A couple weeks ago, Iowa’s racist representative and noted A-hole Steve King said something racist. Well, to be accurate, he Tweeted something racist. But then he followed it up with interviews where he defended his racism. Because that’s what racists do.
I’m not going into details, because by the time this comes out he’ll probably have said or Tweeted new racist nonsense, and then people would start getting their racist Steve King quotes mixed up. I mean, the man says bigoted crap all the time. It’s what he does when not promoting or supporting backwards-thinking legislation. The guy has the confederate flag on his desk, FFS. A confederate flag. In Iowa. A state that abolished slavery and fought with the union to preserve the United States.
That’s Steve King for you.
(And no, I didn’t capitalize “confederate.” I know I’m technically supposed to, but it doesn’t really deserve the honor, does it?)
Anyway, what made this particular instance of Steve King racism was: America at large reacted. As his Tweet went viral, people contacted the Iowa Tourism Office, shook their fists, and said: “We’re going to take our vacation dollars elsewhere!”
Which means one thing: Iowa has a Tourism Office.
Wait, what?
Full disclosure, I live in Iowa. Like any other state, it has it’s bright spots of intellectualism, as well as pockets of Duck Dynasty holdouts to progress. I like where I live, and overall have no real complaints about the state. I mean, other than the fact some of my neighbors seem to be OK with being represented by a racist.
That said: who is vacationing in Iowa?
What family gathers ’round the dining room table to discuss holiday plans and comes up with Iowa? “Hey kids, where does everyone want to go this year? Disney World? The Grand Canyon? Las Vegas? Wally World? Iowa?”
“Yes! Iowa!”
That doesn’t compute, because you know what Iowa has? Not forests for camping or waterfalls or much of anything beyond cornfields, no. Iowa has… *drum roll* The World’s Largest Truck Stop. While it’s a neat novelty, and I do stop there when heading in or out of the state on I80, it’s not really a vacation destination.
“Let’s go look at lot lizards in their natural habitat. You see those dots around her mouth? That’s herpes!”
Saying you’re not going to vacation in Iowa is an empty threat. That would be like Israel taking a stand against the winter Olympics. “Dear world: the Jewish hockey team isn’t participating this year. Take that!”
Look, I already said Iowa isn’t a bad state. We were fourth to legalize same-sex marriage, this despite the anger of Steve King. No, we’re not as good as Minnesota, but neither are we as bad as Wisconsin—repeatedly voting Scott Walker into office exposes a special kind of stupid; maybe there’s something in the water supply? Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states, and I assume that means crime-wise, not combine-related accidents. It’s affordable, and the air is clean. It’s a fine place to live.
But it’s not a tourism hotspot, meaning we’ll do fine without your tens of dollars, boycotters.
If you really want to put your money where your mouth is? Find out who’s running against Steve King in the next election, and donate to that candidate.