I spent the last few days helping my two boys and a number of my students at the National K-12 / Collegiate Championship as well as talking and motivating hundreds of other chess parents / coaches, etc. When I finally had a chance to look at the USCF and a few other forums, I see countless posts containing personal / vicious / vindictive attacks filled with lies and hatred toward some of the good people who plan to run for the USCF Executive Board to help the USCF. Another word, the same old garbage, the same old who cares about the USCF and their power / ego come first.
How do we end this kind of petty and destructive behavior by the same old chess politicians who do not want to let go of their pseudo power? Instead of doing positive things, they are too busy digging up dirt to harm innocent people who are in their ways. They spare no one. They attack and try to destroy everyone who can help this federation. This HAS TO STOP! What do you suggest? How can we fix this problem? How can we get rid of this kind of people forever for the sake of chess and the USCF?
Susan what do you think of some of us posting on these forums with positive messages to counter the negatifity? When you say USCF “and other forums” what other forums do you mean?
Susan, I am afraid this is the nature of the BEAST. I’m almost to the point that I believe most of the “good” people of chess have given up or thought about giving up. Please don’t give up!!!
Can the USCF be saved? Do we need it? Sometimes I think too much positive energy is being wasted fighting the negative. Chess could be so great! I really believe a great organization could be built on the foundation of “chess without politics”
Susan,
My humble advice: There is nothing to do but run a strong and vibrant campaign and get the bastards out of office. If you are running for USCF board, then you have entered politics, and this is how politics works in the U.S. Run a positive campaign, state your ideals, and let your opponents’ attacks wash off your back like the proverbial duck. Otherwise, you will spend all your time responding to their rubbish, and before you know it your message of change will become murky and you will be playing into their slimy hands.
Best of luck!
Mike D., member, USCF
Ignore them.
The responses to the allegations can be posted on the campaign website. If the allegations are wrong, it will only hurt those who are making them.
Kapalik
Dear Susan,
don’t worry! It seems to me that the behaviour of the politicians looks like the last howl of a dying wolf. Go on fighting and in a short time you will win!
Imagine that you are in love with someone. And that someone perhaps likes you, but you don’t know. At the same time, a third party, a quite-nasty, busy-body, always-cheating uses all of his/her influence over the person you love to discredit you and take profit of it.
You can do two things:
– become a rival for the nasty person.
– do nothing and let your beloved person freedom to choose.
in the first case you are trying to have success. In the second, you let your success depend on the person you like.
My opinion is that people is wise enough to distinguish and choose what they like. And therefore, you have only to treat them as you would like to be treated.
Best luck
Welcome to the world of democratic politics! Mudslinging is an old American tradition: even President Washington had to put up with it in his second term. Somehow, we manage to muddle through. 🙂
Seriously, even if you run the table with your slate (I’ll be voting for all four of you.), you will not get rid of those who try to smear by insinuation, such as Sloan and his backers. The Internet gives everyone a soapbox for their views, no matter how nutty. All you can do is what you think is right, make your positions clear, and trust that the majority will believe you.
I believe your program has a chance to reduce the influence of the paranoid narcissists and the tin-pot politicians who back them, however. If you succeed in bringing in more members –members who vote– the influence of this tiny group should be diluted by more reasonable people who simply want an organization that does it’s job.
But you have to have a thick skin. The mudslinging has only just started.
This negative people have their own agendas and are past failures that drive their negativisms.
Make a rule in your blog that only positive and constructive comments will be posted.
SO GO FOR IT SUSAN AND PAUL. WE ARE BEHIND YOU!
Joe B.
Susan,
You wrote:
I see countless posts containing personal / vicious / vindictive attacks filled with lies and hatred toward some of the good people who plan to run for the USCF Executive Board to help the USCF. Another word, the same old garbage, the same old who cares about the USCF and their power / ego come first.
As an absolute needed first step, you have to be far more specific.
