From my little observation I'm not sure there was as much conspiracy to cheat as there were certain individuals who wanted everyone to THINK there was an elite conspiracy, and they were one of the elite controlling it.
So, while these little sewing circles of guys calling each other, writing each other, having secret meetings, etc etc discussing who should win what, who is an approved contender, etc etc didn't really decide anything as much as it made the people doing the talking feel important.
There was a lot of that.
This is a parody, right? Because it's funny.
I am not even sure who you are talking about, but I can assure you that no one *I* know of did anything like this. The only conspiracy to win I ever participated in involved coaching, learning to trim, and learning to set up engines! And of course competing against each other. I imagine you believe Ted to be our ringleader- and Ted (and Bill) were the ones telling David and I not to bother with the side issues and go try to fly better!
I will admit to having some epic-length discussions/arguments with Shareen over things like tossing high/low and how to do the judge selections. It was based on two motives - ensuring the most objective contest possible AND protecting the judges and organizers from attacks and snide commentary as exhibited above.
If anyone sits around thinking they are somehow influencing the outcome, or that someone else is influencing the outcome, by lobbying, glad-handing, etc, they are both deluding themselves AND wasting a lot of valuable time that could be spent in more useful pursuits. Airclassicx/Dennis is providing a remarkable example of the kind of delusion I am talking about, and I know he is hardly alone.
For the layperson and even some moderately experienced competitors, people watch the flights among the top competitors, they all look just about the same and nearly perfect, and there's no apparent correlation between the rankings and the flights. Competitors with moderate experience might be the worst case, because they have overcome most of the gross errors and don't yet see the smaller errors.
In reality, most stunt flights contain large numbers of obvious mistakes, even in the Walker flyoff. Obvious if you know what to look for, but borderline invisible to most. If they are invisible, there's no way to explain the results, and therefore there *must be* some other reason the winners win, lobbying, old boys club, etc. And of course, if someone points out this fact, they are dismissed as part of the conspiracy, so of course they say silly thing like "there is no sekrit kabal', and "go practice more" to keep up the illusion.
It's like the UFO people - there's no legitimate evidence of flying saucer people, and the government and other agencies investigate and say there's nothing there. Of course, the more they deny it, the more "obvious" it is that there is a conspiracy and the denials are used as evidence. You have an entire cable channel devoted to this delusion.
Similarly , I am sure that guys like Airclassicx genuinely believe what they are saying, even though it is patently ridiculous. It plays with other people, because these guys are providing "the inside word" making those who hear it one of those who aren't falling for the scam like all those other poor suckers. The more people like me deny it, the more proof they have that they are right!
It's like technical advice - the more you tell people what to do, and how you do something, the more they want to go off and do the exact opposite just to show they aren't one of the mindless drones. I actually *do* use that effect to mess with various people, mostly for entertainment value, and I my conscience is clear because I am in fact providing exactly the sort of information that they need. Not my problem (but pretty entertaining) to see them go off and do something different to prove they know better.
Brett
Topic: Will we ever get REAL modelers in charge of the AMA? (Read 6549 times)