Cadets and bankruptcy

[Terri Schehr]

On 4/4/2024 at 10:34 AM, waliman4444 said:

 

Edited April 6 by Terri Schehr

[Terri Schehr]

On 4/4/2024 at 11:01 AM, FormerXyloWhiz said:

 

Edited April 6 by Terri Schehr

[lawdn]

14 hours ago, Hook'emCavies said:

There were a couple of coworkers that asked me what was going on with The Cadets..... I gave them the cliff notes and they were upset. 

In a way, this is like a Shakespeare story. Hopkins is responsible for pushing show design to high levels, winning championships, and folding arguably one of the greatest corps. 

I honestly have complete understanding for the ladies that were affected by this and don't blame them. 

As I matured, I grew to like this corps..... I think it's important to still remember the great times. It just stinks that this happened.... 

But I have to ask.... just why though? In my eyes Hopkin lived my dream. Why would someone do such a horrible thing and create such chaos? 

I think you touch on something important when you allude to this being like a Shakespeare story, and I don’t mean to glorify anyone in saying that. My disclaimer is that I didn’t start to follow DCI politics in any way until 2013 and by that time GH struck me only as a narcissist whose “artistic” input only damaged the shows and who took credit for the work of amazing staff and MMs. Be that as it may, he was in senior management when the Cadets blossomed spectacularly and led an enduring revolution in drum corps, and I have got to believe he was an important contributor in some way to that. Unfortunately, he was using that position of power to abuse people directly and indirectly, it seems. It would take a treating psychologist to diagnose any specific pathology here, so you and we will never get the real answer to why.

Going back to Greek tragedy and Arthurian legend, tragic protagonists like Oedipus and Arthur fell due to transgressions that were either unknown to them or of a magnitude far greater than could be known to them at the time they committed them. That is not at all what we are looking at here.

We see so many contemporary examples of people who do great things and lead lives of service who are brought down by character flaws, often doing great harm through those flaws. And art through history, as with Shakespeare, has explored that theme. 

Here’s the thing though - in a situation like the Cadets, the evil was never necessary to the artistic and competitive greatness (and wouldn’t be defensible even if it did!). It never is necessary, and very arguably, the evil is ALWAYS working against the positive things a drum corps can achieve. The evil-doers must be separated from the activity and their actual and potential victims. What works against this is that power structures are often (nearly always?) structured to protect their power over all else, intentionally or unintentionally. For me, the history of this corps (and others) on the administrative and governance side demonstrates so clearly the critical role of oversight on compliance, and that oversight needs to be vigilant, independent, and feel at least a bit intrusive and uncomfortable to the overseen organization, at least until the compliance mindset is so integral to the organization that they welcome oversight as a means to better maintain compliance.

Sorry for the rambling. I struggle to make sense of it all. This is a horrible tragedy for those who were directly abused by some Cadets leadership and staff, including this plaintiff, those who spoke up, and those who remained silent, and for those who suffer as a consequence, including the countless alumni and staff who brought us so many glorious performances on the field over the decades and those who might have been The Cadets of the future.
 

Edited April 4 by lawdn

[Jeff Ream]

4 hours ago, Marched4years said:

GH made himself the company and the Cadets. He blurred those lines. 

true. but again dinner and drinks after hours isn't company time unless its designated as an official company function/meeting

[HockeyDad]

Let’s not over glamorize Hopkins. He ran a summer marching band. Brought in top talent who designed championship shows for him. Drove them away. Tanked the band. Assaulted girls and was convicted. Now he sets up tee times for you. A dickish loser with a psychopathic personality. Not worth anybody’s time of day. 

[Marched4years]

8 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:

Let’s not over glamorize Hopkins. He ran a summer marching band. Brought in top talent who designed championship shows for him. Drove them away. Tanked the band. Assaulted girls and was convicted. Now he sets up tee times for you. A dickish loser with a psychopathic personality. Not worth anybody’s time of day. 

While this is all true for many many years he himself and many in the activity viewed him as a celebrity and creative genius. 

[waliman4444]

4 minutes ago, Marched4years said:

While this is all true for many many years he himself and many in the activity viewed him as a celebrity and creative genius. 

SOLIPSISTIC!!

[Jeff Ream]

23 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:

Let’s not over glamorize Hopkins. He ran a summer marching band. Brought in top talent who designed championship shows for him. Drove them away. Tanked the band. Assaulted girls and was convicted. Now he sets up tee times for you. A dickish loser with a psychopathic personality. Not worth anybody’s time of day. 

i dont see any glamorizing anything. i see a lot of brutal honesty pointing out well documented flaws that led to legal action

[HockeyDad]

1 hour ago, Marched4years said:

While this is all true for many many years he himself and many in the activity viewed him as a celebrity and creative genius. 

As has been the case throughout history with many psychopaths, now that you mention it. Initially deified. But later demonized. Scary, isn’t it?

[kdaddy]

5 hours ago, Marched4years said:

He was involved with landmark. Attended events, talked about them. 

A DCP/RAMD user criticized GH way back in 2002 for adding the "under god" portion in the show. We all saw what it was - a ploy to get fans to cheer after the ballad. But the user took it a step further, saying that "GH does not believe in god, he's a <X>." I can't remember what the X was, but it might have been one of the self religions like Landmark.

And I assume the Landmark teachings are the basis for the 2007 show.

This is straying off the topic of Cadets + Bankruptcy, but I guess it's more evidence of the bizarre personality that went of the rails in so many ways.