Members of Team USA wish us a happy holiday season.
How do they do that?
I guess the US has advanced technology.
________________________________
*Or PJ, or Barb.
P.S. - I don't think this outreach will go over well - there's no dumb ass catch phrase like "Are you ready."
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Battle-axes have feelings too.
I'm not comfortable with the term battle-axe but in regards to Rosie, nothing more appropos comes to mind. I'd call a guy that if it fit too.
Rosie is a "pundit". She reminds me of a couple (at least) of media types. They want to be heard - fine - but generally couldn't get anyone to listen until they said fuck it and started writing a la Rosie - histronic, melodramatic, vulgar, tacky, cloying, snide, generalizing, personalizing and insensitive all at once. Their "serious" reputation as any type of journalist went into the toilet but it's a way to get attention and a name (and a column) if they dare to be obnoxious enough.
The MO is to speak for the general populace - the not-fancy, working class, common sense members of the public.
But, a Rosie-type "journalist" who writes Rosie-style is often hiding behind the public to grind their own axe.
They also want to be part of the inner circle real, real real bad. But seldom get there unless they've got dirt.
While they themselves write with hobnail boots on, these types are extremely - extremely, extremely, extremely - sensitive to criticism and will lash back like a buzz saw at any perceived criticism from their beloved reading public. Someone stings like a mosquito, a Rosie will come back with a sledgehammer and make it personal. Because she takes it personally.
They're susceptible to flattery - they don't get much and they yearn for it.
I don't know how to describe the type and not give offense but it is a type so here goes - comes on strong, but look at them cross-eyed at the wrong time and depending on the provocation they get weepy and self-pitying or else vicious. They're extremely sensitive - to themselves. They're coarse when it comes to others.
They're not mature, and they need attention and validation anyway they can get it.
Rosie wrote about Virtue/Moir prior to Vancouver. But the tone of her pieces on Virtue/Moir after Vancouver made me suspect Rosie had hoisted a few with the media pool and gotten wise to VM's actual status.
This interested me because Rosie will barrel around tipping over apple carts if she feels like it. I doubted she'd do an expose, but I could envision some heavy-handed Rosie games.
Then I read her post-China-gate Paen to Patrick, and Barb's swift appreciation for something Rosie has never been thanked for in her entire "journalistic" career. Her "sensitivity".
And I saw that Skate Canada had done what they do best - recognize who Rosie is and what she needs to keep everything in-house, and that it would be a good idea to suck up and co-opt her. Rosie is "in".
I'm interested to see how she writes about VM in the future. She plays outside the margins at times. Other writers, for example, are usually cautious and let us know they're describing Virtue and Moir's romantic status based upon what Virtue and Moir say themselves. "They say..." "But Virtue and Moir have always said..." - that type of thing. It's cover. Rosie never bothered with that, she dispensed with attribution and would just wade in and say they had been platonic since the day they met until this very second and no matter how gorgeous they are each has never so much as realized the other was the opposite sex, no never, not ever, and Rosie writes this as if Rosie'd independently verified it herself (I just figured she enjoyed beating "shippers over the head with her emphasis).
But - now I suspect Rosie knows the deal. And I'm curious if she will reiterate. If she does, without being careful to use attribution, she'll be lying. It'll be interesting to see where her lines are.
Scott knows from piss off
This was going to be a comment on another post, then I realized it was a rant. :)
After Sochi, whatever the result, Scott and Tessa are going to be like grifters who hit town, worked everybody over, squeezed people dry, charmed birds out of the trees, then vanished without a trace. They won't apologize, explain or talk about why they exploited fans, played them for suckers, jerked their chains, pushed their buttons, and made the rounds of television shows performing to a script that prompted the interviewer to bring up topics that set up Scott and Tessa to proactively tell another lie. Why? Because, by then, they will have already gotten what they needed out of people and they won't be on figure skating's competitive circuit anymore, dealing with those fans and that public.
Who are their role models? Well, look at those who have been holding the Skate Canada CEO and various Director positions. Those officials are doing the same thing Scott and Tessa are doing vis a vis the public, and - just like with Scott and Tessa - after Sochi, someone else will be holding the bag.
Scott and Tessa appear to have taken a limited rationale for a limited amount of fibbing and used it as a blanket excuse to lie about everything and anything every time they open their mouths.
This is part and parcel of the attitude inside Skate Canada too. It's not uncommon, in a niche public enterprise, for those within it to hate fans. It's a whole lot more common than we'd like to think. The more hands-on TPTB and "talent" (skaters, performers, etc.) have to be with the actual paying public, the more they hate fans as a category. Nice one-on-one, but overall - real disdain. If we're fair and don't over-rationalize, we can kind of see how and why they end up feeling that way.
However, nobody puts a gun to their heads and forces them into the business, so if you're in the business, you have to get over it, suck it up, be professional, and MOST OF ALL, do the job in good faith.
I think Wilkes and MacDonald, and likely the others - hate fans. But do the job in good faith? They don't. They barely pretend.
What is their cause? Is it figure skating? No.
They're not out for figure skating; they're out for themselves. Debbi comes aboard and one perk of her "job" package appears to have been getting her own personal showcase, her own network to get her face on camera at every opportunity. This is how Skatebuzz launched. Debbi is allowed to actually find pretexts to get her face on camera (some of those numbing interviews with former skaters). Skatebuzz is set up to showcase Debbi. That's how it's been, and seems its real purpose, even if Debbi does lie low from time to time. She always gets her face back out in front during the highest profile Canadian events - times when you'd think she'd be far too busy doing that Business Development job of hers.
It's a terrible web site and isn't offering much to the fans. It's offered a lot of Debbi.
Then there's Barb MacDonald, who puts out a newsletter and tweets, rips off someone else's style, and who had no idea how to promote HPC until she saw how the USFSA was doing Champs Camp.
Why not? Didn't she give that any thought? Or was she too busy creating the impression that HPC was some type of crisis-driven news format requiring scrums that she, Barb, needed to oversee?
Media-wise, HPC was a Barb showcase - definitely not a skater showcase, and did little for fans. Then she takes to twitter to promote herself, piggybacking off Virtue and Moir's gold - which she treats as a media crisis - and the death of Joanne's mom - which she treats as a media challenge she, Barb, met with flying colors. Considering the state of Skate Canada, I thought Barb's self-promotion initiative took big balls, in a not good way.
Hubris is not something Skate Canada's personnel are lacking. They're out for themselves. Self-interest is a big motivator. They're not spending their energy on the organization; they're using the organization for self-promotion. The organization is an invalid under their stewardship. They get more out of Skate Canada than the figure skaters get from Skate Canada. They've set it up like that.
Fans are even left holding the bag for poor box office and a dearth of sponsorship. What Patrick Chan said is what the officials at SC want people to believe. Why else would they make such a huge show of outrage over his comments getting out there? It wasn't that big a deal. They pumped it up. It was a set up. It was the message they wanted, and then they posture about oh the humanity, that's not how we feel or how Patrick feels!
Sure it is. It's all our fault. It's not the fault of the Skate Canada officials, too busy feathering their own nests to build a functional corporate infrastructure, too busy bullshitting the great unwashed, too busy putting cronies in important corporate positions to do real work. All that stuff is what they're entitled to do. They've earned the right to use that organization for self-aggrandizement. It's us who are falling down on the job. We should have been way more excited about figure skating after the Olympics. Figure skating should have sold itself.
I think what Scott and Tessa do is okay if they only did what they needed to do to protect their privacy. But they got ambitious. They also do it (lie) - proactively. To squeeze money out of the public. That takes balls - to appear before the public with a book of lies, declaring this is a unique opportunity to look at the reality behind the "barrier" - when the book is another barrier. They know it's going to come out down the line. They can't hide til they're both dead. So it seems to me they don't plan on being around when the truth is out. They'll be long gone.
It's not necessary to write a book at age 21 and 22. Who decided to market a book rooted in fundamental lies? What does that have to do with privacy? Nothing. It's entitlement. Well shit, we can make money off a book and promote Skate Canada, but we don't want to tell real stuff. Okay, we're entitled to lie. We'll sell that, and sell our sincerity too. Who would brag on their sincerity while selling bullshit?
