Yet another article published bashing the pants off of horse racing. This has to be at least the sixth one this week. These articles are rolling off the the assembly like Ford model T's. This one is not only a good example of the "bash horse racing because it is too hard for us to understand formula" but it adds in elements of the dumbing down of America too. Instead of a bunch a factory workers rolling the model T's off the assembly line we have a group of indoctrinated lemmings who all share an identical opinion in lockstep with each other. With an identical quality and increasing quantity the articles are rolling off the assembly line like the Ford Edsel .
Shouldn't education provide these people with intellectual curiosity? A sense of where we are from, where are we at and where we are going? The author of this piece seems like she has not been directed to reflect on any of those three questions. Instead of curiosity she exhibits signs of single minded agenda conditioning and posturing for the sake of easy attention. These people have all been indoctrinated to believe that same things and play the same cards over and over. Here the author stretches to play the race card, "Speaking of uncomfortable traditions, the Kentucky Derby broadcast made the event seem like a giant social event for middle-aged white people." Empty point there from the author but she assumes if white people like it, it must be bad and an easy lay-up for bash points.
What these articles have in common are complete historical ignorance, a sanctimonious, self-righteous stance against animal cruelty and a total obliviousness to the love, care and passion for the horses. These articles have a very important role in the horse racing community, they should bring us together to motivate ourselves to educate the lemmings on the greatest game in the world. We have to make it as hard as possible for their ignorance and their ability to pat themselves on the back to continue.
some more examples recently;
breakdown story
disaster newsreel
terror of racing
prevalence of abuse in racing
Banning Of Racing
horseracing will breakdown
derby is racist and sexist
Power cap- existential handicapping
Showing posts with label horse racing ban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horse racing ban. Show all posts
05 May 2009
29 April 2009
Eight Belles More Popular Than Secretariat
For the last few years I see a pattern developing in the media around derby time that a breakdown story or a disaster newsreel(warning explicit content) is shown on TV around the time of the derby. This year is no exception. With the same message being repeatedly broadcast and printed the public is being indoctrinated to equate racing with cruelty. I notice that when I bring up racing at mainstream non-racing message boards the same response of racing is cruelty is mentioned time after time. The response is very consistent. Back at the school yard another consistent reaction was for a crowd to form around a fist flight. What kind of crowd would a kind gesture draw? It would barely turn a head. This is human nature in action and it seems like the media using the dark side of racing to draw a crowd the same way a fight would draw a crowd.
The media is exploiting breakdowns for the horror factor. There is an audience for this. Go on youtube, perhaps the most famous of races the 1973 Belmont Stakes has 265K views while a video labeled Eight Belles euthanzied has 842K views. If it bleeds it leads, the media has found that there is bleeding in racing and has found that there is a audience for this type of content. These breakdown videos are almost like the sports equivalent of "when animals go wrong" or "worlds wildest police chases". Like a schoolyard fistfight they draw a big crowd.
The responses and comments on the on-line articles are predicable. The most common response is; "This "sport" is nothing more then rich people, with nothing better to do, abusing horses. ". These people making these cursory judgments are not bad people, maybe under-informed but their reaction is nothing more than a function of human nature. It is an easy response to understand. I have that animal-abuse-outrage button too, and it gets pressed rather easily. If I hear a story about an animal being abused or dying in a cruel way it outrages me like nothing else.
For many people all they know about racing is from these tragic incidents reported in the media. Between tragic incident stories there is a void of no information at all. From their point of view they feel compassion for the animals, and we can all understand that. To hate the people that abuse animals makes you feel good about yourself. There is noting redeeming or virtuous in animal abuse. Animal abuse represents the worst for human behavior and is often an indicator of a person with diabolical tendencies. The thought of the racing community running horses to death outrages people. In the vacuum of information someone that has never enjoyed horse racing could easily be swayed into believing that racing is pure animal abuse. This is why it is of the utmost importance that racing does everything it can to promote the positive things that people in the horse racing community do. The stream of negative stories must be balanced with positive stories. The kind care that the horses receive and the tireless effort of people that do right by their horses must be highlighted as the false perception that racing is abuse grows.
