Confessions of a Borg

[onceuponatime]

I am a Cadet borg. I am also a Cavalier borg, a Phantom borg, a Vanguard borg, a Trooper borg, a Blue Star borg, a Crossmen borg, a Boston borg, a Colts borg, a Jersey Surf borg. an ECJ borg, a Jubal borg, an Empire Statesman borg, a Bridgemen borg... I guess you get the picture. Name any corps, add borg, and you have my number.

I dislike uncomplimentary labels, and I especially dislike them when their use discredits and/or inflames. There are a lot of very intelligent, very articulate people that frequent DCP, and for some reason a few of them seem to use their very impressive vocabularies to belittle other posters, corps, individuals associated with corps, DCI, opposing viewpoints, and whomever/whatever else they choose to defame under the banner of "opinions" or "rights" or "love." Whenever possible they seem to be willing to start fires or throw fuel on whatever fire is raging at the moment by using words as weapons rather than as tools of intelligent discourse; misusing their command of the language to dredge up the most offensive derogatory adjectives they can find, and totally disregarding the most basic standards of civility and fair conduct.

And so, in reaction, I find myself voluntarily adopting the designation of Borg! I know, of course, the source of the term on DCP, and I do not believe it was his intent to deliberately hurt anyone or cause harm in any way. That has been the result though, intended or not.

Now, to the main point of this post.

During the past few weeks there have been several ex-members of Star of Indiana who have described how personally hurt they were by the way they and their corps were treated by the drum corps public during their final two years of participation as a DCI corps. Years later, here on this board, their wounds are still raw, and the pain still obvious. Having read that, how can anyone continue down the road of repeating the injustices they were forced to endure by imposing the same pain on other young people from other corps? For what purpose?

Case in point; several posters have referenced the young lady playing the role of the Red Queen in the Cadets' program. They have commented on her physical attributes and their strong negative opinions on the costume she wears. Does the first have any place in a discussion of the Cadets' program, or is it simply offensive and unnecessary? I doubt very much if that poster would like to have a physical critique of himself/herself posted on the net. I'll bet the young lady would come up the winner in that kind of contest every time. I have also heard posters describe her costume as making her look like a "prostitute" or characterizing her as the "red tart." Wouldn't it have been just as easy to say you thought her costume was inappropriate and that you found it personally offensive? Wouldn't that make the same point without hurting someone personally. Or was hurting them personally beside the point to the poster(s)?

Yes, we are all different; we enjoy different shows, we enjoy the stylistic direction of some corps over others, we have radically different opinions on what direction drum corps as a collective entity should pursue. We challenge our leadership, though often without any personal concept of the difficulties involved in exercising their responsibilities, or any balancing perspective on the breathtaking scope of their accomplishments.

This is a discussion forum, and as others have noted it would not last long without opposing viewpoints, passion, new ideas, criticism and everything else in the mix. We all do have our presumed "right" to offer opinions, and criticism, and praise, and anything else; but with that "right" comes responsibility for personal behavior and an expectation from others that you will respect them and their viewpoints, ideas and suggestions. The anonymity of the internet is not a license to act irresponsibly, or to use superior communication skills to denigrate the viewpoints of others less gifted in that area. There is nothing discussed on this forum important enough to cause other young people the kind of pain we inflicted on the members of Star of Indiana.

I have noted with growing admiration the attempts of the DCP administator and moderators to come to grips with this problem, and to thoughtfully strike a balance between open discussion and abusive presentation. I hope they will continue on their present course. I hope too we all will take a moment to consider the consequences of what we say and how we say it.

The role of the internet in the evolution of our activity could be a blessing beyond our imagination at present, or it could become an instrument of self-destruction. The end result is pretty much up in the air at this point. To some degree it's in our hands. Please use it thoughtfully.

[geluf]

Personal attacks against members of a corps are of course reprehensible and beyond bad taste.

Though I believe everyone should be entitled to say when they feel like something isn't working/is bad/is in poor taste etc. and even be CRITICAL of such things...taking shots at a member should never, EVER happen.

[victorcoly]

^OO^

Very well put!!! And may I offer a sincere apology to anyone I may have offended, or who took anything I may have posted in the past personally (to include Hop).

I will say, though, that I have never posted any negativity with regard to someone's appearance, and never will. That's WAY over the line!!

[dciguy01]

I completely agree about taking personal shots at people. But you ARE allowed to criticize an opinion, as long as it is done in a respectful manner. :)

[Gorgo]

I nominate the original post in this thread for post of the year!

[ScribeToo]

You know.. this was a really lengthy post.. and I wanted to just quote the things that REALLY hit the ball out of the park for me to add emphasis to the things you said.. but I couldn't cut any of it out.

IMO, this post is the drum corps version of a "perfect game."

Thank you for taking the time and having the courage to say it.

[LAMystreaux]

Awesome post!

[MaverickDirector]

This is my very first post on DCP, although I've been a frequent visitor for the past two years. I have found many of the posts that onceuponatime refers to, to most likely be very hurtful to the person being attacked.

The young lady that chose to spend her summer with The Cadets probably did it in order to participate in this great and wonderful activity. I'm certain that over the years, many other participants have also been "hurt" by bad and insensitive comments. Of course, it's always easy to write something on the internet that one would never dare say to a real live person!

Just because someone chooses to participate in this activity does not mean that we have the right to refer to them as a "prostitute", "tart" etc. etc. etc. I wonder if this is even legal?

I enjoy the banter and the differences of opinion. I think that DCP provides all of us with a great opportunity to develop community amongst particicipants (former marching members, current marching members, future marching members, parents and fans, etc.) and I feel that the orginal post is quite possibly the best I've ever seen on this forum.

Thank you onceuponatime for taking the time to write your post and for the manner in which you addressed the issue.

Good luck to ALL participants in this great activity. May you couclude your season in a wonderful and meaningful manner.

[Fincis]

You know.. this was a really lengthy post.. and I wanted to just quote the things that REALLY hit the ball out of the park for me to add emphasis to the things you said.. but I couldn't cut any of it out.

IMO, this post is the drum corps version of a "perfect game."

Thank you for taking the time and having the courage to say it.

Said it better than I could have and ditto to everything else positive said about this post. Wonderful Post.

[Phantombari1]

I agree with the original post however I find it interesting that some individuals agree with the post as well but exhibit contradictory actions in their own posts when someone disagrees with them or the favorite corp.