People inside Skate Canada, including Scott and Tessa. People with toxic hubris.
Then there's the final piece, which is willful ignorance and entitlement in how they get their lies out there. They'll do it from instinct, and their instincts are immature and unprofessional. Their instincts tell them to jerk the public's chains because VM (and those around them, including those with Skate Canada) are ignorant and don't care to educate themselves about how to do this stuff better, because they're above all that and have other priorites - like self-promotion. There's only so many hours in the day, people.
And because the cause of figure skating is noble, and in the interests of promoting figure skating in Canada making absolute fools of people is just fine. That's the fig leaf, anyway.
They are able to do this because they've accurately judged their audience as being either too gullible to suspect their chains are being jerked, or too polite to call them out. The contrast between the absolutely unctuous Canadian fan ass kissing and the actual baiting, gotcha, staging and hoaxing of these same fans, all the while selling it with a persona of earnest young folks, is a real piss off.
After Sochi, whatever the result, Scott and Tessa are going to be like grifters who hit town, worked everybody over, squeezed people dry, charmed birds out of the trees, then vanished without a trace. They won't apologize, explain or talk about why they exploited fans, played them for suckers, jerked their chains, pushed their buttons, and made the rounds of television shows performing to a script that prompted the interviewer to bring up topics that set up Scott and Tessa to proactively tell another lie. Why? Because, by then, they will have already gotten what they needed out of people and they won't be on figure skating's competitive circuit anymore, dealing with those fans and that public.
Who are their role models? Well, look at those who have been holding the Skate Canada CEO and various Director positions. Those officials are doing the same thing Scott and Tessa are doing vis a vis the public, and - just like with Scott and Tessa - after Sochi, someone else will be holding the bag.
Scott and Tessa appear to have taken a limited rationale for a limited amount of fibbing and used it as a blanket excuse to lie about everything and anything every time they open their mouths.
This is part and parcel of the attitude inside Skate Canada too. It's not uncommon, in a niche public enterprise, for those within it to hate fans. It's a whole lot more common than we'd like to think. The more hands-on TPTB and "talent" (skaters, performers, etc.) have to be with the actual paying public, the more they hate fans as a category. Nice one-on-one, but overall - real disdain. If we're fair and don't over-rationalize, we can kind of see how and why they end up feeling that way.
However, nobody puts a gun to their heads and forces them into the business, so if you're in the business, you have to get over it, suck it up, be professional, and MOST OF ALL, do the job in good faith.
I think Wilkes and MacDonald, and likely the others - hate fans. But do the job in good faith? They don't. They barely pretend.
What is their cause? Is it figure skating? No.
They're not out for figure skating; they're out for themselves. Debbi comes aboard and one perk of her "job" package appears to have been getting her own personal showcase, her own network to get her face on camera at every opportunity. This is how Skatebuzz launched. Debbi is allowed to actually find pretexts to get her face on camera (some of those numbing interviews with former skaters). Skatebuzz is set up to showcase Debbi. That's how it's been, and seems its real purpose, even if Debbi does lie low from time to time. She always gets her face back out in front during the highest profile Canadian events - times when you'd think she'd be far too busy doing that Business Development job of hers.
It's a terrible web site and isn't offering much to the fans. It's offered a lot of Debbi.
Then there's Barb MacDonald, who puts out a newsletter and tweets, rips off someone else's style, and who had no idea how to promote HPC until she saw how the USFSA was doing Champs Camp.
Why not? Didn't she give that any thought? Or was she too busy creating the impression that HPC was some type of crisis-driven news format requiring scrums that she, Barb, needed to oversee?
Media-wise, HPC was a Barb showcase - definitely not a skater showcase, and did little for fans. Then she takes to twitter to promote herself, piggybacking off Virtue and Moir's gold - which she treats as a media crisis - and the death of Joanne's mom - which she treats as a media challenge she, Barb, met with flying colors. Considering the state of Skate Canada, I thought Barb's self-promotion initiative took big balls, in a not good way.
Hubris is not something Skate Canada's personnel are lacking. They're out for themselves. Self-interest is a big motivator. They're not spending their energy on the organization; they're using the organization for self-promotion. The organization is an invalid under their stewardship. They get more out of Skate Canada than the figure skaters get from Skate Canada. They've set it up like that.
Fans are even left holding the bag for poor box office and a dearth of sponsorship. What Patrick Chan said is what the officials at SC want people to believe. Why else would they make such a huge show of outrage over his comments getting out there? It wasn't that big a deal. They pumped it up. It was a set up. It was the message they wanted, and then they posture about oh the humanity, that's not how we feel or how Patrick feels!
Sure it is. It's all our fault. It's not the fault of the Skate Canada officials, too busy feathering their own nests to build a functional corporate infrastructure, too busy bullshitting the great unwashed, too busy putting cronies in important corporate positions to do real work. All that stuff is what they're entitled to do. They've earned the right to use that organization for self-aggrandizement. It's us who are falling down on the job. We should have been way more excited about figure skating after the Olympics. Figure skating should have sold itself.
I think what Scott and Tessa do is okay if they only did what they needed to do to protect their privacy. But they got ambitious. They also do it (lie) - proactively. To squeeze money out of the public. That takes balls - to appear before the public with a book of lies, declaring this is a unique opportunity to look at the reality behind the "barrier" - when the book is another barrier. They know it's going to come out down the line. They can't hide til they're both dead. So it seems to me they don't plan on being around when the truth is out. They'll be long gone.
It's not necessary to write a book at age 21 and 22. Who decided to market a book rooted in fundamental lies? What does that have to do with privacy? Nothing. It's entitlement. Well shit, we can make money off a book and promote Skate Canada, but we don't want to tell real stuff. Okay, we're entitled to lie. We'll sell that, and sell our sincerity too. Who would brag on their sincerity while selling bullshit?
People inside Skate Canada, including Scott and Tessa. People with toxic hubris.
Then there's the final piece, which is willful ignorance and entitlement in how they get their lies out there. They'll do it from instinct, and their instincts are immature and unprofessional. Their instincts tell them to jerk the public's chains because VM (and those around them, including those with Skate Canada) are ignorant and don't care to educate themselves about how to do this stuff better, because they're above all that and have other priorites - like self-promotion. There's only so many hours in the day, people.
And because the cause of figure skating is noble, and in the interests of promoting figure skating in Canada making absolute fools of people is just fine. That's the fig leaf, anyway.
They are able to do this because they've accurately judged their audience as being either too gullible to suspect their chains are being jerked, or too polite to call them out. The contrast between the absolutely unctuous Canadian fan ass kissing and the actual baiting, gotcha, staging and hoaxing of these same fans, all the while selling it with a persona of earnest young folks, is a real piss off.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Say My Name, Say My Name
This video has little audio-visual merit, but was the most efficient way to look at some of Tessa and Scott's social media/legit media output concurrently, with a particular focus on their "now the truth can be told" book tour.
Ben Mulroney interview
And a piece of this interview:
Book interview
And this:
ETalk Canada
The video below obviously uses facebook photos. It also features cut-up audio segments of Ben Mulroney's interview with Tessa and Scott on E-Talk in December 2010:
(ETA - That's a lot of Jessica.
When Scott and Tessa did their book promotion blitz, the media made out like there was an internet fan frenzy wanting Scott and Tessa to be a couple. The clamor forced media outlets to ask Scott and Tessa about it at every stop.
Yet they somehow missed that, also on the internet, Scott was presenting himself as in a relationship with teammate and fellow Olympian Jessica Dube in an aggressive social media campaign discussed by these same frenzied fans on the same message boards. Shit, some fans wanted Scott and Tessa to be a couple so badly, they were claiming his relationship with Jessica was a big fake, and wars broke out. You'd think maybe this would be part of the discussion on how badly fans wanted them together. There are actually fans that refuse to accept reality from Scott and Jessica’s own facebooks! Ha ha – how do you handle that, Scott?* Is it crazy?
Scott was never asked about Jessica. The media heard all about wanting VM to be a couple, but ignored his longterm relationship with a very well known Canadian figure skater that he was parading all over facebook, inciting fan battles.
Where is a single question asking him about his pairs skater girlfriend?)When I was putting this together and going over interviews, I was struck by how emphatic Scott and Tessa were when talking out of the many different sides of their mouths. And how they smile like cheese-eating monkeys. BOTH bat their eyes.