The media is exploiting breakdowns for the horror factor. There is an audience for this. Go on youtube, perhaps the most famous of races the 1973 Belmont Stakes has 265K views while a video labeled Eight Belles euthanzied has 842K views. If it bleeds it leads, the media has found that there is bleeding in racing and has found that there is a audience for this type of content. These breakdown videos are almost like the sports equivalent of "when animals go wrong" or "worlds wildest police chases". Like a schoolyard fistfight they draw a big crowd.
The responses and comments on the on-line articles are predicable. The most common response is; "This "sport" is nothing more then rich people, with nothing better to do, abusing horses. ". These people making these cursory judgments are not bad people, maybe under-informed but their reaction is nothing more than a function of human nature. It is an easy response to understand. I have that animal-abuse-outrage button too, and it gets pressed rather easily. If I hear a story about an animal being abused or dying in a cruel way it outrages me like nothing else.
For many people all they know about racing is from these tragic incidents reported in the media. Between tragic incident stories there is a void of no information at all. From their point of view they feel compassion for the animals, and we can all understand that. To hate the people that abuse animals makes you feel good about yourself. There is noting redeeming or virtuous in animal abuse. Animal abuse represents the worst for human behavior and is often an indicator of a person with diabolical tendencies. The thought of the racing community running horses to death outrages people. In the vacuum of information someone that has never enjoyed horse racing could easily be swayed into believing that racing is pure animal abuse. This is why it is of the utmost importance that racing does everything it can to promote the positive things that people in the horse racing community do. The stream of negative stories must be balanced with positive stories. The kind care that the horses receive and the tireless effort of people that do right by their horses must be highlighted as the false perception that racing is abuse grows.
11 April 2009
Jeff Mullins Is Horse Racing
Being a horse racing fan was a tough haul this week. The twin stories being brutally beaten over and over have made their way to the mainstream. After a winter of nil publicity the game has made the TV news and the front page of the NY Times sports section. They say bad publicity is better than no publicity but the negative tone and the amount of the internet comments is overwhelmingly negative. The entire derby trail is being neglected this year while sensational tabloid journalism riddled with errors and misrepresentations is having an unprecedented run. The beating that Jeff Mullins is taking is the same beating that horse racing is about to take during the triple crown. It is unfortunate and deserved. If the same voices making a mountain out of the detention barn incident continue to sing their strident song for the mainstream media we could be looking at a banned sport in just a few years.
The derby story lines are being buried and it seems like the buzz surrounding the derby will focus on the soiled name of Jeff Mullins. It is not enough that his horse was scratched from the Bay Shore, he has to be publicly humiliated and repeatedly flogged in blog after blog and article after article. He was wrong to do this in the security barn. Mullins will have his hearing and punishment will be doled out. The sensationalists must have their public stoning as they gather around and squeal in pleasure as stone after stone is applied. The reaction is outrageous and not based in reason. For them the application of an all-natural product sold in tack stores is proof that Mullins is a dirty cheater/pharmacist that has concoction after concoction of secret substances that make horses run at the front of the pack like machines. The fact that he has been winning horses racing since he was seventeen years old is not considered. Backstretch backstabbing may also be at work here. Reason and fairness have been scratched from the race alongside Gato Go Win.
Condemnation of Mullins is not the end. After the condemnation of Mullins then comes the condemnation of racing period. There is an agenda at work here. The anonymous comments on these on-line articles referring to how most racehorses are routinely abused while they are in training is troubling. Yes these things do happen in isolated incidents but the game is being defiled as a activity filled with abuse and cruelty by people who have never been near a barn and surely have never mucked a stall. Racing has made tremendous strides to clean up the game. There is a stereotype that racing is a very dirty game and that the racetrack is a dirty place. Like many stereotypes there is some truth to the matter but the facts are being exaggerated to make the make the story fit into the anti-racing agenda.