I am not a USCF voting member, but I can imagine that those people who are, looking at your posting and even if totally neutral in the issue, are asking the question:”yes, but what is all these accusations are all about? She is running for the post and badmouthing the others. How do we know that all these are not just empty accusations?”
Don’t get me wrong, I believe you, but that’s not the point and it shouldn’t be based on belief. You should produce an accurate account of the specific accusations, with specific examples, combine that with the description you already wrote and that could be powerful and convincing. Even if you can’t present a clear proof for each and every specific accusations, at least some would be specific. Of course if you can back up some with de facto proof, would be much better.
Keep in mind, what you may know, people who are reading what you write, may not know.
Of course, to become specific is more risky from legal standpoint, so you may want to show it to your lawyer, before making it public.
Gabor
The USCF forums are at http://www.uschess.org/forums/
You need to be registered to use them or even view them, and you need to be a USCF member to register. (That rules me out.)
If the mudslinging posts are anonymous, the best thing is to ignore them. If they are by people standing with their true name behind them, give your arguments, or your side of the story and let the people who read them decide.
I speak from experience, mainly in this blog, because I applied this policy about 45 days ago and I am happy with the results so far.
I have no doubt that people who love chess and care for the future of this game will be on your side because you have good intentions, pure heart and conscience and you represent chess itself. As an institution, you are bigger than USCF and FIDE taken together.
Carry out your plans and don’t be afraid of cowards and mudslingers. There is too much mud and muck to be cleaned. Time is precious.
Susan, remember that what we pay attention to is what we focus our thoughts and energies on. There will always be vitrole thrown about( although we as the filter define it as such) but if we choose to not accept such gifts then they must go back to the sender( an old buddhist story). Good Luck Susan in your search for self definition.
oops. Last post about vitrole.
Can you post few links? Saying “just USCF and other forums” is too vague.
I don’t mean to be stirring up trouble here – but
I made a real effort this morning to track down the USCF forum posts that you referred to. I am an outsider with no ax to grind and I just wanted to read the other side’s point of view. I have been told by my peers that they think of me as computer savvy. But after this morning’s experience with the USCF website, they may be wrong.
This website is very hard to navigate to get down to the forums. I had to register twice, the new website and the old website and after some searching I found the forums. Then I had to register again for that. Thanks to Dan Dalthorp in the above post here for giving the direct http address to the forums. And then after registering and getting an email in response, I STILL can’t get in! My application is being reviewed. Oh, well. Sigh! All of this is more time and trouble than my poor little brain can handle!
I guess (because lack of information from the website reduces me to just guessing) that all of this politics stuff in a Topic called, “USCF Issues” that the public is not even allowed to view, much less respond to. Even a USCF member like me who is registered with the USCF website (twice!) can’t view it. Only USCF members who have taken the additional steps of signing and being reviewed for acceptance into the forums section can view these posts.
Two questions from this experience:
1) I wonder how big an audience the USCF forums are reaching. Is it large enough for you or anybody to worry about? I wonder if it is just a bunch of insiders trading insults.
2) Is the USCF website an indication of the performance of USCF management? I realize JS is your friend and all but she’s been on the job since summer and the old web site still hasn’t been migrated to the new one. If you had been on the Board, would this rate of progress have been satisfactory to you?
Apart from accessibility, there should be more topics of discussion. The index page lists just a handful. It’s almost as if management just doesn’t want forums.
Conclusion: This is a tempest in a teapot. I’m going to stop worrying about this stuff. We should support Susan for her positive attitude and ideas and just ignore complaints about opponents. And PS. Even if the “review” of the application to view the forums is positive, I probably won’t be looking into them. Too much trouble; too little impact.
Susan
The problems are visible within humanity so we can handle them. Seeing them is the first step. Knowing the solution that is the greatest good to the greatest number is second. What response would rise above the built in reactions we have had all our life to feeling threatened and being defensive. We need to think and feel into right acts the opposite of those reactions we have toward that which we perceive is unjust. Love without demand with your intent, then act toward to positive-create anew form a new federation? relate some light to the situation–the same as you would to a child learning to learn chess or anything in life
Susan said.
