I had the same reaction.
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Sigh. No, he said he supports the concept but has concerns about the implementation. If people could stop labeling anyone that isn’t 150% behind SafeSport as being ignorant, uninformed, or supportive of abusers, we’d be in a better place.
That you are very black and white and cut people off immediately is great for you…and no surprise. For others, it’s a process…a lot like the grieving process. It’s not great that they are doing it all online, and many don’t deserve any consideration, but plenty do.
I would also like to note that people are more than one thing…and that is what makes this so hard. If Jimmy was a one-dimensional child molestor, no one would support him. Same goes for RG and Barney Ward. I’d wager that McLain knows his father MUCH better than you and that he has dealt with who his father was. Perhaps some of it is rose colored, but if g-you haven’t had to do the same process with g-your parents, g-you haven’t moved passed a very childlike perspective of the world. Just like the poster earlier who mocked people who still think Jimmy Williams was a brilliant horseman. He WAS a brilliant horseman…even AK acknowledges that. But he was not a brilliant human being…and his failings were devastating. That’s not sympathy or support or denial. It’s truth. it doesn’t give him a pass for anything.
Same goes for RG. I rode with him once and oddly was thinking about him the night before he died. I had a conversation about training a horse on a new thing and my favorite exercise for it was learned from RG. i found him funny and wild and engaging and knowledgeable. And now I have to reconcile that with this other part that I’m just now learning about. For those that know him better? That process is really difficult.
And then there’s the folks making threats, (hopefully they don’t even realize that’s what they are doing? G’ah!). and saying horrible things about the accuser, etc. I have no time for them. In fact, I’ve stayed away from most comment sections (and honestly have since 2016 when civil discussion on social media completely flew the coop), because there is a lot of stuff that just makes me furious.
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Good lord. Millions of people in the real world deal with the restrictions and implementation of SS in our daily lives. For work. That thing we do for money. I am not black and white but I do think people want special consideration because horses. I also think that’s dumb. Welcome to real life.
And I’m not the only one who thought that. Why didn’t you quote ladyj?
Honestly I’m not surprised by the reaction. What I am surprised about is how public people make it. Again we all talked amongst our selves. Grown ass adults carrying on like its high school on Facebook? Ya I’ll judge. No one on this thread has even remotely commented on what he was to the horse world. Nor has anyone condemned his accomplishments.
I commented on McClain not really knowing his father because yeah we have a CoTHer here that talked openly about the abuse. Sorry, but I don’t think he’s come to terms with that.
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Out of curiousity, I wanted to see the background of current SafeSport investigators. Of the three listed*, two are from academia. One was a Title IX Coordinator. Perhaps the Atlantic article on how sexual assault is being handled on campus is a little more pertinent that some people thought.
*i’m surprised their profiles are public.
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You know, you have been nasty this entire thread. Really rude. I think that snarky comment about McLain Ward and his father is really below the belt. I think that there are many of us who wouldn’t want to be held responsible for the sins of our fathers. I don’t think you realize that your venom causes people to ignore the points you make rather than be bullied by you into agreeing with you.
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There have been some bright spots, like the mother of a former top west coast junior who called out someone for victim shaming.
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You may not be black and white, but you come across that way.
And I’m not the only one who thought that. Why didn’t you quote ladyj?
Because I had no idea who said it and what page it was on, etc. Your comment about Mclain and his father is right along that same thought process, so I mentioned it. I did NOT attribute the comment to you. I purposefully said “just like the poster earlier who mocked”. If I wanted it attributed to you, I know how to do that…even if you didn’t actually say it. It’s not hard, as shown below.
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Yes you are right. It’s not to say I haven’t found places to check out. I’m just really blah not knowing the area.
It is McLain.
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I get it. You are struggling to wrap your head around this. Just don’t keep quoting me. I’ve been a victim. I’ve been the person who’s friend and mentor was accused and sent to JAIL. JAIL. Not ban from horse shows. I get where you are coming from it would be great if you understood me.
You seriously don’t understand that SS has been analyzed in this thread, people proving the process isn’t all that people assume it to be because they haven’t read anything, or asked the appropriate people questions. Then y’all keep banging at it over horse shows. Really. It’s a horse show. Not jail. Not registering as a sex offender. Not prison where god help you there if people find out you molested children. It’s a ban from horse shows. Get some perspective.
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My bad. The horrors.
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This is the best post I’ve read so far in this thread - thanks RugBug. But while I’ve got you here, I’d like to ask you why you are so skeptical and lacking in trust when it comes to people who are trained investigators. I think a few pages back you referenced a documentary or an article that spoke to a specific case where the investigators got stuff wrong, and it seems as though you are judging every single person who investigates for a living with the brush that you created from that one source?
Every single human being living on this planet has biases based on each individual’s life experiences; no one is immune to that. If the requirement listed for job descriptions was no personal biases allowed, no one would have a job. Do you believe that everyone on the planet lets his or her personal bias get in the way of job performance on the whole, or do you believe that there is a specific reason that investigators are more prone to personal bias leaking into their professional lives more than the rest of the population? If so, why? Finally, do you have a personal bias when it comes to investigators that renders you unable to form an unbiased opinion about them as a whole?
ETA: This reads like an interrogation, and that was not my intent at all. I’m not going to take the time to rewrite it, so please know I am just genuinely curious about your huge distrust regarding investigators. If the reason is personal, definitely disregard my questions.
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McLain’s relationship to Barney remained very, very close, both personally and professionally. Their businesses were very much intertwined, and like Vallieri and Williams (to name only a few), Barney still managed to make a solid living in the horse industry despite his “unsavory” behavior, and ultimately a lifetime ban from USEF shows.
As this week and every other week of my life has proven, some people really don’t care at all what kind of human dumpster fire you are, provided you help them win ribbons or are a member of the same “class”.
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I was thinking about suing of the individual who made the false claim, not SafeSport. There is a definite economic loss as a result of the claim. In the situation I am aware of, I believe the accuser shared only the info that made the accused look bad, not the stuff that showed her part. So it was pretty deliberate.
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Actually, I’m not struggling with wrapping my head around SafeSport. Just looking farther into the future than most will. Also recognizing that we’ve only heard one side. I’m really interested in hearing from GPJumper when they can talk. I’d love the hear from others that have been involved in investigations (as witnesses, etc)
I DO get where you’re coming from for the most part. It’s a place that has no ability to hear anything both those that support your way of thinking. You have to fall back on saying people are ignorant, etc because you can’t seem to fathom why anyone could have concerns. If they have concerns, they must not have read anything or must not know what they are talking about, or must support the accused. Those seem to be the options right now.
I quote you when I want to comment on something you said. If I want to comment on a general concept, I will remove the name of the person. Simple as that.
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Midge are you addressing a specific case? Not moving forward with a suspension or ban doesn’t necessarily mean that false accusations were brought.
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Nah you don’t know where I’m coming from. Why I disagree with you is because most of what you think can be disproved by google. The rest of your distrust well I chalk that up to being in a bubble. We can all find those cases where the system failed. It doesn’t mean we throw it out. I also have little tolerance for people who complain and never bring ideas. And GPJimper’s case actually shows that it works in favor of the abuser too.
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I’m confused about all this talk of “transparency.” People keep complaining that SafeSport isn’t transparent and I’m curious about exactly what people mean by this and exactly what it is people expect SafeSport to do in the name of transparency.
I feel like some people are saying that they want to whole process to be public - the accusers and witnesses identified, all the salacious details of any allegations released, who said what, who did what… And that is just crazy talk.
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Yes. A specific case.