They really give sociopaths a run for their money.
For me, the most nauseating facet of their pr machine is the faux sincerity, the affect that they're a couple of kids who aren't wordly, are ga ga over everything that's happened, and who bow and scrape at the feet of Canadian fans.
They wrote this book as a treat for the fans. To give fans an opportunity.
Don't you know that normally - this is how the sport is - there is always that barrier between the fans and what's really going on, says Tessa. But they love the fans so much that they did this book as appreciation, and also to help fans understand the real them and their unique bond. For only $29.99, or whatever they were charging, they let down that barrier and showed us what's really going on, including, and most specifically, their relationship. Their platonic relationship. They did it for us.
What at last revealed, and that would cost only $29.99 to keep, was of course:
- They're platonic
- Tessa and Scott did not so much as text message between the time of her first surgery and her return to Canton, and were estranged nearly a year afterwards.
- Steve Milton, the author, has captured their relationship between the covers of that book "very accurately" per Scott.
Plenty of public people have lied their asses off about everything - career intentions, their histories, their relationships, their romantic status, their marital status, their parental status and their financial status. Very few have done so while making a public relations policy of bragging on their incredible sincerity and their humility in front of the folks they were scamming. Generally, even big fat liars have the decency to low ball the big fat lies, or dodge around, instead of running up to their target, prying open their mouths, lifting a funnel and force-feeding.
If Skate Canada is talking they're lying. If Scott and Tessa are talking while smiling - they're lying. When the smiles fade and the "be a clown" Scott disappears, we might be getting at more reality, if not in content, than in tone and attitude.
As a p.s., and something that I didn't use for this video - I know some people felt that on the book tour, Tessa was really kind of generally describing her shin pain during the Olympic year, and it was the media that got all histrionic about it.
Well, I was listening to one interview and while the "count the steps to the cafeteria" story got a lot of play, Tessa also mentions how she had to "count the steps to the refrigerator" and decide if it were worth taking those steps.
Tessa did have residual shin pain that was especially intense after the Farrucas OD but her emphasis on the shin pain is also very helpful to her in a one respect:
That being - gosh, what Tessa is describing is certainly not the body of a woman able to carry any extra - and completely unavoidable were certain life choices made - weight for any period of time - is it? Impossible! Her shins would commit hari kari!
Yeah, she could do worlds, and tour, and fly around doing shows, and jump off Scott's thigh doing the goose, and wear high heels, all prior to when she said her surgery took place, but walking to that fridge - MAN. That smarts.
I also re-realized how many print and television and radio interviews scapegoated fans. How did they learn about the internet fan frenzy over Virtue Moir anyway? Especially since they only got the parts where fans insisted VM get together, and missed the talk about Jessica and Scott and facebook that was everywhere. Nobody said to Scott "Now, you're dating Jessica Dube - another figure skater - does she ever get jealous?" Or - something right up entertainment media's alley - do fans ever get angry with Jessica or say things to her because they want you with Tessa? How does Jessica handle it?
What's a Jessica?
Of course, some of the media didn't independently learn about the fan frenzy over Virtue Moir on the internet at all. A lot of them got it straight from the interview talking points sheet they received from Virtue and Moir in advance of the book and tour plug.
_____________________________
*And knowing how fans operate, it's a safe bet that more than a few of Scott's most ardent fans urgently pm'd him letting him know that a few trolls were insisting his relationship with Jessica is fake, and asking him to directly aver once and for all that Jessica was his girlfriend - to clear it up on the record or directly address fans from his facebook.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Oh okay, it's the Canadian people's fault
Patrick Chan stirred up a hornet's nest in more than one spot with his recent remarks about CANADA not supporting figure skating.
And here I thought Canada was such a fabulous figure skating country, much better than say, the United States.
I'll say up front I think everything Patrick said is part of Skate Canada's own internal spin. I.e.: It's the public's fault the sponsorship situation is bleak. Patrick just parroted it in his own comments. William Thompson rushed to blame the Globe & Mail and demand an apology, but I believe this "the public doesn't support our skaters even as good as CHINA" bullshit is Skate Canada's attempt to spin the fact that its business development "department" is a house of cards. I think even the sleepiest of SC members must be wondering WTF at this point (where's the title sponsor on the horizon), so cue the excuses.
I just don't understand why Skate Canada's Director of Business Development is interviewing, playing the role of talent at an international competition. Anyone who knows what the job entails knows a real one would be doing anything but.
Business Development isn't a a job that leaves room for being Team Leader of the skating team during an OLYMPICS while serving as the talking head on Skatebuzz for every high profile skating event during the season. Debbi's not doing that job.
Well - she is doing her real job. Being Director of Business Development is her fake job.
The reason she has time for all the other crap is she doesn't know how to do the job she supposedly has, isn't expected to do it, nor qualified. She doesn't do it, and hasn't done it.
Just blame the Canadian public for any economic failures. We already know what they think of the Canadian public every time we look at photos or wall posts from Jessica Dube's first facebook page, every time we see video from Canadian competitions at 2009-2010 - or look at Ryan Semple sitting next to Tessa at this season's SC.
I think SC wasn't at all surprised by what Patrick said because I believe they've been saying it to any skating parents or media that question them, to the skaters themselves, to the entire infrastructure. NOT OUR FAULT.
Another flag - Skate Canada's swift response to "manage" what Patrick said. Including Rosie DiManno out today with a kiss-ass piece on the apparent "controversy" that the Big Bad Globe & Mail so unfairly created by taking Patrick out of context. And then Barb MacDonald kissing Rosie's ass. It's very over the top - so very like Skate Canada when they're running bullshit.
Patrick's words blaming the public got tons of play at one of the few time periods when figure skating gets widespread coverage. It's the public's fault. Got that?
Skate Canada makes a show of horror and Yay Canada. Still, Patrick's comments are everywhere. Even in the demands for retractions, the message is repeated.
This is Skate Canada's actual attitude. There's them, and there's the homophobic, sheeplike, needy, dumb-ass Canadian public. They have to run all kinds of bullshit just to get these people into the arena. It's not the fault of the skaters, Debbi, Bill, Mike, etc. that the folks are this simple.
At the same time, when they reach out to this unappealing public, the public thinks they want to be friends. Well - ew. No, we just want your money!
So let's feed them crap.
This strategy, though, hasn't been working, and there's noise from skaters about $$ problems. Skate Canada is running around naked, no title sponsor. They need to account for what's going on and they're not going to say it's them.
They now piously declare Patrick's remarks were out of context. It's self-righteous, and William Thompson postured his head off. Nobody at Skate Canada would EVER use the Canadian people as an excuse. Never ever.
This is classic spin. The key is get the message got out there. Then deny it. But the message got out.
I know from the 4CCs that the louder SC gets about something, the more likely it is something else is going on. In this case, Patrick's remarks, in exactly the context presented, represent precisely what Skate Canada believes. So of course, Skate Canada is going to make noise in the opposite direction.
It's the public's fault. It's the culture's fault. It's not Skate Canada's fault. They're making a big show of oh-the-horror - neither we nor Patrick would ever blame Canada. But that's exactly what they do. They've been setting up the public, treating them like the "other", lying to them and hoaxing them from the day these officials got their jobs. How do you manage a strategy like that? Pander and kiss ass. Go overboard with Canadian patriotism in public.
Whose fault is it the sponsorship situation is a wasteland and the til is running empty? NOT THEIRS. It's their job to oversee things like that, but the sad truth is, the economy sucks, and if you don't buy that as an excuse, how about Canadian culture is not as supportive of figure skating as China?
Love the comparison to China too - that's convenient. Probably less convenient to point out the USFSA fortunes aren't nearly as dire despite the same crappy economy and a public not in love with figure skating either. It's not like Skate America was packed.
What's the difference? Sponsors, and qualified people at the USFSA doing their job. They understand what they're doing. But it would be extremely discomfiting for someone like Chan to point out how much better the USFSA manages things on the $$$ end in similar circumstances. Then you might get answers that put SC in a bad light. Unflattering comparisons might emerge.
Nah - it's a cultural thing! China's people are more patriotic, they're proud of their champions, unlike Canada!
