rich kids can afford all the gear and afford the time and money of all the travel.
In Casper, WY, saying you were a “Hockey Mom” was the same as saying you were married to a doctor or oilman.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
It is a little like that. Conversations of stockbrokers after a day of hard work:
Day 1: We are ruined! Let’s have a drink.
Day 2: The market is back up, we are saved! Let’s have a drink.
Whatever the premise, the conclusion remains the same. Even so, for some reason a “reason” is given. But in actuality, they could circulate: THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW — without any preamble, links etc. The receipients would know not to vote for Obama.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I think you’re wrong about this. I’m sure if there was a president right now, I’d hear about him. Surely, if there were a president he’d be offering us words of reassurance about the current financial crisis. I’m pretty sure Bill Clinton irresponsibly walked out on the job and left the white house vacant for the last eight years.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Such a typical “Hardly Ableson” picture… A redneck posing next to a bike that looks like it gets ridden maybe 50 miles a year.
You like in Alaska, dummy, at least get yourself a nice dual-sport!
September 18th, 2008 at 11:13 am
So…
Obama looks for opportunities to exercise and takes his own safety seriously, while Palin sits on her ass, wastes gas, and scoffs at head injury?
Okay then!
December 8th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
If you’re looking for omens this weekend, try this one: The Ravens’ first road victory since the franchise moved to Baltimore came in Giants Stadium on Sept.14, 1997. Not even the ghost of Jimmy Hoffa could ruin this one for the
December 16th, 2008 at 2:36 am
RICHMOND – Pedalers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains. Trek Bicycle Corp. is part of a movement to bury the finger-pinching, pants-munching, rust-prone sprocket and chain and usher in an era of
December 16th, 2008 at 2:37 am
RICHMOND – Pedalers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains. Trek Bicycle Corp. is part of a movement to bury the finger-pinching, pants-munching, rust-prone sprocket and chain and usher in an era of
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