Tell someone you are a horseplayer in New York and they will turn up their nose to you. The
assumption is that you are a degenerate gambler through horse racing betting, disgustingly profane and a low-life. It is a ridiculous assumption but these stereotypes help simple people navigate the complex social landscapes where snap judgment decisions must be made with limited information. Simple people are applying the same stereotypes to Jeff Mullins. The way Mullins is being dragged through the mud is a foreshadowing of how the game will be dragged through the mud. Forces and agendas are building to remove horse racing from the American tapestry.
The public beating that Mullins is bearing is the same beating that horse racing has been taking for many years. Isolated examples are blown out of proportion while the beauty and positive parts of the game, the hard work and love for the animals is completely ignored. Do you really think all of the horses in Mullins barn are abused and drugged to win races? Why is it that Michael Matz is the national spokesperson for Air Power yet his name has not been soiled in any of this? Is it because Mullins grew up riding at bush tracks and Matz is a high-class dressage legend? Does Mullins only employ only animal abusers? The almost unanimous condemnation against Mullins is beyond all reason and could only survive in the preposterous bleating of the flock of sheep against indoctrinated into shunning anything not politically correct.
Many people want to see racing go away and those giving inordinate amounts of coverage to this sensational story are feeding the fires for the extremists like PETA who do not understand the complexities or appeal of horse racing. These people deal in half-truths , sound bites and sensationalism which has been produced by the lot this week. The articles appearing in the mainstream and extremist press are riddled with errors or poor information. If they can not get the minor details correct they are surely wrong on the big picture. The deluge of negative information from on-line racing sources and bloggers with good intentions are feeding the frenzy that will look to besmirch the game during the upcoming triple crown season. In this deluge of negative information there is but a trickle of attention on how this may be the best crop of three year olds to emerge in the decade. It is like good sense and perception have yielded to cheap attention and the sheep mentality.
Few things in life are black or white, good or bad but Mullins almost universally denigrated all bad. He is like the Emmanuel Goldstein of racing, the boogieman that Big Brother uses so the masses have a target to direct their angst towards. The sensationalists have had a field day dragging out Mullins violation record. Yes there are offenses there but when we are dealing with the numbers of horses Mullins has in his care the numbers are skewed. While he is besmirched as a cheater most of the violations are for racing office violations like scratching a horse without permission or paperwork issues. There is a difference between cheating and the violations in Mullins record.
Mullins has a green light on his head for abuse, he is one of the few people in racing that can openly be abused without consequence. Like Mullins horse racing is one of the sports that can be openly abused in the mainstream without consequence. A combination of success, working class background, frank talk to reporters and past offenses have landed Mullins squarely in the cross heirs of the sensationalists. Racing's use of animals for gambling have landed in the crossheirs of the politically correct and the animal rights extremists.
Frank talk never gets you very far when talking to the masses and when Mullins called horseplayers idiots he displayed a lack of media savvy and tact. Sometimes frank talk like this is very helpful. The game has ridden itself of steroids due to the frankness of Rick Dutrow. America needs more frank talk and less smiling liars. America needs less sensationalism and more good racing.
The derby story lines are being buried and it seems like the buzz surrounding the derby will focus on the soiled name of Jeff Mullins. It is not enough that his horse was scratched from the Bay Shore, he has to be publicly humiliated and repeatedly flogged in blog after blog and article after article. He was wrong to do this in the security barn. Mullins will have his hearing and punishment will be doled out. The sensationalists must have their public stoning as they gather around and squeal in pleasure as stone after stone is applied. The reaction is outrageous and not based in reason. For them the application of an all-natural product sold in tack stores is proof that Mullins is a dirty cheater/pharmacist that has concoction after concoction of secret substances that make horses run at the front of the pack like machines. The fact that he has been winning horses racing since he was seventeen years old is not considered. Backstretch backstabbing may also be at work here. Reason and fairness have been scratched from the race alongside Gato Go Win.