Culture. That shit can serve our purpose. Cause who knows anything about China?
Not Patrick, it looks like. ("Human rights violations? I was never told!")
It's not difficult to suspect that in 2007, when Debbi was hired, she was hired to do what she does - pander to the rank and file, suck up to Canadian patriotism, play Everywoman on camera smiling in wonder at the lens, and do all she can to cover up for Scott and Tessa's relationship and do the necessary for any other celebrity figure skater SC hoped would emerge from the Olympics. But how do you give a title to "Director of Manipulating the Public"? That kind of gives a negative impression.
Debbi's Director of Business Development title is just a title, like a secretary who can't type or a mobster who shows up in the back office and is on the phone with his bookie and his crew all day while his payroll "job" is operations manager - a job he never does.
In 2007, Skate Canada's long term title sponsors had stayed sponsors through different SC personnel changes; the Olympics would only solidify these sponsor commitments to SC for years to come and lead to other sponsors competing to join them. So a real person in the Business Development spot wasn't necessary. William Thompson can do all the business stuff and Debbi can skater-wrangle. Get it done by giving her an impressive title and bleat on about her glorious non-qualifications. Just look at Debbi's title and then at what she really does, and understand how much prep time goes into what we see her doing. The two - the job responsibilities implicit in her title, and her on-camera activities and other tasks are not compatible.
Skate Canada CEO William Thompson has called upon the Globe & Mail to retract, claiming it misrepresented Chan's original remarks. I don't know why the Director of Corporate Communications - Barb MacDonald - isn't the voice of Skate Canada for this matter - isn't that her job? What is she paid to do - tweet under SC and Skatebuzz and write a newsletter?
This is the second time William Thompson has stepped in to personally address a matter that falls under the responsibility of one of his other Directors.
He talked about finding sponsors when that's the job of Debbi Wilkes. Debbi's never been camera or quote-shy.
I believe it was Mike Slipchuk who post-Olympics said their pre-Olympic athlete development was smoke and mirrors because there was such a short run-up to the Olympics, but now they'd get serious. I don't know if he meant "serious, serious" or serious as in "We've put our athlete development ideas and conclusions into colorful-celeb-skater-photo-illustrated coffee table book form and why don't you take a look!"
Smoke and mirrors is how SC does business and how it does a lot of things, even though it's more like smog.
ETA - in re-watching Virtue Moir interviews, I was struck by how often they used the word "unique" to describe their relationship. I imagine in their eyes, their relationship, combined with what they believe to be their prominance in Canadian figure skating, coupled with their attitudes towards Canadian fans and the figure skating world, paired with the fact that they apparently were always intended to be Skate Canada's flagship couple and would have to get out there and whore themselves out for revenue purposes, puts them in a unique situation that justifies their lies. Then you factor in Tessa's comfortable-seeming assertion that the reality of their sport requires them to lie about things like her shins, lest the judges' perception be influenced, or lest the judges have an excuse to undermark.
I believe they have taken their so-called unique circumstances, and Tessa's history with compartment syndrome, and complacently used this as an umbrella justification to lie about everything. They lie as they breathe. Lying is their policy - all swept under "this is our sport." It's another entitlement. They've cooked up enough excuses to justify not ever telling the truth, to go out of their way to lie, to outright market lies. They've also determined that the lies go over well if they really push the disingenuous, un-worldly "kids" angle - this is how they'll be embraced by the older figure skating demographic, and also how they'll get over. Their reality is they are actually more advanced off the ice as well, in many ways, than their peers.
It really is toxic, a certain insularity and complacency coupled with a sense of their own uniqueness and superiority - and entitlement. For "their sport" - everything is on the table. Everything is justified. Even making dupes out of their public.
The reality is, lying is their default inclination, not their training. They are naturally private, and as "stars" are enabled - provided every rationale on the planet to lie lie lie, rationales they embrace because they're not comfortable in the spotlight off the ice. They've got it backwards, actually. They want to hide, and look for reasons to do so. They don't have reasons that make hiding necessary to this degree.
And here I thought Canada was such a fabulous figure skating country, much better than say, the United States.
I'll say up front I think everything Patrick said is part of Skate Canada's own internal spin. I.e.: It's the public's fault the sponsorship situation is bleak. Patrick just parroted it in his own comments. William Thompson rushed to blame the Globe & Mail and demand an apology, but I believe this "the public doesn't support our skaters even as good as CHINA" bullshit is Skate Canada's attempt to spin the fact that its business development "department" is a house of cards. I think even the sleepiest of SC members must be wondering WTF at this point (where's the title sponsor on the horizon), so cue the excuses.
 |
| This is their Director of Business Development on the job today. |
Business Development isn't a a job that leaves room for being Team Leader of the skating team during an OLYMPICS while serving as the talking head on Skatebuzz for every high profile skating event during the season. Debbi's not doing that job.
Well - she is doing her real job. Being Director of Business Development is her fake job.
The reason she has time for all the other crap is she doesn't know how to do the job she supposedly has, isn't expected to do it, nor qualified. She doesn't do it, and hasn't done it.
Just blame the Canadian public for any economic failures. We already know what they think of the Canadian public every time we look at photos or wall posts from Jessica Dube's first facebook page, every time we see video from Canadian competitions at 2009-2010 - or look at Ryan Semple sitting next to Tessa at this season's SC.
I think SC wasn't at all surprised by what Patrick said because I believe they've been saying it to any skating parents or media that question them, to the skaters themselves, to the entire infrastructure. NOT OUR FAULT.
Another flag - Skate Canada's swift response to "manage" what Patrick said. Including Rosie DiManno out today with a kiss-ass piece on the apparent "controversy" that the Big Bad Globe & Mail so unfairly created by taking Patrick out of context. And then Barb MacDonald kissing Rosie's ass. It's very over the top - so very like Skate Canada when they're running bullshit.
Patrick's words blaming the public got tons of play at one of the few time periods when figure skating gets widespread coverage. It's the public's fault. Got that?
Skate Canada makes a show of horror and Yay Canada. Still, Patrick's comments are everywhere. Even in the demands for retractions, the message is repeated.
This is Skate Canada's actual attitude. There's them, and there's the homophobic, sheeplike, needy, dumb-ass Canadian public. They have to run all kinds of bullshit just to get these people into the arena. It's not the fault of the skaters, Debbi, Bill, Mike, etc. that the folks are this simple.
At the same time, when they reach out to this unappealing public, the public thinks they want to be friends. Well - ew. No, we just want your money!
So let's feed them crap.
This strategy, though, hasn't been working, and there's noise from skaters about $$ problems. Skate Canada is running around naked, no title sponsor. They need to account for what's going on and they're not going to say it's them.
They now piously declare Patrick's remarks were out of context. It's self-righteous, and William Thompson postured his head off. Nobody at Skate Canada would EVER use the Canadian people as an excuse. Never ever.
This is classic spin. The key is get the message got out there. Then deny it. But the message got out.
I know from the 4CCs that the louder SC gets about something, the more likely it is something else is going on. In this case, Patrick's remarks, in exactly the context presented, represent precisely what Skate Canada believes. So of course, Skate Canada is going to make noise in the opposite direction.
It's the public's fault. It's the culture's fault. It's not Skate Canada's fault. They're making a big show of oh-the-horror - neither we nor Patrick would ever blame Canada. But that's exactly what they do. They've been setting up the public, treating them like the "other", lying to them and hoaxing them from the day these officials got their jobs. How do you manage a strategy like that? Pander and kiss ass. Go overboard with Canadian patriotism in public.
Whose fault is it the sponsorship situation is a wasteland and the til is running empty? NOT THEIRS. It's their job to oversee things like that, but the sad truth is, the economy sucks, and if you don't buy that as an excuse, how about Canadian culture is not as supportive of figure skating as China?
Love the comparison to China too - that's convenient. Probably less convenient to point out the USFSA fortunes aren't nearly as dire despite the same crappy economy and a public not in love with figure skating either. It's not like Skate America was packed.
What's the difference? Sponsors, and qualified people at the USFSA doing their job. They understand what they're doing. But it would be extremely discomfiting for someone like Chan to point out how much better the USFSA manages things on the $$$ end in similar circumstances. Then you might get answers that put SC in a bad light. Unflattering comparisons might emerge.
