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The future of the Cadets


Would you allow yourself, your kids, or your friends to march with the Cadets after the recent events that occurred?  

180 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you allow yourself, your kids, or your friends to march with the Cadets after the recent events that occurred?

    • Yes
      135
    • No
      45


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 Back to the poll :.... currently over 8 out of 10 poll respondents would have no issues having a family member or friend march The Cadets.

 If the poll results are reflective of national sentiment out there, it seems pretty convincing poll data that the future survival of the Cadets will have little to do with the Corps  ability to find 155 eager and sufficiently talented marchers each and every season in order to go out and compete. The Cadets should have no problems at all filling out their roster moving forward. So if that sentiment  ( " nobody will want to march the Cadets " )is out there on Social Media,  or heard over the office water coolers, or Band rooms, or wherever,  its probably a wholly inaccurate assessment, it would seem to me.

Edited by BRASSO
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26 minutes ago, BRASSO said:

 Back to the poll :.... currently over 8 out of 10 poll respondents would have no issues having a family member or friend march The Cadets.

 If the poll results are reflective of national sentiment out there, it seems pretty convincing poll data that the future survival of the Cadets will have little to do with the Corps  ability to find 155 eager and sufficiently talented marchers each and every season in order to go out and compete. The Cadets should have no problems at all filling out their roster moving forward. So if that sentiment  ( " nobody will want to march the Cadets " )is out there on Social Media,  or heard over the office water coolers, or wherever,  its probably a wholly inaccurate assessment, it would seem to me.

I don’t think this is reflective of society as a whole. About two months ago, I read an article that stated gymnastic academies that offered the opportunity for competition have had a 60% decrease in enrollment since the Nassar indictments were announced but schools that did not have competitive opportunities outside of the academy saw an increase in enrollment. The most likely conclusion would be a distrust of those who manage competitive gymnastics. This article was not in a newspaper or an expose— it was part of an ongoing training session for spotting and responding to sexual abuse. 

As I’ve said before as have others, the reaction of marching members of the Cadets is most likely the exception, not the rule. As I’ve seen this thread unfold coupled with training I’ve had in sex abuse prevention and harassment prevention training, there are two factors that may make the Cadets situation unique. One is the retention of veterans. In the Cadets 2018 thread, it was said a good number of vets are returning so they know the organization. Second, most likely marching members have graduated high school and are over 18. If more of the allegations involved young women under the age of 18 and the corps had minors who required parental permission, it would probably be an entirely different matter.

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Honestly one person dictated a lot of people’s views on the Cadets. That person is no longer with them, and as time goes on many people will view them in a better light

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1 hour ago, Tim K said:

. In the Cadets 2018 thread, it was said a good number of vets are returning so they know the organization. Second, most likely marching members have graduated high school and are over 18. If more of the allegations involved young women under the age of 18 and the corps had minors who required parental permission, it would probably be an entirely different matter.

 I doubt it, Tim K.. There is no evidence to support the assessment that those that marched in YEA that were of minor age last season in either Cadets or Cadets2 have decided to not return for this 2018 season in either Corps because of sexual allegations upon its terminated former Corps Director. It would be speculation alone. But from camp reports from Cadet insiders that is not what they observed with either minors or those over 18. Bottom line, ( imo ) the factor that will most determine the current and future survival of the Cadets will not be much marcher oriented at all. It will be almost an exclusively financial determination. I see no current, nor future, difficulties ahead with the Cadets/ Cadets2 ability to bring in talented marchers to go out and successfully compete. Its on the financial side that will ultimately decide these 2 Corps future fate, imo. We have history as our guide to these things. It is not running afoul of DCI policies that typically ends a Corps. It is almost inevitably financial strains that have ended the continuation of the vast numbers of Corps the activity has lost over the years. The funamental Laws of Accounting and Economics will apply to the Cadets moving forward just as it has for the last 100 years with every other Drum Corps. If the Cadets/ Cadets2 can replenish their revenues needed to successfully operate after this, they will have no problems going out and finding the marchers needed to compete, and compete successfully, at the highest levels in DCI, imo. If they can't replenish the revenues, then the marcher talent/ numbers they could successfully pull in becomes entirely a moot point at that juncture, imo, Tim K.

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2 hours ago, BRASSO said:

I see no current, nor future, difficulties ahead with the Cadets/ Cadets2 ability to bring in talented marchers to go out and successfully compete. Its on the financial side that will ultimately decide these 2 Corps future fate, imo.