Condemnation of Mullins is not the end. After the condemnation of Mullins then comes the condemnation of racing period. There is an agenda at work here. The anonymous comments on these on-line articles referring to how most racehorses are routinely abused while they are in training is troubling. Yes these things do happen in isolated incidents but the game is being defiled as a activity filled with abuse and cruelty by people who have never been near a barn and surely have never mucked a stall. Racing has made tremendous strides to clean up the game. There is a stereotype that racing is a very dirty game and that the racetrack is a dirty place. Like many stereotypes there is some truth to the matter but the facts are being exaggerated to make the make the story fit into the anti-racing agenda.
Tell someone you are a horseplayer in New York and they will turn up their nose to you. The
assumption is that you are a degenerate gambler through horse racing betting, disgustingly profane and a low-life. It is a ridiculous assumption but these stereotypes help simple people navigate the complex social landscapes where snap judgment decisions must be made with limited information. Simple people are applying the same stereotypes to Jeff Mullins. The way Mullins is being dragged through the mud is a foreshadowing of how the game will be dragged through the mud. Forces and agendas are building to remove horse racing from the American tapestry.
The public beating that Mullins is bearing is the same beating that horse racing has been taking for many years. Isolated examples are blown out of proportion while the beauty and positive parts of the game, the hard work and love for the animals is completely ignored. Do you really think all of the horses in Mullins barn are abused and drugged to win races? Why is it that Michael Matz is the national spokesperson for Air Power yet his name has not been soiled in any of this? Is it because Mullins grew up riding at bush tracks and Matz is a high-class dressage legend? Does Mullins only employ only animal abusers? The almost unanimous condemnation against Mullins is beyond all reason and could only survive in the preposterous bleating of the flock of sheep against indoctrinated into shunning anything not politically correct.
Many people want to see racing go away and those giving inordinate amounts of coverage to this sensational story are feeding the fires for the extremists like PETA who do not understand the complexities or appeal of horse racing. These people deal in half-truths , sound bites and sensationalism which has been produced by the lot this week. The articles appearing in the mainstream and extremist press are riddled with errors or poor information. If they can not get the minor details correct they are surely wrong on the big picture. The deluge of negative information from on-line racing sources and bloggers with good intentions are feeding the frenzy that will look to besmirch the game during the upcoming triple crown season. In this deluge of negative information there is but a trickle of attention on how this may be the best crop of three year olds to emerge in the decade. It is like good sense and perception have yielded to cheap attention and the sheep mentality.
Few things in life are black or white, good or bad but Mullins almost universally denigrated all bad. He is like the Emmanuel Goldstein of racing, the boogieman that Big Brother uses so the masses have a target to direct their angst towards. The sensationalists have had a field day dragging out Mullins violation record. Yes there are offenses there but when we are dealing with the numbers of horses Mullins has in his care the numbers are skewed. While he is besmirched as a cheater most of the violations are for racing office violations like scratching a horse without permission or paperwork issues. There is a difference between cheating and the violations in Mullins record.
Mullins has a green light on his head for abuse, he is one of the few people in racing that can openly be abused without consequence. Like Mullins horse racing is one of the sports that can be openly abused in the mainstream without consequence. A combination of success, working class background, frank talk to reporters and past offenses have landed Mullins squarely in the cross heirs of the sensationalists. Racing's use of animals for gambling have landed in the crossheirs of the politically correct and the animal rights extremists.
Frank talk never gets you very far when talking to the masses and when Mullins called horseplayers idiots he displayed a lack of media savvy and tact. Sometimes frank talk like this is very helpful. The game has ridden itself of steroids due to the frankness of Rick Dutrow. America needs more frank talk and less smiling liars. America needs less sensationalism and more good racing.
05 November 2008
Dog Racing Banned In Mass
A ballot measure passed in Massachusetts banning hound racing. Thoroughbreds will be on their hit list next. (check out the comments) In their eyes there is too much abuse in racing and banning it will make them feel really good about themselves. If there was a vote about thoroughbred racing in any of the liberal states along the coast it is a possibility that the flats could be shut down in places like Boston or Delaware. A government authority with a racino that wants to eliminate an unprofitable horseracing operation could manipulate this sentiment to its favor. While some would view the shuttering of Suffolk downs or Belmont Park as an injustice others will feel really good about it. Yet for those in power it will open up the door for the government to step in and fill yet another void.