Nah - it's a cultural thing! China's people are more patriotic, they're proud of their champions, unlike Canada!
Culture. That shit can serve our purpose. Cause who knows anything about China?
Not Patrick, it looks like. ("Human rights violations? I was never told!")
It's not difficult to suspect that in 2007, when Debbi was hired, she was hired to do what she does - pander to the rank and file, suck up to Canadian patriotism, play Everywoman on camera smiling in wonder at the lens, and do all she can to cover up for Scott and Tessa's relationship and do the necessary for any other celebrity figure skater SC hoped would emerge from the Olympics. But how do you give a title to "Director of Manipulating the Public"? That kind of gives a negative impression.
Debbi's Director of Business Development title is just a title, like a secretary who can't type or a mobster who shows up in the back office and is on the phone with his bookie and his crew all day while his payroll "job" is operations manager - a job he never does.
In 2007, Skate Canada's long term title sponsors had stayed sponsors through different SC personnel changes; the Olympics would only solidify these sponsor commitments to SC for years to come and lead to other sponsors competing to join them. So a real person in the Business Development spot wasn't necessary. William Thompson can do all the business stuff and Debbi can skater-wrangle. Get it done by giving her an impressive title and bleat on about her glorious non-qualifications. Just look at Debbi's title and then at what she really does, and understand how much prep time goes into what we see her doing. The two - the job responsibilities implicit in her title, and her on-camera activities and other tasks are not compatible.
Skate Canada CEO William Thompson has called upon the Globe & Mail to retract, claiming it misrepresented Chan's original remarks. I don't know why the Director of Corporate Communications - Barb MacDonald - isn't the voice of Skate Canada for this matter - isn't that her job? What is she paid to do - tweet under SC and Skatebuzz and write a newsletter?
This is the second time William Thompson has stepped in to personally address a matter that falls under the responsibility of one of his other Directors.
He talked about finding sponsors when that's the job of Debbi Wilkes. Debbi's never been camera or quote-shy.
I believe it was Mike Slipchuk who post-Olympics said their pre-Olympic athlete development was smoke and mirrors because there was such a short run-up to the Olympics, but now they'd get serious. I don't know if he meant "serious, serious" or serious as in "We've put our athlete development ideas and conclusions into colorful-celeb-skater-photo-illustrated coffee table book form and why don't you take a look!"
Smoke and mirrors is how SC does business and how it does a lot of things, even though it's more like smog.
ETA - in re-watching Virtue Moir interviews, I was struck by how often they used the word "unique" to describe their relationship. I imagine in their eyes, their relationship, combined with what they believe to be their prominance in Canadian figure skating, coupled with their attitudes towards Canadian fans and the figure skating world, paired with the fact that they apparently were always intended to be Skate Canada's flagship couple and would have to get out there and whore themselves out for revenue purposes, puts them in a unique situation that justifies their lies. Then you factor in Tessa's comfortable-seeming assertion that the reality of their sport requires them to lie about things like her shins, lest the judges' perception be influenced, or lest the judges have an excuse to undermark.
I believe they have taken their so-called unique circumstances, and Tessa's history with compartment syndrome, and complacently used this as an umbrella justification to lie about everything. They lie as they breathe. Lying is their policy - all swept under "this is our sport." It's another entitlement. They've cooked up enough excuses to justify not ever telling the truth, to go out of their way to lie, to outright market lies. They've also determined that the lies go over well if they really push the disingenuous, un-worldly "kids" angle - this is how they'll be embraced by the older figure skating demographic, and also how they'll get over. Their reality is they are actually more advanced off the ice as well, in many ways, than their peers.
It really is toxic, a certain insularity and complacency coupled with a sense of their own uniqueness and superiority - and entitlement. For "their sport" - everything is on the table. Everything is justified. Even making dupes out of their public.
The reality is, lying is their default inclination, not their training. They are naturally private, and as "stars" are enabled - provided every rationale on the planet to lie lie lie, rationales they embrace because they're not comfortable in the spotlight off the ice. They've got it backwards, actually. They want to hide, and look for reasons to do so. They don't have reasons that make hiding necessary to this degree.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Quotes from The Fountainhead - Tessa Virtue's favorite book (and other stuff)
Idea for this post goes entirely to the person who made the first comment on the post below this one. Thank you, and I hope you don't mind my taking your observation and expanding on it with my own thoughts.
I knew Tessa's favorite book was the Fountainhead -- correction -- on the now dead virtuemoir.com site she said it was her favorite book.
The Lovely Ayn Rand
Tessa never said The Fountainhead is her Bible, Koran or Torah, or uses it as her guide to life. Still.
Favorite book.
Disclosure: I read both the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged when I was around 14 and my takeaway was pretty much wanting to become a social worker, preferably for free, preferably while living in a tin shack without plumbing, preferably while associating only with people whose education had not progressed past second grade. I kept this fantasy in my head til the gag reflex from absorbing Ayn Rand's theories had subsided.
I think Objectivism as invented/espoused by Ayn Rand is revolting. Not because I have anything against individualism - but individualism as explained by Ayn Rand is ignorant, self-servingly selective plus not to mention that actually acting as an individual in the way Rand espouses relies upon exploiting others - which is a logic she doesn't follow.
Here are some quotes from The Fountainhead (bold text = my comments):
***Wow, that's a compelling argument there, Gail. I feel like Gail (and maybe Tessa) could benefit from reading Malcolm Gladwell.
**Kind of makes you wonder if the public falls into the category of unable to cross their legs and excess flesh spilling out of their "garters". Particularly skating fans.
*Oh. Love is the total passion for the total height:
"Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Phillip!"
(Scott Moir)
or anything else in the realm of "we won the Olympics!" perks. Welcome to Olympic winner swag.
But possibly winning the Olympics themselves - winning them, of course, entirely as an individual, as an utterly autonomous egoist, completely free of any contribution from the fleshy hordes you see when you lower your glance instead of keeping it uplifted - represents the total height.
Now with the White Knight Gala, I want to mention this:
I knew Tessa's favorite book was the Fountainhead -- correction -- on the now dead virtuemoir.com site she said it was her favorite book.
Tessa never said The Fountainhead is her Bible, Koran or Torah, or uses it as her guide to life. Still.
Favorite book.
Disclosure: I read both the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged when I was around 14 and my takeaway was pretty much wanting to become a social worker, preferably for free, preferably while living in a tin shack without plumbing, preferably while associating only with people whose education had not progressed past second grade. I kept this fantasy in my head til the gag reflex from absorbing Ayn Rand's theories had subsided.
I think Objectivism as invented/espoused by Ayn Rand is revolting. Not because I have anything against individualism - but individualism as explained by Ayn Rand is ignorant, self-servingly selective plus not to mention that actually acting as an individual in the way Rand espouses relies upon exploiting others - which is a logic she doesn't follow.
Here are some quotes from The Fountainhead (bold text = my comments):
"As a matter of fact, one can feel some respect for people when they suffer. They have a certain dignity. But have you ever looked at them when they're enjoying themselves? That's when you see the truth."
Dominique Francon, protogonist
"I don't intend to build in order to have clients; I intend to have clients in order to build.
Howard Roark, protogonist
The egoist in the absolute sense is not the man who sacrifices others. He is the man who stands above the need of using others in any manner.* He does not function through them. He is not concerned with them in any primary matter. Not in his aim, not in his motive, not in his thinking, not in his desires, not in the source of his energy. He does not exist for any other man -- and he asks no other man to exist for him. This is the only form of brotherhood and mutual respect possible between men.*Really? So the egoist does not live on Planet Earth?
Doesn't the quote above the egoist one contradict the egoist one?
“I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone's right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine. No matter who makes the claim, how large their number or how great their need. I wished to come here and say that I am a man who does not exist for others.”*Well Howard, I'm sure we're very sorry to be missing out.
Howard Roark, protagonist
"Before you can do things for people, you must be the kind of man* who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people! Your own work, not any possible object of your charity. I'll be glad if men who need it find a better method of living in the house I built, but that's not the motive of my work, nor my reason, nor my reward! My reward, my purpose, my life, is the work itself - my work done my way! Nothing else matters to me!"
