yeah that doesnt make things look good for EN 
1 Like
It usually ends with the guillotine all round :lol:
5 Likes
So I just want to confirm what I am seeing. EN is uploading pictures of Plantation Field, using the name Plantation Field in the blurb. Nice to know they are standing by their principles. FOMO much
7 Likes
That was from 2019 when Plantation Field was still âthe best event everâ ðŸËâ°
10 Likes
Sadly true. Weâre becoming base automatons, de-evolving into creatures driven by emotions and feelings instead of critical thought and analysis.
10 Likes
And another thing⌠because in for a penny, in for a poundâŚ
About Denis Glaccumâs FB account.
Look folks, the man is 79 years old. He apparently has beliefs that are right of center on some topics. I have family members who are in their 70âs, probably voted for the âorange manâ last time around, who also share some stuff on FB that I personally wouldnât post or share. Some of them can certainly be described as âcurmudgeonly old pain in the a$$e$â upon occasion⌠trust me. Some are the sort of relatives that I generally DONâT jump for joy about when it comes to invitations to attend family reunions, etc. But if I do show up at the family reunion barbecue, I donât walk right on over to my husbandâs old Uncle Bruce, stick my finger in his chest, and start lecturing him on the insensitive, bizarre stuff he regularly posts on Facebook, and how I think he needs to get with the program and mend his ways, because itâs 2020 after all, and old Uncle Bruce has a societal responsibility to be an ally of aggrieved minorities.
No, no I donât generally do things that. Because the rest of the family watching it would be shocked, lord only knows how Uncle Bruce would respond (even though he routinely informs me on Facebook in comments on random posts of mine that my husband is his favorite nephew ⌠older folks can be a little odd when it comes to FB). But even if I was self righteous and rude enough to try something like that with old Uncle Bruce, my husband would likely QUICKLY jump right in, and come grab me gently by the arm and whisper in my ear, âHey honey, this is going to get ugly with Uncle Bruce. You know how he is⌠heâs from the Pittsfield, Mass side of the family, and he can be a real a$$hole when you confront him⌠just leave the old guy alone and letâs go grab a drink.âÂ
And that would be that. Itâs a shame that other adults involved in this thing as it spiraled out control didnât grab Ms. Wiley by the arm, encourage her to just skip the e-mail or two that she apparently fired off to Denis back in July or August, and just invite her out for drinks and good long talk to share whatever was on her mind instead.
But thatâs just my opinion.
I believe Dom Schramm commented on FB in response to Leslie Wileyâs editorial âThe Problem with Plantationâ regarding the fallout from her and John Thierâs decision to pursue this whole thing the way they pursued it, and the resulting fallout and loss of this venue. Hundreds of people have already seen and reacted to his comment - self included. But I want to go ahead and quote part of his comment now, for the sake of this discussion about the relevance of whatever was⌠or was not⌠on Denis Glaccumâs Facebook Page at one time, and for the benefit of anyone following this thread who isnât on other SoMe channels:
âEventing Nation you know what? **** This community is caring and the people who make it up are kindhearted and I think had you tried to explain why and maybe included the community more, you would have been surprised. Instead, what we got was a news outlet taking things into their own hands, firing off emails and phone calls in a way that made everyone involved feel attacked and because of YOUR actions, we now no longer have one of the most important venues in this area to use for OUR sport. Maggie Deatrick, John Thier, Leslie Wylie Bateman - I love you guys, but do you realize what you have done to our area? Do you actually understand the impact this has on us as professionals to try and make a living up here? to the amateurs that use the numerous schooling shows? Do you even care? You can keep shifting the blame onto Denis Glaccum and make out like he is the one that is treating EN unfairly - but ultimately it was the decision of your team and the actions you took that has precipitated this response. Yes Denis can be a major pain in the ass - but do you even realize what his role has been in eventing in this country? He is responsible for half the events you even write articles about on your site! There isnât anyone out there has put more blood sweat and tears into the USEA and all these events then him. So before you try to point fingers and everybody and make out like this was a crusade for the betterment of the sport and society, I want you to really ask yourself if you have made this community a better and more inclusive place. This whole thing is extremely disappointing, divisive and honestly just demoralizing and I hope you feel satisfied about whats happened because you are responsible.âÂ
There you go folks. Keep on trying to shift blame if you want. But reasonable people arenât buying into it. Reasonable people donât intentionally cause a scene with old Uncle Bruce at the family reunion barbecue⌠because it will end poorly and ruin the whole thing for everyone. For the record, old Uncle Bruce (who isnât a âhypotheticalâ person like the young rider in Leslieâs metoo essay⌠nope⌠heâs a real person who does have a Facebook account - and the things he posts :eek::sigh:) well - he isnât a âracistâÂ⌠heâs just in his late 70âs and his âfilterâ doesnât work as well as it used to, either in person or on Facebook. And not to stereotype, but he is actually from the Pittsfield, MA branch of the family. That branch of the family are ALL exceptionally abrasive, and my husband has advised me repeatedly that this is how lots of folks from that town are. But itâs quite possible my husband is just trying to shift blame and attention away from whatever genetics he happens to share with that side of his family⌠heck if I know. But I generally like my husband, and just let it go with old Uncle Bruce.