I see countless posts containing personal / vicious / vindictive attacks filled with lies and hatred toward some of the good people who plan to run for the USCF Executive Board to help the USCF.
How do we end this kind of petty and destructive behaviour by the same old chess politicians who do not want to let go of their pseudo power? Instead of doing positive things, they are too busy digging up dirt to harm innocent people who are in their ways. They spare no one. They attack and try to destroy everyone who can help this federation. This HAS TO STOP! What do you suggest? How can we fix this problem? How can we get rid of this kind of people forever for the sake of chess and the USCF?
Dear Susan On such an important issue as this you may want to block Anonymous’s from posting comments.
If you have something to say be specific and put your name to it.
Hi Susan, I understand your feelings. Here in Quebec we have the FQE, other than the CFC, and chess are not in a good health, we have a lot of problems similar at yours, even worse…
If only we could get someone like you here…Oooooh i’m dreaming!
I’m sure most of US chess players are behind you and support you. You are doing a great job, don’t give up!
I don’t know of any organization that has been able to accomplish what you desire .. ridding themselves of people viewed as negative and vitrolic. If you really want to play in this game, USCF politics, you’re going to have to endure and overcome those negative aspects of the environment. Ignoring it sometimes, responding appropriately at others, all the while building your team and pushing forward a plan for positive change.
If we’re talking about anonymous Usenet postings in something like rec.chess.politics, or whatever it’s called, it’s best to ignore them. Certain people have largely ruined much of Usenet as a tool for anything useful. Since it is totally open, free, and unmoderated it’s the perfect place any sort of anonymous rant or b.s. I don’t think you can trust any of the ids you see there with people hiding behind fake or spoofed ids. I believe people even spoof their own ids to prove what martyrs they are. I think there’s an old Usenet saying about ‘not feeding the trolls’. You can’t beat them there unless you become like them.
Are there other sites besides USCF? I haven’t looked there recently, but I’d thought they were getting better with requiring registering users who post messages. If they don’t moderate message posting, as a group, we should start asking them who they think is responsible (liable) for what’s posted on their sites and pointing out messages that are slanderous.
Keep up the good work. My family is all for your slate in the next election. I only wish the kids could vote too.
The USCF forums exist so that a few people with plenty of time on their hands can play a sort of virtual reality game of debating each other’s ideas to death. I would guess 90% of the posts on the USCF Issues forum are made by no more than 20 people (perhaps even less). These few people do not necessarily represent the average member but rather pursue their own agenda under the false perception of helping the USCF.
I read the USCF Issues forum but rarely post there. I wonder what someone who reads it for the first time must think. Are chess players all lunatics or did many of these politicians fail kindergarten?
The real action in the USCF does not and will not take place in cyberspace. So ignore the vitriolic posts on the USCF Issues forum and ignore the even worse rgcp newsgroup. Instead move forward in real life, not in some virtual reality.
Michael Aigner
How do we end this kind of petty and destructive behavior by the same old chess politicians who do not want to let go of their pseudo power?
The only way to end it is to defeat them through the electoral process. If you are successful, it will send the message that these tactics do not work.
I don’t actually know who gets to choose the USCF Board, but my guess is that you & Paul are well enough known that people will decide for themselves whether these accusations are true.
One way to try to make the world a better place is to set a good example. You have done that and still continue to do that.
Unfortunately, there is no way to stop negative comments from others unless the forums are censored which has the problem of restricting free communication.
In the long run if leaders set a good example, ignore counterproductive negative comments, and run an organization
that provides good service to its members I’ve got to believe that after a time negative comments and those who say negative things will begin to disappear.
