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The Rise of Pseudointellectuals on DCP


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Okay, I'm kind of just annoyed by this whole thing so bear with my mini rant.

This season, for whatever reason, there has been a crazy rise in the number of Pseudointellectuals on this forum (let's call then PI's). They have been incessantly trying to shove down our throats how horrible today's shows are. We've gotten everything from complaining about "skirt-like" elements in uniforms, complaints of body movement (let's make a rotating cube instead of doing the chicken dance!), to complaints about how the Cadets are doing their #### math.

They all have their own issues with current shows and the way that corps choose to exhibit their theme, but they all one thing in common: they all love to over analyze and go into obnoxious detail. You'd think, "hey, maybe they would like BD's show then!" BUT NOPE. It turns out they even have issues with the way BD is doing things. Hm. What has DCP done to deserve this? But I'm not here to wonder about the sins of committed by us crazy DCP posters.

My question is this: what is the point? Yes, I do think all of your ideas have merit. Especially the complaints about body movement. But at the same time, how does it REALLY make a difference? How many people will realistically pick up on your little nitpicks about the way a corps presents their show? How many people will actually see the Cadets Waltz section and see the French horns (aka the "one") being attacked by the "many" (the rest of the corps)? How many people will look at the colorguard uniform and think "wow! Even the boys are wearing skirts! I sure wish the corps would stop the androgeny!"

All these PI's will complain about "lazy design," but who really cares? When a majority of the audience is enjoying these shows without needing a ####### English major, what does it matter? There was a complaint about Cadets' colorful banners, oh so eloquently calling them "grade school art class bulletin board ugly." First of all, isn't that your own ####### opinion? Second, why is that bad design? Those banners are clearly helping the audience get a grasp of the theme at hand.

Please don't take this as a personal attack. Nor should anyone take this as me trying to stifle discussion. I encourage people to share their views, no matter how much hate they get for it. I do the same. I'm just so sick and tired of seeing these PI posts and I want a real explanation of WHY it actually matters. And I want to know just how many of the audience is even going to pick up on these details.

Okay, I find a lot of the stuff you're discussing annoying, but can you please explain how it amounts to pseudo-intellectualism? Because I'd say that most of the complaints you've mentioned represent the opposite of pseudo-intellectualism.

Otherwise your post sounds like another whine from someone who has made the stunning discovery that there are people out their with views that are different than yours, and that these people have the unmitigated gall to express these views in public.

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Okay, I find a lot of the stuff you're discussing annoying, but can you please explain how it amounts to pseudo-intellectualism? Because I'd say that most of the complaints you've mentioned represent the opposite of pseudo-intellectualism.

Otherwise your post sounds like another whine from someone who has made the stunning discovery that there are people out their with views that are different than yours, and that these people have the unmitigated gall to express these views in public.

Because all of these people who have presented these overanalytic views have failed to explain how any of this matters/is relevant. They are being intellectual for intellectual sake (until they explain otherwise).

I whined to my heart's content in my build up to my questions, but I reached my main point regardless: What is the point of these changes that you propose? How many people exactly are going to even realize these changes? What evidence is there that these changes will even make a difference in scores?

Edited by Cappybara
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i heard a design staffer once give a lengthy monologue on the Meanings and Underlying Statements and Symbology of the show he'd been a part of it.

it was a veritable thesis.

which invites....antithesis!

'old' shows were (largely) simple in theory and concept, and were criticized in simple form. Boring! bland! unengaging!

'new' shows are complex and intricate and full of vocabulary and detail, ergo the criticism of them must be involved and full of detail and vocabulary.

since modern shows are themselves pseudointellectual, being critical of them in like form seems like the natural progression.

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i heard a design staffer once give a lengthy monologue on the Meanings and Underlying Statements and Symbology of the show he'd been a part of it.

it was a veritable thesis.

which invites....antithesis!

'old' shows were (largely) simple in theory and concept, and were criticized in simple form. Boring! bland! unengaging!

'new' shows are complex and intricate and full of vocabulary and detail, ergo the criticism of them must be involved and full of detail and vocabulary.

since modern shows are themselves pseudointellectual, being critical of them in like form seems like the natural progression.

