Smith Lake Topics: It amazes me...

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	Name:	WSMS -
	Subject:	It amazes me...
	Date:	6/16/2006 4:01:58 PM

Way back when, longtimer made this post: "When you police your own, you make it less necessary for others (law enforcement, and eventually politicians) to do the policing for you.

And of course, this doesn't apply just to "big boaters," or boaters in general; it applies to every interest group there is. If you participate in an activity, eventually somebody somewhere for some reason is going to get upset with you; it's better for everyone if you take measures to head the trouble off at the pass. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting grouped together with the person/people causing the problems, and when that happens, you must serve the same punishment they do... even if you didn't do anything wrong yourself."

In this case, "policing your own" and "heading trouble off at the pass" means standing up to someone who posts "we're loud and obnoxious; get used to it" and saying something like "No, WE aren't; YOU might be, but you don't speak for all of us." But in this case, BBO DID seem to be speaking for all big boat owners (by use of the word "we") and since NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM denied his claims, why should anyone think he didn't speak for them all?

Again, if you're going to let someone else make statements that can be applied to you, you should either make sure to let people know that he does not speak for you, or you should be prepared to accept the criticism such a statement makes. In this case, you chose the second option.