Howard Roark
Peter Keating: But it's a humanitarian project. Think of the people who live in slums. If you can give them decent housing, you can perform a noble deed. Would you do it just for their sake?
Howard Roark: No! A man who works for others without payment is a slave!
Here's an exchange between female protagonist Dominique and Gail Wynand:
[Dominique] “I used to travel a great deal. I always felt just like that [hating to be at a destination]. I’ve been told it’s because I’m a hater of mankind.”
___________________________“You’re not foolish enough to believe that, are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Surely you’ve seen through that particular stupidity. I mean the one that claims the pig* is the symbol of love for humanity–the creature that accepts anything. As a matter of fact, the person who loves everybody and feels at home everywhere is the true hater of mankind. He expects nothing of men, so no form of depravity can outrage him.”
“You mean the person who says that there’s some good in the worst of us?”
“I mean the person who has the filthy insolence to claim that he loves equally the man who made that statue of you and the man who makes a Mickey Mouse balloon to sell on street corners. I mean the person who loves the men who prefer the Mickey Mouse to you statue–and there are many of that kind. I mean the person who loves Joan of Arc and the salesgirls in dress shops on Broadway–with equal fervor.* I mean the person who loves your beauty and the women he sees in a subway–the kind that can’t cross their knees and show flesh hanging publicly over their garters–with the same sense of exaltation.** I mean the person who loves the clean, steady, unfrightened eyes of man looking through a telescope and the white stare of an imbecile–equally. I mean quite a large, generous, magnanimous company. Is it you who hate mankind, Mrs. Keating?”***
*Clearly Ayn Rand knew nothing about pigs:
***Wow, that's a compelling argument there, Gail. I feel like Gail (and maybe Tessa) could benefit from reading Malcolm Gladwell.
**Kind of makes you wonder if the public falls into the category of unable to cross their legs and excess flesh spilling out of their "garters". Particularly skating fans.
More Fountainhead quotes:
love is reverence, and worship, and glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores. But they don’t know it. Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who’ve never felt it. They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassion, contempt and general indifference, and they call it love. Once you’ve felt what it means to love as you and I know it–the total passion for the total height*–you’re incapable of anything less._______________________
*Oh. Love is the total passion for the total height:
 |
| White Knight Gala 2010 |
 |
| White Knight Gala 2010 |
(Scott Moir)
Now I don't think either of these occasions in these photos represents the total height. Nor does getting a couple of free Audis
or anything else in the realm of "we won the Olympics!" perks. Welcome to Olympic winner swag.But possibly winning the Olympics themselves - winning them, of course, entirely as an individual, as an utterly autonomous egoist, completely free of any contribution from the fleshy hordes you see when you lower your glance instead of keeping it uplifted - represents the total height.
Now with the White Knight Gala, I want to mention this:
Ben Mulroney is going to show up in another blog post in a few days (more or less), cause he pretended to grill Scott and Tessa on ETalk about six months after the June 2010 White Knight Gala where they were both guests and I really enjoyed re-watching that interview recently.
The White Knight Gala was crawling with media personalities as guests, alongside Scott and Tessa. A lot of the public thinks that the media is the public's representative, working in their interest to deliver information, when really 90% of familiar media faces have way more in common with their subjects (as long as their subjects aren't fleshy subway riders who can't cross their legs, as long as their subjects are well known, rich, and/or famous and accomplished). The media and their well-known subjects move in the same circles and collaborate to squeeze the unsightly public like a cash cow.
Meeting Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip!!!! was understandably completely exciting for Scott and Tessa, and for Skate Canada.
I guess it was the excitement of it all.
It probably wasn't about wanting people to really absorb that SC's skaters had really been elevated to the elite, and using "couple" subtext as a kicker.
And then Tessa shared:
Knock that shit off Tessa, PLEASE. Yes, the people you’re writing this for are probably the sort who can’t cross their legs on the subway and have “flesh hanging out of their garters” but this is laying it on a little thick even for them.
___________________
*Couple of extra points: Ayn Rand was of course, female, but her book is full of "man this" and "man that". And Dominique's beauty is right up there along with Howard's god-like powers of reason as evidence of superiority over those with flesh spilling out their garters. It's been a awhile since I've read these books, so I've forgotten the chapter where she and Howard nobly jump off one of his exalted buildings cause a) he's getting Alzheimer's and she's b) an old lady no longer statue-worthy.
The White Knight Gala was crawling with media personalities as guests, alongside Scott and Tessa. A lot of the public thinks that the media is the public's representative, working in their interest to deliver information, when really 90% of familiar media faces have way more in common with their subjects (as long as their subjects aren't fleshy subway riders who can't cross their legs, as long as their subjects are well known, rich, and/or famous and accomplished). The media and their well-known subjects move in the same circles and collaborate to squeeze the unsightly public like a cash cow.
Meeting Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip!!!! was understandably completely exciting for Scott and Tessa, and for Skate Canada.
So exciting that when Tessa wrote her account of the event for Skate Canada, she forgot to stipulate that she and Scott were in their separate residences when the invitation to dine at the Queen's table arrived via email at 930pm, and she forgot that she and Scott woke up the next day in their separate residences and only then rendevoused at the tux rental place early the next morning.
Her writing style allowed the reader to infer that Tessa and Scott were chillin at their shared home at 930pm when the invitation-bomb landed in their email, and they got up together the next day, drove in their car to the tux rental spot, hit the road for Toronto and arrived at their hotel. She failed to mention separate homes, separate hotel rooms.
Her writing style allowed the reader to infer that Tessa and Scott were chillin at their shared home at 930pm when the invitation-bomb landed in their email, and they got up together the next day, drove in their car to the tux rental spot, hit the road for Toronto and arrived at their hotel. She failed to mention separate homes, separate hotel rooms.
I guess it was the excitement of it all.
It probably wasn't about wanting people to really absorb that SC's skaters had really been elevated to the elite, and using "couple" subtext as a kicker.
And then Tessa shared:
You won an Olympic gold medal maybe?“Sunday night – 9:30 p.m. It was surprising enough to receive an invitation from the Prime Minister to meet the Queen of England and The Duke of Edinburgh, but on the eve of the big event, we got an official invitation to join the Royals at the HEAD TABLE! WOW! We were floored! What an incredible honour - but what could we have possibly done to deserve this privilege??!!!”
Knock that shit off Tessa, PLEASE. Yes, the people you’re writing this for are probably the sort who can’t cross their legs on the subway and have “flesh hanging out of their garters” but this is laying it on a little thick even for them.
___________________
*Couple of extra points: Ayn Rand was of course, female, but her book is full of "man this" and "man that". And Dominique's beauty is right up there along with Howard's god-like powers of reason as evidence of superiority over those with flesh spilling out their garters. It's been a awhile since I've read these books, so I've forgotten the chapter where she and Howard nobly jump off one of his exalted buildings cause a) he's getting Alzheimer's and she's b) an old lady no longer statue-worthy.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Update - if Scott and Tessa don't care - who does?
www.virtuemoir.com
December 3, 2011
December 3, 2011
Awhile back, this blog mentioned this:
Scott and Tessa are very private and go to extremes to protect this privacy. No secret. Jessica is fake. Not news.
Their brand of privacy is VERY expensive, beyond money, for in fact not just fans, but other Skate Canada figure skaters who can't afford it and shouldn't have to pay for it, are paying for it.
Scott and Tessa aren't the only privacy-loving figure skaters on the planet, but only they enjoy an entire figure-skating organization and its resources diverted to not just creating an absolutely lazy, dick-headed and half-assed scheme for them, but sustaining it.
Scott and Tessa don't have to discipline themselves to handle this professionally, because the Jessica Hoax and the cost of its component elements are paid for by other, lesser figure skaters. It doesn't cost Scott and Tessa, added to which, Scott and Tessa enjoy a range of services with Skate Canada that nobody else would provide, because many of those services are unethical.
So here goes.
When "Scott" talks to fans on his fan page, the relationship between what he says and any type of sincere intention = ZERO. I say "Scott" in quotes because it could easily be Tessa, Barb, Alma - any one of a number of others at any time - logged in to that page.
But, pretending it's Scott: When he's on his fanpage it's for one of a few simple reasons, none to do with fan outreach.
