Not Gettin' It

Just received a nasty, somewhat incoherent and rambling email from a woman who attended the Kiwanis show last Saturday. Although she did identify herself (which shows she has more courage than some), I will not identify her here because I do not wish to humiliate her. I am responding here because she used an invalid email address that cannot be delivered to. Anyone who thinks they can attack me or HotKarz and not get a response is not thinking right. And, though a letter like hers would normally have no effect on me, personally, this one does have an effect because she is related to someone I have come to honor and respect, and love like a dad. But in spite of that, I still cannot play favorites. She is so very wrong on so many levels, and I have to speak my piece.

Here are the highlights - I am leaving out all the personal attacks and insults that were in her letter:

1) She said we had identified her friends as individuals who were stuffing the ballot box. We did not. We simply said it happened, and it did. I have no clue where this lady is coming from, because we did not name anyone. It therefore sounds like a guilty conscience speaking.

2) She states that shows have one purpose - to raise money for some "cause", and no one should be concerned with whether or not they are honest. Apparently she does not understand that if folks feel cheated, they won't return. If they don't return, there is no show. No show means NO MONEY for any "good cause". So, just how would that be a good thing?

3) She said the money raised was for handicap accessibility. However, the organizer stated the fundraising was for scholarships.

4) She thought it perfectly fine that a bicycle took first place in the MOTORcycle class. She sees nothing wrong with that, even though integrity would require the trophy go to someone who actually belongs in the class. It has nothing to do with the child or his bike. It has everything to do with the integrity of the show, and not shooting themselves in the foot. Several folks have already expressed that they will not return to any show that so blatantly ignores their own classes.

5) She said the kid should have won simply because he put so much effort into his bike. So, by her standards, if I put enough effort into my GMC pick-up, or even a skateboard, I can enter it into a Mustang class and take the trophy. I think she would do well to remember why shows even have classes in the first place - it is so folks can FAIRLY compete against other vehicles in the SAME CLASS.

6) She asked what have I got to do with it, anyway, so much as to say that no one else has any right to stand up and be counted when something is wrong. I guess she believes that if you see someone robbing a bank, you have no business saying anything if it is not YOUR bank being robbed. NEWSFLASH: when I see something wrong, I'll speak out. If that bothers her, then perhaps she should be less concerned with me and more concerned with her own values.

7) In spite of my breaking down the national standard for Special Interest, word by word, she still says that almost ANY vehicle can be classed Special Interest. She should beef up her comprehension skills before attacking me on that. Very few vehicles fit Special Interest.

8) She complains that we always spin the tires on our PT Cruiser. Gee, I almost hate to say this, but anyone who knows the early PT knows it CAN'T spin tires, unless it's in soft sand or on ice. No, we do not spin the tires or do smokeshows, either. As Sarah Palin would say, she should "stop making stuff up."

9) She says she will "boycott" HotKarz. Not sure how well that will work for her, since HotKarz is not a commercial enterprise and does not have any customers - just readers. And most of our readers seem to be onboard with the honesty thing. The ones that aren't - well, they just don't matter.

She then rambled about me trying to win a "Hemmings Trophy" or some such. Sorry, lady - we never said any such thing; we never tried to win any Hemmings trophy, and we never will. Never even showed a car at a Hemmings show. Never will.

I got the impression from her incoherent letter that she reads 5 words of a post, then inserts a few dozen of her own, perhaps by assumption or letting her imagination go nuts, so that she ends up reading things that just are not there.

In any case, if I thought she could understand, I would explain to her that...

1) Part of my job is to review shows honestly, even if it hurts, and to report what others bring to me to report. I will not stop doing that just so a few dishonest people can continue cheating everyone. I like the Kiwanis. I am friends with some of them and their supporters. And I have supported them myself. But that makes no difference in how I report. I don't play favorites. If I did, HotKarz would have no value to anyone, and no one would be reading this.

2) In several instances, show organizers have ASKED me to review their show, and offer constructive criticism. They understand what this lady does not - that only by finding what is wrong, and making improvements, can they survive in the world of car shows, and make even MORE money for their good cause. There are multiple shows every weekend - only the better shows will survive, and they know it. In fact, the organizer of an upcoming show this weekend has asked me to attend, to LOOK for things that need improvement, and help him figure ways to fix whatever might be wrong so he'll have a better show next year. And more and more show organizers are requesting their free copy of "The Complete Car Show". So, it seems that many of them actually want to put on better shows. One organizer told me this evening that they may go with the books' suggestion of a Split Ballot next year, to help break up the block voting that they, themselves, discovered at their show this year.

3) I do not believe there is ever a legitimate excuse for cheating, nor do I believe there is any such thing as a "little, harmless" cheating. It's like being a little bit pregnant. Whether a person steals one dollar or a million, it is still stealing, and stealing is wrong. Period. Same with cheating. You can dress it up and take it to the dance if you want, but as they say, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's STILL a pig.

The lady made one other error. She said that folks who complain about the cheating are "sucking the life" out of the hobby. I hate to break this to her, but it is the cheaters who are doing that, and have been for decades. They have been feeding on the shows at the expense of the honest folks, like a vampire feeds on the living. That is the entire DEFINITION of poaching - to take something you are not entitled to, depriving everyone else. And poaching, dear lady, was around LONG before HotKarz.

She also said she wants to raise her 4 year old son to be a "good ol' boy". And that is too bad. Most parents want their children to grow up to be independent, to think for themselves and stand up for what is right. That is not the definition of "good ol' boy".

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