In Defense Of Criticism

Criticism is an American thing.  Study the history of the United States for more examples, the American Revolution, for instance.  People like Roger Ebert have made a career out of it, and entire websites like IGN and the AV Club are built on it.  Yet in the racing world, especially Indycar and to an extent NASCAR, criticism is seen as a bad thing.  It’s the all or nothing approach; with Indycar or against it.  There’s no middle ground.  I don’t subscribe to that theory.  Can I be critical?  Yes.  Because things can and should be done better!  I don’t see how pointing that out is wrong.  I certainly don’t see the need for people to tell me that’s wrong to be critical.  If you want to be super happy and positive that’s nice and I’m happy for you if you but don’t tell me how to think, either.

There is a mentality among some fans that a person is either with the series or they’re against it.   Part of the cause seems to be how much criticism those series face from outside.  Indycar is regularly attacked by NASCAR fans, journalists, broadcasters and even some drivers (Carl Edwards, for instance).  Some from the F1 and Sports Car world also enjoy taking shots at Indycar.  NASCAR, in turn, is regularly snarked by open wheel and sports car fans.  NASCAR also is mocked by the stick and ball sports fans and journalists; even on their partner, ESPN.   It’s understandable why that attitude has developed, but the people who hold it are often the ones responsible for mocking the other side.  I’ve seen many open wheel fans who dislike criticism of Indycar regularly  make fun of NASCAR.  If you’re going to criticize people like me for being critical I have a suggestion: don’t then turn around and criticize another racing series.  That applies to NASCAR, too.  There are NASCAR fans and even journalists who act the same way; NASCAR is perfect and all other racing series suck.   If you’re like me, on the other hand, and capable of independent thought, then it’s all fair game.  I’ve managed to blast Indycar’s dreadful schedule and then turn around and mock the Bud Shootout.

There are people who take criticism to the extreme.  Mainly, I draw the line at the difference between being actively rooting for Indycar or NASCAR to fail and being critical because you care.  Sadly, that means the Crapwagon.com people are not being covered in this defense of critical thinking.  Sorry about that.

Things aren’t perfect in any racing series.  Far from it.  Maybe Indycar really does have momentum but to be honest when a series drops from 17 races to 16; and it’s mainly street courses and motorcycle road courses, I’m not sure that’s the definition of momentum.   In NASCAR it’s true ratings were up last year but there’s less and less teams (real, competitive teams) each year.  Besides the ratings were up last year based off 2010; they were still below NASCAR at it’s height.  Pointing those things out doesn’t make someone a hater or make them too negative.  It makes them honest.  If the flaws and problems aren’t pointed then how will they ever get fixed?  Some say that there’s no point in blogging about it; that it won’t cause anything to change.  That’s very likely the case but then again that logic could be used to say why blog or podcast at all?  Since it’s not going to make a difference one way or another why write?  But those of us who write blogs or even post on message boards and twitter are expressing our opinions and views, with the hope that others will read them and somehow be swayed by them.  While most of the time it may not change anything sometimes getting enough fans to agree on an issue can affect change.  It’s about the best we can do.

It’s become popular among Indycar fans and bloggers to bash critics.  It makes people feel more confident about Indycar’s direction, apparently.  While I understand that many in NASCAR and Indycar are upset with the relentless criticism and mocking those sports get from outside of their sport, attacking all criticism doesn’t really help.  Without criticism how will the the people on the inside of the racing world ever know something’s wrong?  Indycar is planning to race in China; apparently the police state mentality has migrated over too.