For example - he's in the mood, has a little energy to burn.
You know the people who don't "keep up" with family on a consistent basis, or friends, but when they show up, they swoop in, there's a fusillade of energy, affection and fun, it's charming - then woosh - they're gone? Who the hell knows when you'll see them again cause they don't answer email or vm, show up for stuff, and you never hear from them until the next time? Nothing you can rely upon? Obviously, it's not news when I say that's Scott Moir's facebook fan page. And - after he's vanished, he doesn't remember what he said. That goes for in-person fan encounters too. He's just yakking. It's best-defense-is-a-good offense social skills. That's how we end up with "soon!" about him updating their webpage, and a dead webpage months later. What's coming off his keyboard is just noise.
It's not every figure skater whose position is privileged enough to be this undisciplined with fan outreach.
Scott and Tessa are reflexive liars by this point, so their first choice of an answer is always going to be bullshit, even when telling the truth is harmless to them (such as - yeah, we slacked off at that page, we kind of suck at new media! Sorry guys!).
It's like their thought bubble is: "OMG - question!
Is a lie available? Yes! Tell lie."
No matter WHAT the question.
That's how they've been trained. What matters is who's asking, not the question. FAN? Lie.
Interview - interviews are aimed at FANs. Lie.
Lying is power. Lies make people feel in control and powerful. Tessa and Scott are so haphazard, I don't know if they're natural-born control freaks and liars or if all the lying is just expedient and half-assed because - this fan-outreach stuff - they just don't CARE. Someone told them lying is the way - it made sense - so they did it and do it. I'm sure they didn't think it through the way they'd think through something related to their skating. That's obvious.*
They didn't deconstruct their fan strategy with thorough logic because they don't ENJOY it. They're not naturally interested. Somebody - take it off our hands!
"That sounds good - FINE. Let's do that. Are we done yet?"
That's the mindset they project.
It's the people who convinced them to lie 24/7 who are the ones who like the control, who feel powerful through lying.
Scott and Tessa are forgiven a lot due to charm - good thing, too.
I know lots of fans don't care either, all they care is "Scott" made contact. They got a piece of "Scott". (This is a very helpful behavior by fans, btw, in ways maybe some fans don't consider.)
And another reason "Scott" will show up on facebook is a sham set-up or shout out.
In between there will be random attempts at some type of normal fan page-y back and forth, usually around competitions. "Had a great time in Toronto! Thanks everyone! Back to work!" But those are erratic. His whole fan facebook is erratic.
What do I think? He and Tessa want to be left alone. None of this is anything they'd do if they didn't feel they had to and if they didn't need to cover for the fact that his "personal" fan page is a fan page too, and not his personal facebook at all. But the carelessness and lack of follow-through tell the story. They want to be spared.
The problem is that it isn't a professional management company like IMG helping Scott and Tessa to be left alone, but Skate Canada officials who are supposed to be doing a whole other type of job but aren't.
Neither Scott nor Tessa is erratic or fly-by-night where it's important to them. No matter what Scott would like people to think, he's incredibly disciplined about a lot of things outside figure skating. Things that matter - to him.
And of course, around their skating nobody is more disciplined, consistent, systematic and intentioned than these two. This erraticism with facebook, webpages and fan outreach shows that this stuff isn't natural to them, not something that they enjoy engaging in consistently, not anything that's going to persist past Sochi, nor is it something they care about. I'm sure they have nothing against fans. They just don't care enough to interact with any type of true consideration. It's like pulling teeth as it is, with the little they DO do. Kurt Browning, they're not.
They don't need to do more, which is key here, which will damage other figure skaters at Skate Canada - and is already happening.
Face-to-face, they'll "put that smile on" their face, start gabbing, and fans will walk away thinking they're the best.
Probably a lot of skaters and other celebs would like to skip all the outreach too, and just enjoy the fun stuff - the training, whatever perks come their way, the skating itself (or performing), the byplay with the audience and so forth, but are mature and disciplined enough to finish what they start.
And more significantly, for most skaters, bullshitting around like Scott and Tessa do isn't an option. If they don't take care of this stuff, nobody is going to volunteer do it for them. Unless they get famous.
Nobody = Barb, Debbi, Mike and Bill.
So - if regular skaters set up an "official" facebook page for the fans, and a web page, and interact, they generally discipline themselves to consistency, or they put someone in charge of acting as the "virtual" them, someone who will keep up.
So this fan outreach stuff is not something Scott and Tessa want to do, it's not natural, and while they mean well, it's low on their "to do" list. They're not changing. It's always going to be a careless, spastic, insincere element of their career.
Obviously they're making money - lots of personal appearances is one way that's visible to us. When they show up at fashion shows, for example, they're getting paid. Celebs get invited to stuff like that because it gives the media an incentive to cover the event. Maybe the fashion designer isn't much of a name, or the event, but Virtue-Moir + event (or fashion designer) becomes a reason for media coverage. Virtue-Moir make money doing stuff like that.
Since Virtue Moir half-ass their own public relations - aren't interested (or SOMETHING) in going with IMG, but are still competing, that creates an opportunity. For someone(s) else.
Barb, Debbi, Mike, Bill.
Not an opportunity for "Skate Canada" and the skaters of Skate Canada. An opportunity for individuals: Barb, Debbi, Mike, Bill.
Those four will milk the fact that they were associated with Virtue Moir, had "rich background in Olympic communications" and are experienced in "crisis communication" (Mayday! Virtue and Moir won gold!); they'll have a dvd compilation of their faces plastered all over the place doing busy, crisis-y, important things adjacent to star skaters, and in general will use their present-day starfucking as a way to qualify themselves for the lucrative public speaking, consultant and seminar circuit, long after they leave Skate Canada a wreck for someone else to fix.
Can you imagine paying for Barb MacDonald's corporate communications wisdom? Somebody will!
Long after the mess they leave behind is still hurting other figure skaters, after Scott and Tessa have moved on, Debbi, Barb, Mike and Bill will be dining out on and making money off having "handled" Scott and Tessa.
Scott and Tessa REALLY don't pay attention. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, what happens on line, stays on line and doesn't touch their lives. They have Barb, Debbi, Mike and Bill for that. If Barb, Debbi, Mike and Bill left - who'd do the dirty work on Scott and Tessa's preferred terms?
I'd bet Scott can barely remember all the different times he's posed with Jessica or how - that's all blah blah blah to him too and then gets managed by someone else. IOW, they FORGET about it. Scott forgot he said "Soon!" about his webpage, he and Tessa can't even keep track of what bullshit they said yesterday so it matches what they said today.
That's the behavior of people who want someone else to take care of that stuff - it's not their thing.
That's the behavior of someone who wants to make money and get better-than-good returns on their investments but doesn't want to educate themselves about the market or keep track, so they have Bernie Madoff do it.
See?
Who is Bernie Madoff here?
Barb, Debbi, Bill and Mike.
The victims aren't Scott and Tessa, but other Skate Canada figure skaters, and of course, fans. See, this fan outreach and privacy management stuff is not stuff Scott and Tessa want to have to think about, and they definitely appreciate having a few services that don't come with joining IMG. They don't want to manage it themselves, cause - ew.
Shit, Scott was like the president visiting a kid in the hospital when he "hugged" Jessica in the Kiss'n'Cry after the Vancouver free-dance. Did you SEE that entourage? Did you SEE the grip Debbie Mac had on Jessica? All that was missing were ear pieces: "The package is about to descend. Launch POTUS." Until it was time, Jessica had to keep her ass parked in the seat, bored out of her mind. Jessica - stay!
Man. That's what I call PROTECTION from your fake girlfriend. All those people in the Kiss'n'Cry, including fellow Skate Canada skaters, willing and available (or perhaps "encouraged") to make it easy for Scott to get sham done so Scott doesn't have to get Jessica-interaction cooties.
Interacting with Jessica isn't natural for Scott, you see. He doesn't enjoy it. But he thinks he HAS to. Just like fan interaction. But he doesn't LIKE it. He doesn't want to take time out of his real life.
So basically, other people take care of most of it for him. They go above and beyond.
Other people = Barb, Debbi, Mike and Bill.
It's good to be Scott Moir.