One would think that if the folks at Eventing Nation generally liked and cared about the eventing community as a whole, they would have just taken a different approach with their agenda, and chosen a different path for raising their pet issue, instead of going straight at Denis Glaccum.
20 Likes
Those emails between Ms Yoder and EN, are fascinating, thanks for sharing. But I would not put The Horse of Delaware Valley in the same category of responsible journalism as COTH. THDVâs approach looks just as scattergun and amateurish as EN. âI have heard advertisers are pulling outâ it declares (or words to that effect.) Whereâs the corroboration? ENâs home page today has 11 commercial advertisers - not exactly a mass exodus. From afar I feel EN has behaved more than shoddily. Iâve followed EN from its birth I have rather gone off it now. But neither is it the role of other news organisation to incite boycott of another, surely? You can almost feel them gloating - ugh!
One of the greatest investigative journalists/editors of all time died in NYC today - Harold Evans. Colleagues paying tribute have all mentioned his mantra "just get the bloody facts, " and also how he described the slow and painstaking information gathering process as âpeeling the onion.â I wonder if EN has even heard of him?
10 Likes
Yes, but in June of this year Leslie Wylie had a revelation that the word âplantationâ is evil and launched a crusade to exorcise it from the eventing world, threatening excommunication to anyone who didnât fall into line.
Funny how the language of religion is quite apt.
8 Likes
@Happyhack I agree. The quality of the HDV has definitely deteriorated since it went completely online. It had been mostly a vehicle for its advertisers but did include some important news stories. Sadly not the case so much any more.
It IS funny how the language of religion is apt.
Back to literary references, however, if we were going to turn the whole âPlantation Fieldâ debacle into a play, kinda like one that Miller once wrote, someone could write a character to represent her role in this story, that was a blend of Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris.
1 Like
Interesting they mention someone who is a user here who used to post here often, wonder why they wonât come and share their side of the story? They had no problem blasting me in the past and even called said I was likely Trumper and accused me in a round about way of being a racist over a post that had nothing to do with anything political at all and was a question about a jump/stop on XC. Guess attack mode runs through that magazine.
3 Likes
Just to reassure you, I havenât yet seen anyone on a different social media platform screeching, âI saw Goody Jealoushe with the Devil!!!â to the virtual congregation.
As though that proves you were indeed dancing with the devil, and as though that is something we should all burn you at the stake for even if you were.
But give it time. Give it time. :rolleyes:
1 Like
So - what changed between 2019 and 2020 ? https://ahtribune.com/us/black-america/4223-anti-racist-bandwagon.html
1 Like
Not so much religion as brand activism; https://www.bbc.com/worklife/articleâŚport-the-cause
5 Likes
Hmmm⌠posts are getting reported and pulled from this thread. Maybe justifiably, maybe not so much. The moderators are doing just fine though, in my opinion, and I have no complaints about them.
What I am quite confident of, is that the folks at Eventing Nation are following this thread closely, and they donât seem to like that this full some discussion is digging into any number of things.
And this just makes me think of the French Revolution all over again. :yes: There were two groups involved at first⌠the Girondins and the Jacobins. And they were sort of on the same side. But one of the groups kept pushing an agenda that the other group wasnât particularly interested in hearing about at that point in French history.