I spend a fair amount of time each week perusing chess web pages including this one, Mig Greengard’s “Daily Dirt Chess Blog” and the Chessbase News site. There seems always to be an element of malice and personal attack at all of them. This has led me to ponder whether this is a chess-related phenomenon (after all, chess is a game of symbolic hostility) or if it is the natural result of a gradual social breakdown. I am now thinking it is both. Many chess players seem by nature to be opinionated, adversarial, and interested in power. On the other hand, civility and basic manners have also eroded to a point where I don’t even like to play chess online because of the occasional nasty remarks to which I must subject myself in order to play. I guess those who are more civil and inclined towards justice and honesty had better speak out, because as we know, “all that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men (and women) do nothing.”
This is a great question Susan.
I am an occasional poster in the USCF issues forum, and I also wonder why there are often personal attacks against other members. The forums can be a very entertaining read if you are on the outside looking in, but they can be a bit brutal for the insiders. I personally believe that this issue is more about the lack of guidance with the moderation of the forums rather than typical inside politics.
I recall the moderator of the forum posting that there are no fixed guidelines in the USCF issues forum from the board. Without the guidelines, or a set purpose, the forums can turn into a bloody zoo. Perhaps the best way to stop the personal attacks is to either convince the current board members, or to get on the board yourself, and dictate a purpose and place firm restrictions on posting behaviors that are allowed in the forums. If people resort to consistent personal attacks against one another, then they should be banned from posting in any USCF related forum.
Take care, and good luck Susan!
Gregory Alexander
gad:
If you think the comments on Mig’s blog are full of malice, you should check out the discussions on some sports or video game sites. In my experience this type of sniping on chess sites is relatively tame.
In any case, this type of thing seems to be a product of the message-board medium. People post things that they would never consider saying to someone in a normal conversation.
Hello Susan,
Please remember that you started it. You have been telling the world how bad the leadership is within the USCF ever since I have been reading your blog. You are even calling out some of them by name. Now you announce that you and your team are going to run so that you can “save” the USCF. This of course is going to rattle their cage. You cannot expect them to sit there and do or say nothing when someone like yourself makes such a grand entrance into the race. Even Mr Paul Truong in his 20 question with Chessville made some pretty strong accusations against the USCF. You and Paul both know that they are not going to lay down and let you all waltz on in. Suck it up and don’t play on our sympathies. It does nothing for your cause.
With all that said, I am thinking about joining the USCF just so I can vote for you.
Charlie
If elected to the board will you do anything about the military chess situation you posted on your blog a few months ago, or was that all for personal glory? I didnt see you write a letter to the USCF to ask them to change that. Why not?
Susan, this is just ‘politics’
It’s a dirty business….i hope you’ll survive it!!
I’ve spent more time than I care to admit to pondering these same questions.
I’m sure my opinion won’t be popular, but I believe it to be true. Excellence at chess has long been considered to be a hallmark of intelligence. As such, _some_ (too many) chess players, by sake of being good at this game, feel that they are endowed with extrordinary minds and that their every thought must be golden.
Unfortunatly, excellence at chess does not infer excellence at people skills, organizational skills, or any such thing. Certainly it does not negate such abilities — I don’t buy into the “all great chess players are crazy” concept either.
But the fact is that a large number of people who play chess, and have devoted much time to playing the game, seem to believe that they have all the answers. But as we know, they don’t.
Why are the forums like they are? I long ago gave up on them because they are dominated by vile people with agendas. Scare away all the nice folk and what is left? (assuming I’m a nice folk, but I guess that is for you to decide).
It will take more than Susan Polgar being elected to the executive board. It will take, as you have suggested, a whole new team.
One thing I would like to clarify is that I do believe all the aforementioned people have the best intentions of chess at heart, but sadly many are very misdirected.
Susan — a question for you. What can we, the equally frustrated fans of the grand game do to help you? What is most needed? Skills? Time? Donations? A vote?
