Really? What's the message here?

[Ghost]

The harsh truth is this: A man of his advanced age has no business posting on Facebook or even having a Facebook account for that matter. And I know this with authority, because I'm about his age.

And the First Amendment takes another hit.

[ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar]

And the First Amendment takes another hit.

An individual telling another individual "you suck at Facebook" doesn't impact the First Amendment in the slightest.

I disagree with HockeyDad. Facebook is the easiest, most direct channel to get information out to your membership/staff/volunteers/fans/etc. As much as GH suffers from foot-in-mouth-itis, he'd be stupid not to use it.

[cixelsyd]

Even 'back in the day' of the '70s and 80's most of the 'adult staff' of all of the corps desired down deep to be with a corps which at any given moment could take the ring in the top division. The loyalty, even 'back in the day', for most, not all but most adults was to their own personal goals and their own personal desires not to a particular corps (Tom Float going from the Kingsmen, to the Freelancers, to the Crusaders, to Spirit, then to the Blue Devils is a perfect example). Just like a professor at a community college is only loyal to that institution until offered a research position at a major university; so goes most adult staff with DCI corps. Always has been that way; always will be that way; and I say that is fine and dandy.

Of all the things you have posted here, this is one of the silliest yet. Tom Float, your "perfect example" of disloyalty, continued to write the drum book for the 80s editions of the Kingsmen at the same time he was becoming better known for his work with Blue Devils.

[Stu]

And the First Amendment takes another hit.

Amendment I of the Constitution of the United States, "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech,...". This flat means that Mark Zuckerberk, as the CEO of Facebook, certainly can censor anything he desires on Facebook. The Mods here on DCP certainly can censor anything they want here on DCP. And all of this can be accomplished by those individuals without the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution taking any hits whatsoever.

[Stu]

Of all the things you have posted here, this is one of the silliest yet. Tom Float, your "perfect example" of disloyalty, continued to write the drum book for the 80s editions of the Kingsmen at the same time he was becoming better known for his work with Blue Devils.

I am not being silly at all; and here is why. While it is true that Float wrote for the Kingsmen while climbing his own personal career ladder, this is also akin to Rennick currently helping out the Troopers (to help them keep afloat; pun intended). Also something which is similar in nature is a professor from a major university doing some work as a visiting professor at a community college. But I guarantee you that while Tom Float does exhibit some altruism, he was way loyal to himself, his career, and his own personal edification than he was loyal to any particular corps. And the Devils administration was more way more loyal to progressing the corps forward into winning more titles than showing loyalty to both Tom and Kathryn. And, by the way, there is no problem with that lack of corps and/or staff loyalty within an activity which builds and sustains careers for adults and 'currently' touts itself as Marching Music Major League.

[cixelsyd]

give me a BREAK.

Let's not search for reasons to bash someone - he was talking about his "other corps" -- and if you don't want to believe it then go to his facebook page and read the complete context. Throughout the season (and final week) he mentioned this SEVERAL different ways and times.

Sounds like you just want someone to hate on.

I went to his Facebook page, and I am sorry, but I am not buying your explanation. It sounds to me as if he was referring to other corps (i.e. other than the Cadets organization).

[cixelsyd]

I am not being silly at all; and here is why. While it is true that Float wrote for the Kingsmen while climbing his own personal career ladder, this is also akin to Rennick currently helping out the Troopers (to help them keep afloat; pun intended).

Is it? I do not know where Rennick marched - did he have some prior affiliation with Troopers?

[TerriTroop]

I may kick myself for walking into this mess, but I went back and found the whole post on Facebook just to see what it was like to read it in context. I was hoping to sense that he was talking about the "other Cadets" corps in the past as some have suggested here. But no, that's not it:

"With all respect to other corps, the learning here is a bit different."

So no, I totally do not see this as about previous years of Cadets. He's a smart man, he knows how to say "the learning this year was a bit different" or whatever people think he meant. GH is well known for speaking his gut reactions in public. He said what he meant.

I understand pride, I understand feeling strongly about what you do and how you do it, these things are natural and can be fostered internally. What I do not get is why this man feels it's ok to insult someone else while at the same time praising his own organization, or asking for help for his organization. Is it really that hard to learn to not do that???? It's just not good form as the public face of a very recognizable organization amongst the drum corps community. Would someone on Cadets board get Mr. Hopkins a social media coordinator/editor, please?

[George Dixon]

I went to his Facebook page, and I am sorry, but I am not buying your explanation. It sounds to me as if he was referring to other corps (i.e. other than the Cadets organization).

Well he wasn't, and if you take the time to read the series of facebook/blog posts this season it's clear he wasn't. But folks are going to believe what they want to believe.

[George Dixon]

I may kick myself for walking into this mess, but I went back and found the whole post on Facebook just to see what it was like to read it in context. I was hoping to sense that he was talking about the "other Cadets" corps in the past as some have suggested here. But no, that's not it:

"With all respect to other corps, the learning here is a bit different."

So no, I totally do not see this as about previous years of Cadets. He's a smart man, he knows how to say "the learning this year was a bit different" or whatever people think he meant. GH is well known for speaking his gut reactions in public. He said what he meant.

I understand pride, I understand feeling strongly about what you do and how you do it, these things are natural and can be fostered internally. What I do not get is why this man feels it's ok to insult someone else while at the same time praising his own organization, or asking for help for his organization. Is it really that hard to learn to not do that???? It's just not good form as the public face of a very recognizable organization amongst the drum corps community. Would someone on Cadets board get Mr. Hopkins a social media coordinator/editor, please?

It's not in the same post. It is a series of post from mid season which he speaks of his "other corps" and this one being "different" -- So I guess your reading a "snapshot" of an ongoing conversation between his regular readers and folks who want to react to a single post or idea.

Seems like a lot of that going on this year. Selective reading.