So people should ask themselves⌠are they a Girondin, or a Jacobin? I will take a little liberty with Machiavelliâs words, and advise that when you strike at a Jacobin, you must kill him.
Myself? Iâm generally just a peaceful peasant who posts on the forums. No email or letter writing campaigns for me! But I do seem to make a habit of pi$$ing people off. Oh well. Interesting things happen when the peasants take to social media and talk about what they think is going on. Iâm sorry if that bothers some of the righteous revolutionaries.
whispers
I kinda think liberte, egalite, and fraternite sounds good at first, but ends poorly most of the the time. SooooâŚ
Vive le resistance!
Iâve been following this conversation with much interest the past few days and have a few thoughts to add.
First, I am wondering if the landowner was looking for an excuse to terminate his contract with the event. I suspect that the event would have ended without any intervention from EN. It was just so abrupt that it makes one question the timing and lack of discussion.
Second, the approach that EN took was not a good one. They used a battering ram when a dremel tool may have been a better option. They did this landowner a disservice by trying to force this change.
However, if I was looking for an example of systemic racism, I could not have come up with a better one. Here we have a wealthy individual with all the right connections- good school (UPenn), good career, family connections (the land has been in his family for generations), wealth, political connections and the list goes on. His response to a group that questioned the name of the event was to kick everyone out of the sandbox. In systemic racism, the group with the power does all they can to keep everyone else from participating. This appears to be an example of that.
Please note that I didnât say any of the individuals involved are racist. I donât know them nor do I know how they feel or think. I am talking about the inherent racism in our society that will never be eradicated if we donât admit it exists.
I find myself saddened by this whole debacle. Both sides were wrong. But I am less concerned with the role EN played vs the role that systemic racism played in how this whole thing went down as that is a long standing issue with no end in sight. Itâs hard to even get people to admit that it exists let alone work towards a resolution.
24 Likes
In response to the portion I boldedâŚ
A smear is still a smear, even when you use the word âsystemicâ in front of it.
You just went all into the guyâs background, which is personal. Then you speculated about his true motives (there is zero evidence that he secretly wanted to shut down this venue and cancel the lease⌠thatâs another one of those pesky little âalternative reasons this sad situation possibly happenedâ that certain people are sprinkling around on social media in an effort to deflect attention and responsibility with respect to their own role in this mess. Believe it if you want to⌠but realize many other people donât). Then you added the phrase âsystemic racismâ to the mix.
And thus, my opinion is that your post is an unfortunate smear upon the property owner. But thatâs just my opinion. We all have one. Theyâre like bellybuttons.
12 Likes
In response to the portion I boldedâŚ
A smear is still a smear, even when you use the word âsystemicâ in front of it.
You just went all into the guyâs background, which is personal. Then you speculated about his true motives (there is zero evidence that he secretly wanted to shut down this venue and cancel the lease⌠thatâs another one of those pesky little âalternative reasons this sad situation possibly happenedâ that certain people are sprinkling around on social media in an effort to deflect attention and responsibility with respect to their own role in this mess. Believe it if you want to⌠but realize many other people donât). Then you added the phrase âsystemic racismâ to the mix.
And thus, my opinion is that your post is an unfortunate smear upon the property owner. But thatâs just my opinion. We all have one. Theyâre like bellybuttons.
And we have a winner. Right on ALL counts, except that I think the organizer, while he wanted the event to continue, equally set the tone for non-discussion of this issue.
I find it interesting, too, that so much energy has been spent on criticizing EN for not asking âthe right way.â How familiar is that in our current conversations around race: donât protest, to kneel, donât be so demanding, donât be so abrasive.
My earlier point, in raising the known, public social media history of the organizer (not the landowner) was that this person had already made it very clear that no manner of asking â not being flattery, not being polite, not even âfollowing correct channels and going to the Area II chairâ â was going to change his world view and response.
So much energy spent defending the status quo, blaming EN for being difficult, and so little reflection on whether there might be a valid point here.
21 Likes
This sounds more like classism to me. The wealthy have always had superior connections and resources and strive to maintain them.
10 Likes
