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samvanga@aol.com (SamVanga) wrote in message news:<20040508105723.00117.00001039@mb-m12.aol.com>...
Hello Sam Vanga
I think you have definitely missed the boat on this one. Allow me to
elaborate below.
> ......
>
> Then I found the article "A Quick Jaunt North" by Mr. Brooking. The subject
> was a trip to a Canadian event. However, he made several needless, and just
> purely snotty comments about U.S. Customs officers.
*NJH: You have completely missed the true nature and purpose of the
article. You don't know Mr Brooking and yet you launch this
unwarranted attack. You've taken his words and phrases completely out
of context and misattributed all sorts of nefarious motives and
meanings to his words, phrases, and the article. This is not what a
rational, prudent, and reasonable person does when they take issue
with the writings of another person. There are more civilized methods
for taking exception to the writings of another.
> Since I happen to have friends in the service I am considerably better
> informed
> about the service than is the author of those snotty comments (ex. "...but
> borders alsways make me nervous. Granted, the Canadian border has always been
> a bit easier than the U.S. given that they sit in their booths and ask probing
> questions rather than swaggering out to your car with prominently displayed
> sidearms..." "...and telling the nice man (he looked to be of East Indian
> extraction, why are ours always big white guys with short hair?)..."
>
> Given how many of my Customs friends are female and/or East Indian, Black,
> Hispanic, Asian, or some combination of the above, the author kinda pissed me
> off with his irrelevant yet snotty and ignorant commentary.
*NJH: As opposed to your "irrelevant yet snotty and ignorant
commentary" about a person you don't know.
> Still, I read on to the end in which he is again snotty about the Customs
> officers, despite polite interest in his trip. "But when I got to the border
> guard it got worse, when he heard about the topy soldier convention, he asked
> what scale. I mentioned 25mm and he looked at me blankly (but not
> unmenacingly) for a couple of seconds and then said "Oh, those metals... I do
> 1/32 Tamayas myself."
> Another reference to the guns follows along with a comment about never knowing
> why he was allowed to proceed scot free.
*NJH: Many gamers in the Northwest have been moving North and South
for decades (I started in 1971). We all have dozens of stories and
anecdotes about our border crossings. I have my own extensive
collection of good, bad, and ugly stories of border crossings.
Contrary to what you may think the people watching our borders are
human, therefore they are not perfect. For the most part they do a
first rate job, but they do have their fifth rate moments.
> First off, I really did not expect much from Mr. Brooking given his
> self-important reference to listening to Al Franken while driving both to and
> from the event.
*NJH: It's his money and his time, if he wishes to waste it listening
to Franken that's his right as an American. If he had been listening
to Rush, would you have made some petty remark about listening to drug
addicts?
> Then, the use of words (ex. "border guard" rather than Customs
> and Border Protection Officer -or some contraction therof-, or Customs
> Inspector) demonstrated his sheer ignorance.
*NJH: I've crossed the border in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Michigan,
and Maine. The colloquial phrase is "Border Guard" and there is
nothing demaning or disrespectful in the use of such phrase. I don't
get apoplectic when people write Justice Scalia instead of his correct
title Associate Justice Scalia. And, I don't come unglued when people
say Supreme Court or US Supreme Court when the official and correct
title is Supreme Court of the United States.
> His constant whining about the U.S. Customs' guns was nothing short amazing
> stupidity. Had he crossed the border just a few miles east of his route, he
> could have seen the Kenneth G. Ward Border Station, named for the Customs
> Inspector killed in the line of duty there (fallen Customs and Immigration
> officers are listed at the Law Enforcement Memorial).
*NJH: Have you considered the possibility he might have a very good
reason for being concerned, even fearful of firearms? I suspect No. He
may or may not have a reason, but the fact is that you didn't bother
to ask.
> But what really pissed me off about his article was not his personal
> ignorance, stupidity, and self-assumed smug arrogance. It was the lack of
> editing by the publishing body. The group could have at least had the
> courtesy to thank the people belittled by the article, or told the puke to
> stay on topic in the first place.
*NJH: Freedom of Speech is cherished in NHMGS and my own position on
censorship is well documented. The Editor of the NHMGS Citadel has my
full confidence and my full support. If you think you can do a better
job as Editor of the Citadel, join NHMGS and volunteer to be the
Citadel Editor. If the NHMGS BOD thinks you'll do a better job than
the current Editor, they'll give you the job, in fact the current
Editor may be only too happy to divest himself of the responsibility.
If you don't like things, there is a mechanism for change.
> As it is, I would rather continue to hang out with my friends serving thier
> country even if our hobbies are different. Than associate with people who
> belittle those who serve for selfish and ignorant reasons (or the people who
> care so little they don't even comment in their publication).
*NJH: This is rhetorical polemics. For almost 35 years I've had to
cope with the boorish attitudes of people toward, and the humiliating
and denigrating image of, my generation's military service. People who
serve selfishly don't do it for thanks or recognition, we have our own
private reasons for doing it.
> For what little good I expect, I am also mailing this to the e-mail addresses
> noted for the group's officers.
*NJH: This is baloney, you haven't allowed the NHMGS Officer's a
chance to evaluate your concerns and respond to them. If you were
genuinely interested in a response you would have waited for one, but
you didn't. And, now, by publishing this philipic here you eliminate
the possibility for having your missive appear in the Citadel
(copyright infringements). Now we'll never know how they may have
responded to your missive because you have robbed them of an
opportunity to do so.
Did you submit a rebuttal letter to the Editor? Did you send a
rebuttal article to the Editor? Did you try to contact Mr Brooking
regarding your concerns about the slights you perceived in his
article? No, you didn't do anything rational, prudent, or reasonable.
You immediately went to one of our hobby's high profile public forums
to electronically lynch a man you do not know for the most specious of
reasons. What you have done is entirely antithetical to the manner in
which the overwhelming majority of the gamers in the Northwest conduct
themselves in our hobby. You can't possibly imagine how badly you
misunderstand Mr Brooking's article, the Editor, NHMGS leadership, the
NHMGS membership, and the gamers of the Pacific Northwest.
My apologies to one and all for my intemperant post. However, I cannot
allow Mr Vanga's completely erroneous assessment of Mr Brooking's
article, the Editor, NHMGS leadership, the NHMGS membership, and the
gamers of the Pacific Northwest to go unanswered.
I say again, you perceive that which does not exist. I strongly
encourage you to reread the article and re-examine that which you
disparage in the proper context of the entire article.
I do not know how Mr Brooking or other members of NHMGS will respond,
if at all. They are free to express their own opinions. IMHO - You
have definitely missed the boat on this one.
Cheers
NJH
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