Massive amounts of anti-Canadian hatred | Golden Skate

Massive amounts of anti-Canadian hatred

rain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
I wasn't sure where the appropriate place to post this was, but wanted to address an issue I'm finding with the forum in general. It bothered me a great deal during the Olympics last season and what's going on now in the Skate Canada folder is only building on that.

I am a long-time user of this forum and I used to really enjoy coming here and posting and reading the posts about various skaters. I've argued for my favourite skaters and against results I've found unfair in my time, so I'm not against passionate discourse.

However, I've begun to find the forum a very negative and unfriendly place to come, to the point where I've considered no longer posting here.

The problem is a growing anti-Canadian hatred that to me seems really over-the-top and simply mean-spirited. I've had to read posts recently stating that all of Canada should be ashamed of Patrick Chan, his skating, his results, the scoring of Skate Canada International as a whole, the scoring of the pairs event, the scoring of the Short Dance, the scoring of the ladies short program....the list goes on.

It's merely depressing to come here and read endless vitriol directed against skaters, who don't dictate their own marks, by the way, and my country as a whole. According to many posters here, it seems, Canadian skaters should not even be allowed on the ice. And anytime they actually do well, it must be a conspiracy or some kind of undeserved gift.

Now, I have no problem with folks not liking certain skaters, that's totally your prerogative. But civilized discussion, minus the personal attacks would be much more appreciated. Someone in a thread even went so far as to say flat out they're a "hater." Where's the jumping off point for any kind of conversation about the event?

If this was happening just about one skater that I liked, but others didn't happen to, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but it seems to be a general attitude that's becoming pervasive.

If the general tone of the forum continues on this course, I'm afraid I may quit posting here altogether. I come to post here because I love skating, I love skaters from many different nationalities, and I love having people who also love skating to talk to about it.

Mods, if you feel this is inappropriate, feel free to delete the post.
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
As a Canadian myself, I'd agree that the anti-Canadian sentiments have been rather distressing, but I guess I was even more upset at the scoring of the men's event to really be too distressed.

That being said, it is undeniable that the events of Skate Canada have engendered a fair bit of Canada-bashing, but IMO, the bashing has been limited mostly to a few individual posters (rather than it being a board-wide affair) as the majority of the posters seem more outraged at the scoring/judges/scoring system than at Canada and Canadians as a whole. Moreover, I find that the GS forum usually has an amicable attitude towards Canada the vast majority of the time--all the sound and fury directed at Canada this weekend seems to be a direct result of the perceived scoring injustices at Skate Canada. I feel that the same rage sort of happens whenever a skater/team is felt to be particularly overscored--I'm thinking of the comments made towards Russia and the RSF after the dance event at 2009 Worlds, etc.

So TL;DR: I don't think there is a pervasive anti-Canada attitude at GS, but that people temporarily tend to be rather OTT and overwrought at perceived scoring injustices.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
evangeline, I definitely think you're right. The problem is that while people are willing to give a skater a one fall freebie for a win, most people become angry when there is a 2 fall win, and they get downright mean when there is a three fall win. Patrick Chan just had a four fall win (3 in the short, 1 in the long) over two skaters, Rippon and Oda, who skated very well in the event, who are known as fine skaters, not just jumpers, and who have won events from time to time themselves. This sort of a win calls into question the whole sport for many people, as there is no point watching a sport where the result is completely predetermined, and they cast about for someone to blame. The most important people to blame, of course, are the ones who voted on this year's version of the rules, and last year's version before them & so on. And the judges, who judge program components as nearly identical across the board, when the rules do not support that.

When this sort of thing occurs at an event when the winning, but fall prone, skater is a hometown boy, girl, or team, things get nastier yet.

The Cup of Russia will likely provide examples at the same sort of anger, but aimed at Russians in a couple of weeks.
 

rain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
You're sort of missing my point. My point is that it's not just directed at Patrick Chan and his scoring. If it was, well, let's just say I've seen it before and can ignore it.

But the hatred has spilled into every discipline (you know, like ladies, won by American Alyssa Czisny, and pairs, won by a young Russian team, whose names I'm not going to attempt to spell) and even over into the non-skating world. I mean, how can you have a decent conversation in the ladies thread when you have people saying ridiculous things about Cynthia looking mad in the kiss and cry because she wasn't overscored like she'd been promised?

It's absurd in the extreme, and frankly unpleasant. Especially in an event where only ONE out of THREE disciplines has so far been won by someone from the home country.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
You're sort of missing my point. My point is that it's not just directed at Patrick Chan and his scoring. If it was, well, let's just say I've seen it before and can ignore it.

But the hatred has spilled into every discipline (you know, like ladies, won by American Alyssa Czisny, and pairs, won by a young Russian team, whose names I'm not going to attempt to spell) and even over into the non-skating world. I mean, how can you have a decent conversation in the ladies thread when you have people saying ridiculous things about Cynthia looking mad in the kiss and cry because she wasn't overscored like she'd been promised?

It's absurd in the extreme, and frankly unpleasant. Especially in an event where only ONE out of THREE disciplines has so far been won by someone from the home country.

It's no different than when Russia was the "cheating country" every year in ice dance it spilled to pairs, mens, ladies... Americans get it, too. There's the Eastern Bloc and the N. American bloc, and it hasn't just been a problem this year or last. We've seen the mudslinging every year, and it's no worse than any other year.

Emotions run high, skating fans are over dramatic. I think evageline hit the nail on the head.

It also makes the point moot when, instead of reporting an actual problem, people respond and stir the heat up. It ties our hands as mods because there's not one clear violator. There's a report button for a reason and we DO take each report seriously and discuss it. We are watching the thread, and we are dealing with each case on an individual basis.
 
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