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Drum Corps as an example of Meaner Society?


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5 hours ago, drangin said:

Sure, but Peace On Earth Good Will Toward Men would make for an awful boring drum corps season.

I would say 1985 Bridgemen, Cavies in either 91 or 92, and Cadets in 2012 might disagree.

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Two thoughts:

I think many who have commented read the quote barigirl included, I'm not sure as many clicked the link and read the entire article. The author believes many shows tend to be darker. As I said in an earlier response, my guess is he did not see all 40 corps that competed in prelims, so he may have over generalized. However he uses dark drum corps shows along with a critical look at contact sports, concussions in the NFL, NASCAR, deporting Haitians, and the need for  #metoo as examples of society's less than honorable attributes. As someone from one of the the bluest of blue states,  I hear similar opinions all the time about football, immigration, and sexual harassment. He's not a nut job with an agenda to rid the world of drum corps. He's pointing out observations.

The drum corps community of fans and marching members are left leaning? I've never taken a poll, but in general I have found kids who march a  mixed group ranging from free spirits to military types so my guess is they mirror society as a whole. I agree that drum corps was ahead of the game in terms of inclusivity, but inclusivity is often more gray than black and white. That being said, I think I saw too many "Make America Great Again" hats in Indy and Allentown, and many who wore them were young, to agree with left leaning. My thought is drum corps reflects society.

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18 hours ago, MikeRapp said:

It’s my impression that the trend to the left, if you will, in drum corps is certainly a trend. I mean that in terms of social issues, sexuality and “more.” It’s not lost on me that the shows have, in general, certainly reflected this. Definitely in terms of attire and what is considered normal and, from what I have seen and heard, accepted conduct off the field.

I’m not altogether sure shows are “darker,” but they certainly have tended to be more overt and “blunt”in their themes and execution.

Many of you may consider me a prude, or behind the times. I am a creative director by trade, so I’m certainly not insensitive to Creative license. That said, I wouldn’t want my daughter to wear some of the guard uniforms I’ve seen of late, and definitely would not approve of my kid traveling with some of these corps based on what I have heard of their off field culture.

funny but it seems to me the off field culture stuff has really died down the last several years. 

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5 hours ago, Tim K said:

I would say 1985 Bridgemen, Cavies in either 91 or 92, and Cadets in 2012 might disagree.

well 85 and 91 anyway

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5 hours ago, Tim K said:

Two thoughts:

I think many who have commented read the quote barigirl included, I'm not sure as many clicked the link and read the entire article. The author believes many shows tend to be darker. As I said in an earlier response, my guess is he did not see all 40 corps that competed in prelims, so he may have over generalized. 

 I read his entire article to get a full understanding of what he actually said, for him to have such a cynical, dark (  and perhaps jaundiced ) view of his fellow Citizens and Drum Corps shows.

 I think he might be onto something that several of the Top 12 Corps shows did have elements of dark shows, foreboding themes. etc. Its a understandably fair assessment, imo . But there was lots of diversity aplenty among the entire spectrum of themes/ music if one looked at the full breadth of the themes/ music/shows among the entire 40 corps, along with the Open Class Corps, imo.

 He really presents however a very dark,  and ( imo )unreasonably mean evaluation of his fellow citizens when he engages in an evaluation  of his fellow citizens, and what he seems to believe that most.... MOST..... value, and cherish.

 For example... he states " Our favorite sports are all contact sports ". Well, not really. Baseball and soccer are non contact sports. Soccer is growing rapidly.  Boxing interest ( compared to earlier decades ) is markedly down in attendance, matches, participants. Many former Boxing rings, training facilities have closed thru lack of interest over the years. And Boxing is about as violent, and a " contact sport " as one could ever find.

 He says...... " People go to Nascar for the wrecks ". How he arrives at this assessment escapes me. I know of no data, research, that supports this statement.. Perhaps some attend this sport " for the wrecks ". But Its hard to believe that most men, women do, and the writer provides no data to support his contention either. Nascar pre show events are chock full of  tens of thousands of men, women, and children people in attendance too... and theres no driving either, let alone any " wrecks " of the cars at these events.

  The writer further states that.. " NFL Contests are practically Gladitorial ".   Well, Gladiators were put into pits to fight to the death among Lions and other Gladiators. Say what we will about H.S./ College/ Pro football games, but I think we can all agree here that the Detroit Lions are really not real Lions eating  other " gladiators ".  A " score " does not happen in a football game when a " gladiator " dies in  a " sudden death " and that surely is not what a " sudden death" means in a football game either. So I think we can justifiably dismiss this comment from the writer as simply absurd hyperbole to the extreme.

 He also says... " crushing hits in football make the highest highlight reel ".  Well, many come with cautionary notes to potential viewers too. And the fact remains that the most watched views by fans are the great catches, runs, the miraculous finishes, etc... more so than the crushing hits ". For evidence of this, we have the data  to back this up... from youtube counted views, ESPN game views, etc. So the writer is simply wrong on the facts with this.

The writer then completely shows his jaundiced, cynical, dark and mean side with his fellow citizens when he then writes that " basketball players with twisted angles, broken bones are celebrated with sadistic delight ". Huh ? First off, the staunchest, most loyal fans of current day  Basketball tend to be persons of Color. But setting that insult to them aside, I know of few fans of the sport of Basketball that " celebrate " a players injury. Sure, there are some niwits somewhere that harbor such " sadistic " views, but by and large, most fans of Basketball do not " celebrate " injuries. As a matter of fact, I will contend that the overwhelming majority fans even hate to see a rival opponent's player get injured. Most set aside their dislike of an opponent, and really feel bad when they see him get hurt and go down to injury.  Maybe this writer dioesn't get out much to the sports games. Because if he did, he would see fans universally stand up and cheer an injured player of either team when he or she is carted off the field. The fans " cheer " for his efforts, and as encouragement to see him get better,.... not " sadistically to celebrate his injury ".

 As for his comment on "the Deportation of  24,000 Haitians " under the current US President (not enacted yet ) apparently signifying , for him, a " mean "  US President maybe he forgot, or never knew. when the President Franklin Roosevelt (  a Democrat ) ordered the round up over 120,000 Japanese- Americans in 1941 from their homes and communities  and had them interned in camps for several years far from their American homes and busineses. Almost all of these Japanese- Americans were all documented, legal US Citizens at the time too. Most US Scholars and Historians today tend to hold FDR  in very high regard in retrospect as a former US President too,. So please spare us that today we are somehow " meaner" than ever. Its ridiculous... of course. It only demonstrates to me that the writer has perhaps a meaner view of the current DCI Drum Corps, the US President,  sports fans,, and his fellow US citizens than is really warranted, thats all, imo. Maybe the writer is more keener about religious issues however.. who knows. But his views on DCI Drum Corps was a bit narrow and selective at best, but then he really seemed to have jumped the shark in his cynicism when he began to further comment on sports, sports fans, President,  current US society's " meanness " etc.

Edited by BRASSO
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When I first read the article it seemed an insightful struggle to understand; to find cohesiveness among unrelated topics. My first drum corps related thought upon reading was 2016 Cavaliers. They were dark, confusing, insightful, humorous. DCP reacted in various ways from good to bad. My motto is to converse about music and sports with acquaintances and keep religious, political and family as personal conversations. Let drum corps show the way on its own as it has done. As an aside, does its need an apostrophe?

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8 minutes ago, lindap said:

As an aside, does its need an apostrophe?

In this situation, more like quotation marks. :D  

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26 minutes ago, lindap said:

 As an aside, does its need an apostrophe?

It depends - as a contraction, as in "it is", yes (it's).  As a possessive, no.

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