Paul
Susan, This is a perfect analogy to a game of chess, they are attacking recklessly and too early, just stay calm, consolidate your position and out play them.
You’re the one saying chess can help people in real life situations, decisions, here’s you big chance to prove your own doctrine.
Sorry Susan, but I think that you yourself could do better here. By criticizing generic mudslinging, while giving no examples and naming no names, the effect is to subtly condemn all chess politicians other than yourself, and imply that any criticism of you is automatically invalid before it’s even been heard.
Either ignore the mud or respond to it. Either one is fine, but you’re in a kind of limbo-land here, where you’re not doing either one of those things. You’re responding to it without responding to it, and in so doing, slinging a little yourself by painting all your critics, substantive and not-substantive, with the same brush.
We could all sit here all day patting ourselves on the back for being better than the worst people out there, but that’s not really doing anything positive. All you’ve said in this blog entry is that your behavior is better than unspecified behavior carried out by unnamed people. Unless I go to the USCF Forum (the only specific place you did name) and read the posts there, I have no idea what you’re even talking about. Seriously.
And even if I do go there, you’re not specific about exactly what kind of behavior it is that you want to stop. Obscenity? Name-calling? Specious arguments? Some people are simply not capable of arguing intelligently even if they want to. Am I to assume that any criticism directed at you is automatically illicit? Or only certain criticisms, and if so, which ones exactly?
So, leaving aside the question of precisely what we’re talking about, you’re asking abstractly, how we can stop behavior that we disapprove of.
There are various methods. You could simply delete any post that you consider violates… whatever your criteria are. The downside is that you’ll be accused of deleting posts for containing disagreeable substance rather than for containing… whatever it is we’re talking about precisely. It’s certainly within your power to see to it that nothing you consider objectionable stays on your own blog.
Another possibility is to eliminate anonymous postings entirely. Require everyone to use their own real name. Then allow every poster to issue a rating to every other poster (something like 1-5 stars, which they can change at any time they want). It’s an imperfect method, which would have a certain amount of abuse (some would just negatively rate anyone who had an opinion they didn’t like), but it would provide a rough estimate of which posters were regarded with little esteem, and make them easier to ignore.
In addition, you yourself could name names. Like Santa Claus, you could have a naughty list and a nice list. Close it out and start fresh every month. You seem very reluctant to name names in these discussions, so I don’t think you’d go for that.
Or you could name behavior without naming names. Save certain deleted posts, remove the names from them, and have something like “Susan’s Naughty Page”, giving examples of the kind of things you’re talking about, without attaching any specific name to them.
But these are the kind of trade-offs you’ll get. Any attempt to DO anything about the problem will carry with it the possible perception that you’re trying to stifle legitimate debate. There are various ways to try to counter that perception, but they all involve a more hands-on approach than the generic “mud is bad” approach you’ve been using so far. Everyone agrees in principle that mud is bad, even the people who sling it. The devil is in the details, as they say.
I do not like to be so old, but it has its advantages:
The main one is that you know more of the life…not for being more clever,but for have seen more things.
If USCF has a lot of professional politics then is a real political fight… and they will defend their seats with all their weapons(that include all the possible mud-for everyone- if it is needed).
I remember many elections in my country,in chess,scoccer, and others sports…and all are the same:a mud battle.
Do not worry Susan:It is part of the game…no the best one but you need to live with it.
Try to do your best and use all the support to do all the good things you promised…many people forget everything when he/she is elected.
Be strong and good luck !
Okay, so I am going to post on this topic once more but this will be my last time.
I finally got into the USCF forum that Susan is talking about. I’ve spent the last few hours going through the posts. I now understand what Susan is talking about.
Now I’m going to try to be as nice as possible. I want the last few hours of my life back! For those of you who have not visited this forum, my advise is: don’t. The stuff is mostly negative, personal, and irrelevant to the future of chess.
