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No, that's garbage. We get the same "sports isn't supposed to be political, take it somewhere else" here in Iowa over RAGBRAI, which winds through hundreds of miles of territory that sends a vocal white supremacist to Congress cycle after cycle. The race is a celebration of whiteness. I know people who've grown up nonwhite here, moved away to a place less blindingly white, come back for RAGBRAI with sentimental memories, and never come back again after seeing the event from the POV of somewhere else. I'm not even a visible minority and I wouldn't feel particularly safe in some of the small towns the event winds through.

So is talking about THE FACT THAT THE EVENT IS BY AND FOR WHITE DUDES GOING WOO-HOO HALF NAKED UNDER A STREET SHOWER political? No. No, it is not. It is about the event and who it squeezes to the side and tells oh sure, anyone can join, while refusing to acknowledge a blatant truth: the event organizers are going to make it feel like garbage. Sure, if you like garbage, here's an all-you-can-eat buffet at 90 miles a day, and we're not going to admit that you are in some danger in some of the places we've taken the event through, because this territory is chock full of out-loud racists, and we're not going to protect you or speak up about it.

Am I glad that the day of the Kevins is nearly over, sure. Sure I am. Real glad. I'm sure the next crew will have plenty of its own problems, and I'm a little annoyed that I'm old enough that you and I will die around the same time and I won't really get to experience the post-Kevin world, because I know you'll go out screaming about how hard done by you are, how attacked by wokery, while clutching all the toys you can still carry, but at least I know the kids will be shut of the complaints of the Kevins. And that's a nice thought.

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