To the common liberal type lacking experience in hard work or adversity racing is all about greed and fat cats. The complex racing traditions, hundreds of years in age and the hard work associated with racing are completely foreign concepts to most of these people. What they know is Barbaro, Eight Belles and whatever soundbite that reaches them through the media. The trainers, grooms and hardworking people working in racing are isolated from much of the population. The many groups and caring owners that save and care for retired racehorses are not known. The subject of horseracing was not covered at tennis lessons, MTV at indy rock concerts or in college. Racing fell out of the mainstream sports universe when TV favorable sports like football began to dominate at the down of the TV age. Racing needs to aquire political correctness in today's world.
The only thing many people know about racing is the cruelty of the whip and the troubling breakdowns. Unlike an organic frozen dinner horse racing makes them feel really bad about themselves. Horses are hurt, people that could take a nice job like them in a climate controlled environment are forced to work really hard and risk life and limb. The hard work associated with racing, the mucking of stalls, the smell of horse manure and the inserting of thermometers in a horses anus at 4am is completely foreign to these people who have been protected from this type of hard work. Racing has not been a part of most peoples lives in places like Boston or Manhattan where the life cycle starts with mommy and daddy protecting them and moves on to the carefree joys of college and then the office job making $100K+. This makes racing a target as it is a working class sub-culture which does does not fit into the modern culture of the crusading, do-gooder liberal. The fate of dog racing in Mass could be the fate fo racing as well.
The handicapping/wagering part of horseracing is really hard for most people to fathom. Handicapping horse racing is a sub-culture that is looked down upon in places like Manhattan or Boston. The fact that wagering is a game of skill where money moves from the losers to to the experienced well financed sharpies is an anti-liberal concept. Wealth re-distribution is not supposed to work like this. In their minds racing has to go and the cruelty and degenerate wagering has to go. In states from Massachusetts south to New York and in places like Oregon or California a horse racing ban is a reality in the next eight years if it could make to a ballot issue.
While a ban on racing would decimate tax revenues initially it could open the door for greater government control of wagering dollars. The profitable casinos are already in place at many racetracks. The racino is like the old automat restaurant opening up a McDonalds right inside of it's main location. When 95% of your customers are now eating Big Macs why continue subsidizing the part of your business where people have to pull a soggy tuna melt out of a dirty plastic machine. It would be very easy to eliminate the racetracks attached to these government controlled tax machine racinos. Public sentiment could easily be manipulated to close a track like Philadelphia Park and expand the profitable casino attached to it.
As a substitute for the lost racing tax money collected from horseplayers the Ministry Of Entertainment could program and computerize racing. Instead of employing grooms to rub horses and exercise riders to risk their lives working horses the game will become a computerized simulation of what it once was. Government has expanded like this in the past annexing the numbers game from independent civilian operators and calling it lotto. With racing banned it could become a government controlled an on-line game with no actual horse, trainers or grooms. These simulations are already available. Wagering will be run by the ministry of entertainment and taxed at 50% like other government parasite games like lotto. The proceeds will be split between parasitic programs with the rest being annexed by those in the party elite. This could happen in1984 2014 or 2024.
Banning horse racing is a very real possibility in the next decade in places like Boston or Delaware. The sad part is that the trill of a stretch duel or the gameness of a horse like Holy Bull would be snuffed out for future generations. The beauty grace and knowledge gained from working with these magnificent creatures would be terminated.
Many people feel that they are just smarter than you and dictating what is best for everyone makes them feel really good about themselves. The 72 year old history of dog racing in New England is soon to be history. What will happen to those dogs? Who knows what will happen to those dogs but the fact that tens of thousands of Massachusetts voters feel like they did a good thing by pushing a button. For these people banning dog racing requires no effort but it provided lots of good feelings about themselves. It is only a matter of time before horse racing will come under attack from these do-gooders. It is imperative that horseracing aligns its humane ducks in a row. It is only a matter of time before racing is attacked from the left.
