Sign the Petition

[DCI Petitioner]

Please don't confuse my next statement to mean that I feel attacked by you.

I'm not going to ID myself, because then I won't have any ability to turn off any flames or personal attacks that result from people saying I'm just a trouble maker, I should keep quiet, etc. I'm not going to do it. If the fact that I am anonymous is used as an excuse to not create stronger protections for students, then for me that means people's priorities are misplaced.

Personal attacks over this issue are unhelpful. People attacking each other over the internet is a short sighted mistake. Those same cross-ways attacks for me serve as justification for staying anonymous. Heck, the FIRST reply to my post was rude.

 

[Terri Schehr]

5 minutes ago, DCI Petitioner said:

Please don't confuse my next statement to mean that I feel attacked by you.

I'm not going to ID myself, because then I won't have any ability to turn off any flames or personal attacks that result from people saying I'm just a trouble maker, I should keep quiet, etc. I'm not going to do it. If the fact that I am anonymous is used as an excuse to not create stronger protections for students, then for me that means people's priorities are misplaced.

Personal attacks over this issue are unhelpful. People attacking each other over the internet is a short sighted mistake. Those same cross-ways attacks for me serve as justification for staying anonymous. Heck, the FIRST reply to my post was rude.

 

Thank you for doing this.  It is much appreciated. 

[skevinp]

12 minutes ago, DCI Petitioner said:

Please don't confuse my next statement to mean that I feel attacked by you.

I'm not going to ID myself, because then I won't have any ability to turn off any flames or personal attacks that result from people saying I'm just a trouble maker, I should keep quiet, etc. I'm not going to do it. If the fact that I am anonymous is used as an excuse to not create stronger protections for students, then for me that means people's priorities are misplaced.

Personal attacks over this issue are unhelpful. People attacking each other over the internet is a short sighted mistake. Those same cross-ways attacks for me serve as justification for staying anonymous. Heck, the FIRST reply to my post was rude.

 

No, you are certainly right that I am not attacking you.  

Just to clarify I am not suggesting that your anonymity would be used as an "excuse not to create stronger protections for students" but rather that, in a world where credibility affects our ability to understand and process every request that is made of us, and in an environment where there is a sad history of people using all manner of such things to harm specific organizations, not everyone is going to automatically extend such credibility to a stranger.  

Thank you for your position on personal attacks in general.  Hopefully it will serve discourage attacks against those who question or debate the merits of the petition as well as those who readily support it.

[totaleefree]

I substitute teach at one of my local High Schools from time to time. Sometimes when there is time at the end of the class we discuss what people are doing after school or around town. When the kids talk about band I usually encourage them to look into Drum Corps if they want to challenge themselves. Earlier this week I asked a girl if she knew about Drum Corps auditions. She said well what about all the harassment and stuff going on in drum corps. She seemed to think that going to auditions would be like going to a casting call with Harvey Weinstein. My experience is 30 years ago and I can't remember anything like that going on, but standards were different then. If there is a legitimate issue with this I hope that the corps address it. But the effect of this on here and on other places in keeping with the national conversation is that kids and parent who get online to find out about corps and how to join them and get some info, wind up reading these petition and their first exposure to DCI is that Sexual Harassment is a serious problem within DCI. I could be wrong but in my experience most of the corps have done a good job keeping their staffs from doing this.    Without knowing about specific issues I think that posting these things in public forums to be with the current issue that is in other news leads people to believe that this is a bigger problem than it really is and could make it harder for parents to send their kids to corps who have never had these issues, but because of petitions and other things like this are led to believe that DCI corps have never addressed these problems.

[dagenh]

Why was that particular picture used on the petition?  Did you ask those guys?  They’re not all dead.

[Terri Schehr]

Look, if it’s only 1%, that too #### much if it’s you or your kid.  

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, skevinp said:

Taking you on your word that you are motivated not by the desire to harm DCI or any particular corps, but by a strong desire to prevent incidents of abuse, I think some people may have a hard time understanding why you would choose to remain anonymous merely to avoid the inconvenience of some negativity.  

You say you want to effect a change.  I think you would have a much better chance of doing that if you own what you are doing and put your name on it.  Then you have more credibility and a better chance of accomplishing what you say you want to accomplish.

Also, as a number of people in this thread have been personally attacked (such as being accused of not caring about the victims of abuse) for not automatically supporting the petition, expressing doubts or concerns about its effectiveness (which can be a step towards finding a more effective way of solving a problem) and so forth, I wonder if you would care to comment on whether you believe those personal attacks are also wrong.

Sometimes not using a name is the better choice. Otherwise people will character bash

[Terri Schehr]

1 minute ago, Jeff Ream said:

Sometimes not using a name is the better choice. Otherwise people will character bash

Not to mention threats, cease and desist orders for starters.  If there are court records, that is absolute truth.  

 

[DCI Petitioner]

1 hour ago, dagenh said:

Why was that particular picture used on the petition?  Did you ask those guys?  They’re not all dead.

Just tried to pick a pretty neutral picture of a drum & bugle corps. I don't want to use anything too current, or of a specific corps, because that will make people think I'm focused on that single corps.

I'll consider suggestions for a different picture if you've got some.

[Standrews]

38 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

Look, if it’s only 1%, that too #### much if it’s you or your kid.  

"There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know."

 

Keep fighting the "good fight", Terri.