There have been a number of posts on Susan’s blog that have asked her to specify her complaints about negative mudslinging. On the surface, this seems to be a valid query. Having seen what she is talking about I now understand her reluctance to respond.
I shall give just one fer-instance that may illuminate the problem: Rumors were posted that Susan’s and Paul’s relationship may be more than just business. When neither person posted responses, more postings took that as evidence that the rumors are true. Now it should be obvious to the whole world that Susan and Paul just did not want to dignify such trash with a response but then the rest of the world doesn’t have their minds in a gutter, either.
There is a whole lot of other stuff. I will just make one point of the financial questions/accusations. I am a CPA with a lot of audit experience. While I don’t know anything about USCF finances, I know about non-profit accounting. While it’s always possible that something can be wrong, the dollar amounts contained within the questions/accusations appear to me to be well within the threshold for reasonableness for the services discussed. In short, the accusations carry their own refutations within them.
This stuff is a total waste of time and Susan is right to treat it the way she has been treating it: only referring to it in a general way. At least I can now say I’ve looked at it and now I know. My bottom line: let’s trust Susan on this.
susan, i think you are making very generic accusations that the casual visitor to your blog has no idea what you’re talking about. how about getting to specifics.
I have read the Jack le Moine´s last post about the rumors.
True or false rumors,a vote cannot be decided thinking about the PRIVATE LIVES of the candidates.
The vote must be decided thinking if your candidate can do something good or not.
Well, i am just an old man…just think about that
Susan,
I agree with fpawn and others. Don’t concern yourself with the negative postings. You should run your own campaign.
Leadership attracts character attacks and opposition. It is part of what leadership is. Abraham Lincoln was one of the most apposed leaders in our Country ~ however, he was a great leader. You will learn to hear through the noise, it is an art.
You will be a great leader for Chess in the US as an official at the USCF.
Sincerely,
Kirsten
I will certainly understand if Susan wishes to delete the following.
Convicted felon and USCF Board member Sam Sloan–whose campaign was endorsed by former USCF President Leroy Dubeck–claims to have had a “not entirely Platonic” relationship with the teenaged Susan Polgar.
***BEGIN QTN 1***
BINFO 200603590
Date 2006-09-25
From samsloan
Status Standard Release
Release Date 2006-10-03
Subject Resolution of the Executive Board
——————–
To: Chessoffice@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Resolution of the Executive Board
From: Sam Sloan [samsloan@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:47:41 -0400
Cc: Joel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Beatchess@xxxxxxx, Rtannerae@xxxxxxx,
randallhough@xxxxxxxxx, samsloan@xxxxxxxxxxxx, CHESSJOEL@xxxxxxx,
bhall@xxxxxxxxxxx, Chessdon@xxxxxxx, pknight@xxxxxxxxxxx,
queencapa@xxxxxxx , USCF BINFO System, Chessoffice@xxxxxxx
Delivered-to: USCF BINFO Systemxxxxxxxxx
Delivered-to: USCF BINFO System
In-reply-to: [3.0.6.32.20060925110012.01f13280 @xxxxxxxxxxx]
——————–
At 11:00 AM 9/25/2006 -0400, Chessoffice@xxxxxxx wrote:
I move in open session that the Board approve the following resolution written by our attorney, Mike Matsler . I vote yes.
Bill Goichberg
I am deeply discouraged and disappointed that Bill, acting like a bull in a china shop, has brought this into the public forum by making a public motion and posting it to USCF BINFO System, as a result of which this matter will disseminated and the entire world will know about it in due course.The fact is that my relationship with Zsuzsa Polgar (who now calls herself Susan) was not entirely Platonic. I have been discrete and have not revealed to anyone other than a few close friends the true nature of our prior relationship, until now. Now, Bill’s public motion effectively forces me to reveal what really happened those many years ago. This will do no good either to me, Zsuzsa, Bill or the USCF, but it appears that now I will have no real choice but to tell the whole story.
