Before the freestyles get started in the next 40 minutes, I want to clear the air about something that has clearly got under some thin skin, if the comments on my Whine Time post are any indication. A few people have taken exception to my use of a certain historical term that originates with a group of nationalistic, racist individuals who committed horrific atrocities against entire populations of people. Dear Outraged: I regret that my choice of words has upset you to the degree it has.
To be honest (and at the risk of invoking even more outrage), I didn’t think twice about the use of the four letter word that has caused you distress. Whether you like it or not, that word has become a part of our lexicon, with a small ‘n’. My reference to the Seinfeld episode was not, as one of you accused, a sign that I set my moral compass by a sit-com (though Seinfeld was a GREAT show that broke through many taboos and social barriers). It is a sign that the word simply is part of regular usage in a context that is quite far removed from its original source.
We will just have to agree to disagree on this point, but I am more than happy to revise the terminology from the other day and replace the ‘n’ word with ‘drill sergeant’. Is that better? As for an apology, I’m afraid I can’t apologize to any of you: ‘Bas’, ‘A’, ‘NotHimmler’ or ‘Ellie’. Next time you want to elicit an apology please sign the request with your real, full name. It’s difficult to apologize when I don’t know to whom I am apologizing. (And just an FYI – we all have things that offend us, and for me that’s people who post anonymous nasty comments on the internet; criticism is better served with ownership, in my opinion).
Moving right along to the next accusation: I am not filled with hatred for the volunteers at the Pan Am equestrian venue. There are many, many volunteers here (MANY), and most of them are friendly, cheerful and do their best to help everyone who crosses their paths. But I am not going to say something went well when it didn’t. There ARE things that haven’t gone well at all here, and there ARE a few volunteers who seem to have missed their callings as security guards. There are also volunteers who have not received enough information for the positions that they occupy. I am not alone in this observation, people. And for the record, I have said Thank You quite a few times. Such as the other night, when security locked the entrance/exit without checking for bodies in the media work room. There were three security and one police officer ‘guarding’ the locked entrance (from the inside) but they didn’t have the key. The key holder was eventually brought over in a gator. Everyone was nice and everyone apologized, and we smiled, said thanks and left. But I’m not going to sugar coat something like that and say my exit from the venue on Sunday was perfect, because it wasn’t.
And finally, with regard to my relationship to the VIP area. A number of people seem to be under the misguided impression that I was trying to break into the VIP (or Gold area, heaven forbid) when I commented about the drill sergeant. I have not had any need or desire to go where I am not allowed even once during these Pan Am Games. I was referring to other people’s frustrations, not mine. And for those of you who seem to have taken such pleasure in telling me I am not a VIP, I will send you a photo of myself enjoying lunch in the VIP later, but in the meantime here is the proof that everyone is sometimes, even rotten little me, a VIP.