Huh never thought of it that way. Thanks for the insight!

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But I thought we loved the Blue Devils for being ‘deep and complex’?

not that I am but you know, this plea for my greater idiocy seems redundant at best. I’m still working through my design ideas for Monkey Drum Corps….I figure chimps in Bridgeman uniforms doing a 2001 show but with the evolution of drum corps

Remember how the Cavies justified their rolling on the ground in 2007?

Still makes me laugh

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Okay, I'm kind of just annoyed by this whole thing so bear with my mini rant.

This season, for whatever reason, there has been a crazy rise in the number of Pseudointellectuals on this forum (let's call then PI's). They have been incessantly trying to shove down our throats how horrible today's shows are. We've gotten everything from complaining about "skirt-like" elements in uniforms, complaints of body movement (let's make a rotating cube instead of doing the chicken dance!), to complaints about how the Cadets are doing their #### math.

They all have their own issues with current shows and the way that corps choose to exhibit their theme, but they all one thing in common: they all love to over analyze and go into obnoxious detail. You'd think, "hey, maybe they would like BD's show then!" BUT NOPE. It turns out they even have issues with the way BD is doing things. Hm. What has DCP done to deserve this? But I'm not here to wonder about the sins of committed by us crazy DCP posters.

My question is this: what is the point? Yes, I do think all of your ideas have merit. Especially the complaints about body movement. But at the same time, how does it REALLY make a difference? How many people will realistically pick up on your little nitpicks about the way a corps presents their show? How many people will actually see the Cadets Waltz section and see the French horns (aka the "one") being attacked by the "many" (the rest of the corps)? How many people will look at the colorguard uniform and think "wow! Even the boys are wearing skirts! I sure wish the corps would stop the androgeny!"

All these PI's will complain about "lazy design," but who really cares? When a majority of the audience is enjoying these shows without needing a ####### English major, what does it matter? There was a complaint about Cadets' colorful banners, oh so eloquently calling them "grade school art class bulletin board ugly." First of all, isn't that your own ####### opinion? Second, why is that bad design? Those banners are clearly helping the audience get a grasp of the theme at hand.

Please don't take this as a personal attack. Nor should anyone take this as me trying to stifle discussion. I encourage people to share their views, no matter how much hate they get for it. I do the same. I'm just so sick and tired of seeing these PI posts and I want a real explanation of WHY it actually matters. And I want to know just how many of the audience is even going to pick up on these details.

Holy Carpal Tunnel Cappy... Did you by any chance just have your first beer? :shutup:

Edited by SFZFAN
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We could also divide dci by eras. 70s being the classical era. 80s the romantic era. 90s the modern era. And tge 21st century thus far being the postmodern era. Although we may be transitioning to the post post modern era or meta-modern.

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There is a segment of drum corps alumni, and many of you will know (or are) that segment I'm talking about.

They make jack ##### out of themselves in college band.

They fail out of music ed because, "This is ridiculous stuff and they [professors] don't know what they are doing."

They get fired from marching band tech jobs for treating students like dirt.

They say, "well, at drum corps we did this..." incessantly.

Those people grow up and a lot of them jump into DCP. Because SO MUCH of their frail identity is based in their drum corps experiences, they think changing that activity in the slightest will make them more irrelevant. Or change the way that (they falsely perceive) people view them.

Those people freak out over the changes in the activity. They claim that because the activity is changing people are leaving. In reality, far more people are driven away from drum corps and drum corps shows by interactions with those type of people, than they are concert french horns.

Then, because people avoid those alumtards, the alumtards point and say, "SEE EVERYONE IS LEAVING THE ACTIVITY BECAUSE YOU RUINED IT!" Even though, they are largely to blame for the activity's demise, because they refuse to allow it to change, and act like jack ##### to everyone.

LOVE this post!

I am a high school band director, got a music education/performance degree, and marched a top-6 world class drum corps.

These people you describe are the poison of the activity, and unfortunately I think many of them hang out here on DCP.

I just smile and nod. :-)

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Holy Carpal Tunnel Cappy... Did you by any chance just have your first beer? :shutup:

[snort] :ninja::shutup::silly::colgate:

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