To the common liberal type lacking experience in hard work or adversity racing is all about greed and fat cats. The complex racing traditions, hundreds of years in age and the hard work associated with racing are completely foreign concepts to most of these people. What they know is Barbaro, Eight Belles and whatever soundbite that reaches them through the media. The trainers, grooms and hardworking people working in racing are isolated from much of the population. The many groups and caring owners that save and care for retired racehorses are not known. The subject of horseracing was not covered at tennis lessons, MTV at indy rock concerts or in college. Racing fell out of the mainstream sports universe when TV favorable sports like football began to dominate at the down of the TV age. Racing needs to aquire political correctness in today's world.
The only thing many people know about racing is the cruelty of the whip and the troubling breakdowns. Unlike an organic frozen dinner horse racing makes them feel really bad about themselves. Horses are hurt, people that could take a nice job like them in a climate controlled environment are forced to work really hard and risk life and limb. The hard work associated with racing, the mucking of stalls, the smell of horse manure and the inserting of thermometers in a horses anus at 4am is completely foreign to these people who have been protected from this type of hard work. Racing has not been a part of most peoples lives in places like Boston or Manhattan where the life cycle starts with mommy and daddy protecting them and moves on to the carefree joys of college and then the office job making $100K+. This makes racing a target as it is a working class sub-culture which does does not fit into the modern culture of the crusading, do-gooder liberal. The fate of dog racing in Mass could be the fate fo racing as well.
The handicapping/wagering part of horseracing is really hard for most people to fathom. Handicapping horse racing is a sub-culture that is looked down upon in places like Manhattan or Boston. The fact that wagering is a game of skill where money moves from the losers to to the experienced well financed sharpies is an anti-liberal concept. Wealth re-distribution is not supposed to work like this. In their minds racing has to go and the cruelty and degenerate wagering has to go. In states from Massachusetts south to New York and in places like Oregon or California a horse racing ban is a reality in the next eight years if it could make to a ballot issue.
While a ban on racing would decimate tax revenues initially it could open the door for greater government control of wagering dollars. The profitable casinos are already in place at many racetracks. The racino is like the old automat restaurant opening up a McDonalds right inside of it's main location. When 95% of your customers are now eating Big Macs why continue subsidizing the part of your business where people have to pull a soggy tuna melt out of a dirty plastic machine. It would be very easy to eliminate the racetracks attached to these government controlled tax machine racinos. Public sentiment could easily be manipulated to close a track like Philadelphia Park and expand the profitable casino attached to it.
As a substitute for the lost racing tax money collected from horseplayers the Ministry Of Entertainment could program and computerize racing. Instead of employing grooms to rub horses and exercise riders to risk their lives working horses the game will become a computerized simulation of what it once was. Government has expanded like this in the past annexing the numbers game from independent civilian operators and calling it lotto. With racing banned it could become a government controlled an on-line game with no actual horse, trainers or grooms. These simulations are already available. Wagering will be run by the ministry of entertainment and taxed at 50% like other government parasite games like lotto. The proceeds will be split between parasitic programs with the rest being annexed by those in the party elite. This could happen in
Banning horse racing is a very real possibility in the next decade in places like Boston or Delaware. The sad part is that the trill of a stretch duel or the gameness of a horse like Holy Bull would be snuffed out for future generations. The beauty grace and knowledge gained from working with these magnificent creatures would be terminated.
Many people feel that they are just smarter than you and dictating what is best for everyone makes them feel really good about themselves. The 72 year old history of dog racing in New England is soon to be history. What will happen to those dogs? Who knows what will happen to those dogs but the fact that tens of thousands of Massachusetts voters feel like they did a good thing by pushing a button. For these people banning dog racing requires no effort but it provided lots of good feelings about themselves. It is only a matter of time before horse racing will come under attack from these do-gooders. It is imperative that horseracing aligns its humane ducks in a row. It is only a matter of time before racing is attacked from the left.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