 

2 hours ago, BRASSO said:

The funamental Laws of Accounting and Economics will apply to the Cadets moving forward just as it has for the last 100 years with every other Drum Corps.

Spot on. The next few weeks will shed light on this for everyone.

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On 4/20/2018 at 1:49 PM, skevinp said:

Cowtown has never forgiven the Cadets for using his picture without permission in 1996.

Except for one rip - BEST SHOW OF THE YEAR.

Loved EVERY stinking moment of that show, and I still "body-push" the horns to keep up with the drums at the rip, even on the DVD.

Back to your regularly scheduled program.

 

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On 4/20/2018 at 4:04 PM, cowtown said:

It’s putting the success of the Cadets above all else

The alleged victims did it, some members and alumni are doing it and some of their fans are doing it. Look at everyone getting huffy and throwing shade at me here and for what? Having a sense of decency? Understating its just band and people are more important? For not wanting to be associated with a corps whose Director has been accused of drugging and raping people?  For acknowledging that the Kingdom on a Hill was built upon a rotten culture to promote, enable and protect that heinous Director and his rapes?

The Cadet culture has always been extreme in its aggressive loyalty and attacking others to defend itself.  Sure, other corps have flashes of it but not nearly to the extent of the Cadets. They earned the name the Borg. And the Borg Culture is part of the problem. That has got to change. The culture was built by Hoppy, why keep it after he goes? Everything must change

In the face of it, marching and placement seem inconsequential. It seems vulgar to even be concerned about placement. I don’t think this years’ members are heroes for not 'defecting' from the House of Hoppy and its litany of crimes. I’m honestly not sure what I think of them as its still rather fluid.

So go ahead and attack me, say I’m basis and indulging in schadenfreude.  Say I always hated the Cadets and dig up some of my comments from 2008 about their show on DCP and post them as proof. Push the members to achieve top 5 placements to prove that everything is OK, just  keep on Borging you crazy things

Dang, do I feel your pain, my friend.

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On 4/20/2018 at 4:04 PM, cowtown said:

It’s putting the success of the Cadets above all else

The alleged victims did it, some members and alumni are doing it and some of their fans are doing it. Look at everyone getting huffy and throwing shade at me here and for what? Having a sense of decency? Understating its just band and people are more important? For not wanting to be associated with a corps whose Director has been accused of drugging and raping people?  For acknowledging that the Kingdom on a Hill was built upon a rotten culture to promote, enable and protect that heinous Director and his rapes?

The Cadet culture has always been extreme in its aggressive loyalty and attacking others to defend itself.  Sure, other corps have flashes of it but not nearly to the extent of the Cadets. They earned the name the Borg. And the Borg Culture is part of the problem. That has got to change. The culture was built by Hoppy, why keep it after he goes? Everything must change

In the face of it, marching and placement seem inconsequential. It seems vulgar to even be concerned about placement. I don’t think this years’ members are heroes for not 'defecting' from the House of Hoppy and its litany of crimes. I’m honestly not sure what I think of them as its still rather fluid.

So go ahead and attack me, say I’m basis and indulging in schadenfreude.  Say I always hated the Cadets and dig up some of my comments from 2008 about their show on DCP and post them as proof. Push the members to achieve top 5 placements to prove that everything is OK, just  keep on Borging you crazy things

Dang, brother.  That's hard to do in this house.

(Yes, I'm catching up.)

Cowtown, you do realize that you're placing the success of the impact of Cadet tradition directly on GH's head, right?  As if it is he who created the tradition, yes?  But, it is possible that those traditions - block entrance, right foot, straight leg...all that Cadet "style" - could be preserved and actually enhanced by someone who leads the group without the baggage of Hop's obsessions.

I understand your point, but I think you should be more attentive to the possibilities for the corps growing through this.  Prairies burn for a reason.

You keep waving your flags - I don't agree with all of them.  And, while I agree with some of your pontifications, I think you're being overly-early in your certainty of the outcome of this one.

You admit yourself that the dogma of being a Cadet is pushing through severe adversity.  Maybe, ironically, this is the supreme test for which they'd been preparing.

We'll see how well the kids learned, eh?

 

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On 4/20/2018 at 4:29 PM, cowtown said:

Why so angry?

It’s generally understood that ALL CAPS on a chat board is yelling, an act of aggression. Listing it in numerical fashion would only suggest more of the same. It’s just an opinion, so what if I have a different view?

I feel like I'm defending your right...

People forget that healthy debate, is.

We are not Borg.

 

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