Turning Point 4

So where did all this terrorism and racism mud-slinging start? Last year, I attempted to direct peoples’ attention to the serious problems that the USCF will face globally in the 21st. century. Look for it here.

My main point was that we ought to get ahead of the curve and not just wait upon events. Otherwise, waiting for an event to happen will cause discussions to get sidetracked by whether one is for or against some individual rather than focusing on the issue involved.

This is exactly what happened this week: someone used the name of a particular chess master to manufacture a victim to that he could then fabricate a story that I was attacking him – the “victim” that is.

So, what was it really about? Issues that USCF ought to be working on: Should the USCF . . .
1) . . . encourage chess players to switch affiliations to foreign chess federations? – The “flag of convenience” issue.
2) . . . stand in the place of foreign chess federations and represent chess players who work and live in the US? - On the grounds that they are de-facto US chess players, anyway?
3) . . . Represent players who may have switched allegiances for political reasons? – Risk getting caught up in politics, inadvertently?

These are issues that honest people can have honest disagreements. But in the nasty world of USCF politics, these discussion points becomes mere opportunities to call people “terrorists” and “racists”.


Turning point: If people sling mud like this over topics as benign as the above, then what are they likely to sling against people like Susan and Paul?

------------
See the original post below.