But Skate Canada is not a resource-rich organization and keeping Scott Moir THIS comfortable diverts resources from the needs of less-famous skaters and short-circuits long-term, non-Virtue-Moir planning and relationship-building.
Its not Skate Canada overall that's getting a return on this resource investment, that's for sure. It's specific individuals and their future, non-Skate Canada careers that get the benefit. Those individuals are, namely, Barb MacDonald, Debbi Wilkes, Bill Thompson and Mike Slipchuk.**
See? If Barb and Debbi were doing actual MARKETING (which they don't cause neither knows what that is) of SKATE CANADA, working on the freaking SPONSOR thing, giving a fucking shit about skaters whose funding was drying up, promoting everybody competing in the program the way the USFSA does, seeing if there aren't ways to create opportunities for skaters coming up the system, seeing if maybe female skaters and not this whole "masculine" obsession isn't something they should focus on --- they really wouldn't have the time to be Scott and Tessa's full time body blockers between Scott and Tessa and the fans or between Scott/Tessa and Jessica.
NICE position to be in.
Instead of actual qualified folks in the Director of Marketing and Sponsorship departments and the Director of Corporate Communications "departments" those department titles are code for:
"Director of the Department of Whatever is Convenient for Scott and Tessa."
Remember how Tessa told us Skate Canada asked her what she needed for the Olympic season, and one of her requests was Mary Branagan? That means that for the GP, Skate Canada paid for Mary's travel and lodging - at least. And I think that's a legitimate expense, obviously, and similar considerations have probably been shown other star skaters.
But Scott and Tessa have other, non-skating performance needs. Such as not wanting fans to officially know that they're together, always have been, have a family and have made a lifetime commitment. It's not skating-related, or Skate Canada's real business, but it makes them happy to hide, keeps them comfortable, and Skate Canada wants Scott and Tessa to be comfortable - because they're stars, and because if they're happy and comfortable, Scott and Tessa will continue having Debbi, Barb, Bill, Mike do this stuff.
Win win - for Scott/Tessa and the future income streams of SC's current Directors.
If Debbi and Barb were replaced by actual marketing professionals, the marketing professionals would be doing that job, and wouldn't have time to be Scott and Tessa's full time "Whatever You Want, Leave It to Us" bitches.
This leaves the rest of the skaters all fucked up and scrambling for attention, support, money, fairness - partly because the people who are supposed to manage critical departments are too busy being Scott and Tessa's personal flunkies. Real stuff gets put on "delayed maintenance", shuttled to the Department of Some Day or TURFED to the "Study This" floor.
None of these problems were supposed to happen. Merely by Scott and Tessa winning the Olympics BMO would beg to expand its involvement while other sponsors would be falling over each other trying to get in on the Skate Canada action, and no sponsor relationship maintenance or real marketing infrastructure would be needed. Money would be flooding in.
Well - oops.
And still two years later all Skate Canada has instead of a marketing, public relations and communications department is the Department of Keeping Scott and Tessa Happy.
Scott and Tessa aren't paying attention to how it's done, to the big picture, the real cost, or how this impacts other figure skaters, any more than Scott pays any attention to the blah blah blah coming out his mouth or keyboard.
I think they should pay attention. They're adults. They should think about others. Thinking about others is more than "manners" and acting "nice" and being "considerate" in a surface-y way. It's more than charm.
This set-up is fabulous for one other skater. It puts Jessica Dube in a wonderful position - not cause she's a star or anything to do with her skating, but because she makes a marquee contribution to the Scott and Tessa bullshit initiative.
Hey, beats working. Beats training hard, too.
Do you see how MTM, Duhamel/Radford and other pairs kill themselves not only adding difficulty, training like workhorses and taking risks, but how they kill themselves telling us they're doing it? They have to justify, prove themselves.
Jessica apparently understands she can afford to be "la la la, I'm done with D&D, I'll just do singles and school (how's school going, Jessica)." Then it's: "Oh, I have a new partnership with Sebastien Wolfe. Yeah, we're gonna take it slow, not pressure ourselves - it's very important not to pressure ourselves. Like, the 3-twist, we don't want to push that right away. We're new. "
Take-it-easy style. And at the same time, gosh it would be swell to get Skate Canada or another international assignment, and be on the national podium.
Then she's treated as the headliner at Challenge. Barb tweets a heads-up so we know when Jessica takes the ice.
Gee, how come other Canadian pairs turn themselves inside-out trying to improve, taking risks - how come Lawrence/Sweigers skate challenging choreography instead of staying within what THEY can do comfortably? How come they have to do a content-rich program even if they're shaky and wobble through it, while Jessica can swoon through her empty program and end up with not just the same season schedule she had with Bryce, but the added benefit of Skate Canada upselling her singles career as being on the freaking Olympic track?
And incidentally - if you know what a zealously conditioned pairs-skating female looks like - of any height or any body type - you know that's not what Jessica Dube looks like.
The other teams feel insecure, but Jessica - who just finished in seventh at Challenge after being second in the short, and who finished near the basement in her Grand Prix - is all relaxed? She can take her time, not prove anything in a hurry - did you hear she and Sebastien were new?
It's good to be Jessica Dube.
Scott and Tessa are privileged in ways beyond $$, but it's on the backs of lesser figure skaters and at cost to the health of their beloved "Skate Canada."
What if Paul/Islam said - eh. I hate facebook. They shut down their facebooks, no longer accepted fans. What if they went off twitter - who needs twitter.
Would Barb, Debbi, Bill and Mike rush in and say - oh, you just take care of yourselves, Alex and Mitch! Alex - you make sure your rear end (or "upper thigh") is nice and healed. Oh, and don't tell people you had surgery - man, you're in the middle of a competitive season! Say you feel great and skating is "such a treat!" Alex - what the hell there's a conflict between competing and school? Honey, don't say that! Say school gives you balance and you LOVE school but skating in no way interferes with school. And don't worry about the internet - we'll handle it.
We'll take care of it all for you, Alex and Mitch!
Shit, if Tessa couldn't take a test when/if she's actually in school because of competition, Barb would slap on a Tessa wig and wade in to take the damn final for her. It's not like Barb's got other stuff to do.
And while I don't think the Moir Family is the Rasputin of all of this, I think absolutely they support Debbi, Barb, Mike and Bill in their ... jobs - because Moirs are doing just fine. While other figure skaters eat Ramen noodles when it's time for the annual skate boot purchase (not high profile enough to get sponsored by Harlick or other manufacturer), or when they're sweating paying for ice time, Alma is posing in a hard hat at a brand new freaking RINK when the Moirs already have another one in their backyard.
It might be difficult for them to see that what's good for Scott and Tessa isn't necessarily good for the rest of Skate Canada's skaters and may actually be detrimental to Skate Canada if those who are supposed to be paying attention to those other skaters are more concerned with leaching off Scott and Tessa's spotlight.
I know it's no fun to pay attention to all this type of stuff, Scott and Tessa. But I think you should give it a fucking try.
____________________
*What is the ONE thing, internet-wise, we can depend upon? The rotation of Jessica Dube's public facebook profiles showing that her boyfriend is indeed, still Scott Moir, and is CURRENTLY her boyfriend - they keep those profile pics updated. And they make certain to slide in back-up photos from whatever facebook gets the job, and whatever reach-outs Barb can slip in. Of all the internet stuff, virtuemoir.com, Scott's facebook fanpage. They make certain to show up at some point to be seen in the audience when the other competes. That stands out to me. Everything else is sort of "fuck it." THAT - his private life, you can set your watch by it. The priority is noteworthy - professional stuff is EH. Private stuff, they stay ON it and make sure we know about it and NEVER miss the opportunity to work it in there. Never seen a public figure so half-assed about their professional stuff but so doggone dogged about letting you see their personal life - whether you want to see it or not.
**Although after his twitter experience ("Two! Two! Tessa and Scott! Two!") Mike Slipchuk's spidey sense seems to have sensed trouble ahead. His public profile went way down and when he does surface he is Mr. Up-And-Coming-Skate-Canada-Figure-Skater's best friend. He's re-branding himself as Mr. Regional Development. But rewind a season or two, and he was all up in Scott, Tessa and the Jessica thing's business, on camera and off.
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