Sam Sloan
***END QTN 1***
On 12/7/2006, Sloan (posting as samhsloan@gmail.com) confirmed and reiterated this accusation on rgcp.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/umyfk
***BEGIN QTN 2***
From: samsloan – view profile
Date: Thurs, Dec 7 2006 4:35 am
Email: “samsloan” [samhsloan@gmail.com]
Groups: rec.games.chess.politics, rec.games.chess.misc, alt.chess
The question Bill Brock keeps asking, over and over again, is whether I had a relationship with Zsuzsa.
So, I will answer.
The answer is yes, I did have a relationship with Zsuzsa back in 1986.
The question which has been troubling me is whether I should tell all.
Of course, I will tell all, if somebody offers me a million bucks for the story (it will be worth it).
***END QTN 2***
I will leave it to readers to calculate our hostess’s age in 1986, as well as Sloan’s age in 1986.
Perhaps Sloan can’t help lying: if he’s not wired correctly, then his conduct may not be entirely within his control. But people who should know better have habitually used Sloan to advance their base ends.
Susan,
I just spent 2 hours reading the forums threads you referred to. I would suggest you ignore them personally. No harm will come to you or your candidacy. It may be helpful to have a trusted assistant keep an on the “mud-slinging” and gossip. This will allow you to rest knowing that your interests are being represented.
All solutions of the human mind are negative and always oppose Love. All solutions of the human heart are positive Love.
We are powerless to change anyone except ourself. We can change ourself and live a life of positive love.
Some people will see us living a life of love and will be tired of their life of negativity and will say to themselves. “THERE MUST BE A BETTER WAY”
The better way is the way of Love. But this requires that we abandon our own mind and our own thoughts in favor of Love. Doing the one year of daily meditations given below is the only thing I know that will transform one’s life. But the person must want to change themselve for this to work.
these take but a minute a day, but almost no one will do them. Here is the place to start.
http://miraclevision.com/acim/wbk/pc/workbook001-1.html
It transformed my life.
You can do two things:
– become a rival for the nasty person.
– do nothing and let your beloved person freedom to choose.
in the first case you are trying to have success. In the second, you let your success depend on the person you like.
I like what was said here. It is very spiritual and loving.
I always try to remember the definition of LOVE. LOVE is giving the other person the freedom to do whatever they want even to reject you yourself. Your love is so deep that you want them to seek their happiness in their own free will. Love can never impose its will upon another person.
LOVE is giving freedom.
Our govenment does not love its own people because it trys to control its people. It trys to control others all around the world. These people do not feel loved by USA. and rightly so. We do not express Love by trying to control them and trying to tell them how to live their life.
All judgments no matter how subtle are acts of non love. Love can only see the other person as just perfect just the way they are.
Maybe this suggests that we love those in USCF now and see them as just perfect. Perfect in their negativity because it makes it so easy for you to get elected on a positive platform.
Jesus radiated love and the mob called for his cruxification. It will not be easy to walk thorough the valley of tears with your light shining as the center of Love glows from your inner being.
Remember that you are running for USCF office NOT to change anything or anyone external to yourself. You are running to transform yourself into the Beam of Light and Love that you are already. This is about your transformation Susan. Never about anyone else. YOU ARE THE ONE. You are the Messiah.
The transformation is for you to come to know and accept yourself as the Messiah, the One whose light shines as you walk the valley of tears.
With each decision you make allow the love that is inside of you to express itself. keep focused on spreading love. Know that the love that is inside of you that is expressing itself is god expressing herself and you are but her servant when you allow her to express her love through you.
Perspective is good. It’s a national board game association: looking for the reflection of Moschiach or Imam Mahdi or even Neo in Susan is a bit much to ask of her.
Of course, love is good, too 🙂 and she’s striking the right chords.
