Politics

I used to be a competitive baton twirler in junior high and high school. I also dabbled in beauty pageants. Yeah, I know, hard for most people to believe, but it's true. I have the photos to prove it (those are for another day, however).

I think it was because I was such a tomboy when I was younger, I felt I had something to prove when I got a little older. I rememember having these huge scars on my knees from falling down and getting so many scabs as a young child. When I decided to try out for cheerleading, I actually shaved the scars off (no blood was involved, it wasn't gross! But it was damn desperate, don't you agree?). I was so embarassed about my tom-boy-ish-ness. Now I just don't care.

Okay, I was digressing, but you have to have expected that.

Having been involved in these things, I know that politics run rampant. Who do you know? Who should you not admit knowing? Who helped you get here?

So, when we talked about showing goats, the politics were the first thing that came up in discussion, other than the money. It was not like this was a surprise.

Of course, this being our first show, I guess I had hoped that it woudln't rear its ugly head until later in the process. Of course I couldnt' be so lucky!

I raved about this judge well before the show, you can read back in my posts that I give him a lot of credit and I have learned a lot from him outside of the show context. He is very humble and gives back a lot to the "goat community," especially the kids. He really wants the industry to succeed.

I thought he did an outstanding job judging, and not just because we did well. He took time to discuss the pros and cons of each goat, as well as general information. You couldn't really argue with him when he explained his reasons for ranking the goats as he did.

Or so I thought.

You know, there is always one in every crowd. There was a man who happened to have his pens just outside of our pens, with his table and marketing "booth" (illegal) set up as well. That was fine, not worth haggling over. After the show we had a pizza party, and he felt free to bash the judge because he was "only giving grand champion to folks with the last name of xxxx." He said that the judge contradicted himself many times, and that he wasn't the only one who thought so. He said that he brought the same doe last year, and the judge raved about her, but hated her this year (I believe he got a blue ribbon out of her this year, so I wasn't sure about the "hate" comment). He then moved into discussing the association of which I am a member (and I am on the ballot for board election-- the results remain to be seen). He bashed the current leadership, one of the folks happens to be our "mentors" who are partnering with on the does. I defended them the best I could without getting into a fight.

It really makes me mad when I deal with people like that. Who do they think they are, just spewing venom like I am going to agree with everything they say? I hate discussing politics of any sort. People just feel free to spew their opinons to us, and either they don't care what we think and hope we'll not respond (or change our minds to agree with them), or they want to fight. It always seems as though I am the one to smile and nod and try to be diplomatic. Why is it me who is always disengaging, and it seems like others always feel free to bash what I think?

Aside from that, he was trying to sell me any number of four wethers. What in the world do I need with a wether? Everyone needs that one, the one that just hangs around for whatever sentimental reason (ours is Ernie), but aside from that, to spend money on yet another one is just dumb. He then moved into saying that we couldn't take him home because he "seen that you brought them goats over in dog kennels." Um yeah, you "seen" it right, and if you are going to try and mock me about that, than you can f-off because I don't really care what you think about how I get my goats here.

Hell, if I rode them there, it wouldn't matter. They WON. And they beat yours.

It's not gloating, it's a fact.

I'm still sore that he discredited a great judge, because by slamming him, he slammed me indirectly-- it seems like the judge didn't know what he was talking about when he was judging my (or anyone's) animals.

The politics will be even heavier this weekend. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.