Rodeo and Racing

The Virtue of Risk

A few weekends ago I was watching Professional Bull Riding (PBR) with my oldest son and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. Sure, there were cowboys, bulls, and rodeo clowns. It had all the elements of rodeo and yet it lacked something. It had no soul. The raw and rugged nature of the sport had been replaced by safety gear and commercial breaks. The danger inherent in rodeo had been removed and stripped away in the process of commodification in order to make it more palatable for a general audience.

Racing has faced a similar fate. Gone are the days of fiery explosions at Le Mans. There is no more Group B in Rally Racing or true stock car racing. The sport was once the domain of men who pushed the limits of man and machine. The same spirit that crossed oceans and conquered continents is the same spirit that animated drivers to risk everything for glory on the track. That is all gone, replaced by safety regulations that homogenize sport to the point that competitive advantage no longer exists in any meaningful way.

The obsession with safety has poisoned everything. Sure, we may have reduced injuries and fatalities but at what cost? The coddling and overprotective nature of our society has created weak and effeminate men. Each subsequent generation following the Boomers has become increasingly obsessed with nerfing the world. You can blame women or commercialization it doesn’t matter, It’s sad and pathetic.

The sense of danger and risk taking is a necessary element of the masculine spirit. It needs outlets. It needs rodeo, racing, and boxing, it needs adventure. Those things will never be safe, but the world isn’t safe, and what kind of men do you want to raise? Do you want soft, weak men who have never taken risks, or do you want men that are willing to take on the world?

This country wasn’t built by men who were scared of a bloody lip and it won’t be saved by the either.