I’ve discussed the possibility of an organized exodus from USCF with many people in the past few months, including many posting here. Although I resigned my own membership a few months ago, I really do appreciate those working to reform things from within. It would be a shame to waste the efforts of dedicated volunteers if we had to start over. But if the dysfunctionality is institutional, so be it.
Also, there are already good people on the board, people who would be happy to work with Susan.
My advice is to ignore bad behavior – do not “reward it” by responding to it.
Negativity is the child of fear and ignorance. Those who are mature and responsible see it as so and know that it has no value. In time, it shall fall due to its own inertia.
Remain positive and constructive. This approach alone will bring about the changes and the spirit which most of us want to see.
Dr. Rene Carlos Ochoa
Peninsula Chess Center
I responce:
What do you suggest?
Answer: Remain at a higher level. Pray for the ignorant. They are not aware of there short comings,
How can we fix this problem?
Answer: Very tough…there will always be “Nay-sayers.” Sometimes it is best to simply ignore them. Don’t play into their game.
How can we get rid of this kind of people forever for the sake of chess and the USCF?
Answer: Hopefully, replace them with the best minds- by vote, not assissination- political or otherwise.
If everything was a bed-of-roses, we would be bored. It isn’t the goal that is the “prize,” sometimes. Often it is the jouyney (that is the real deal). It is there we find the gratitude and humility. I am convinced there is a little bad in the best of us and a little good in the worst of us. There is something to be learned from every person. Even the people we can’t stand.
We are powerless over people, places things and events.
I must find some way to accept things the way they are. The only thing I am able to change is my attitude.
I learned the hard-way: there is a God, and I am not “It.”
Acceptance, Gratitude, Humility.
Acceptance, Gratitude, Humility.
Acceptance, Gratitude, Humility.
To All
Happy Holidays & Blessed New Year
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I finally got into the USCF forum that Susan is talking about. I’ve spent the last few hours going through the posts. I now understand what Susan is talking about.
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What USCF forum are we talking about? I go to uschess.org, and don’t see a link for forums or message boards.
If we’re talking about rec.games.chess.politics, good grief, ignore that completely.
From the OLD uschess.org homepage, there is a link to http://www.uschess.org/forums/
USCF members who have registered in the Members Only section https://secure.uschess.org/MembersOnly/MO_login.php can get access to the USCF forum.
oops, I meant “USCF Issues” forum–this forum is not visible if you’re not signed in as a member….
1) Suggesting that general mud-slinging, or “he said, she said”, or “kiss and tell” gossip is even worthy of credibility (is even an issue) is disturbing. [Really, whomever Susan, Sam, Bill, Tom, Ted, Carol, etc. decide to have relations with is their business. For crying out loud kiddees we all got here the same way!] On the other hand, there is a line between gossip and slander (spoken) or libel (written) character defamation.
2) Instead of making vague generalities, focus on making definite points for improvement in the USCF and/or FIDE that you wish to implement and why you believe they will benefit chess players, chess sponsors, and the chess environment as a whole.
From that famous song from the forties: You’ve got to accentuate the positive!
Accentuate the Positive
(Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen)
You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between
You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
All these negative anonymous argumentum ad hominem attacks should be ignored. They be either spiteful gossip, desperate good-guy bad-guy conjecture, or posted by the attacked person themselves to gain attention.
Instead, adopt a platform of accountability. If someone has a credible complaint, let them register it or file lawsuit. In the meanwhile, make your policy well known and move forward with your positive, constructive, open programs.
I have no opinion…..people are always going to be greedy, selfish, destructive. We just need to get the right people into USCF office because then all these type of people will be left with no power. Its up to us guys……..its up to us USCF nobody’s to get the right people into the USCF office. the time is now….if you dont make the right decision now you may regret it in 20 years!
I was talking to a chess organizer and TD in my local area. He said he would vote against Polgar, becuase he thought that slate-idea was undemocratic
You just need to have someone who wants to sacrifice their time and their chess or other professional career to make the changes in the USCF. Similar to what Kasparov is doing in Russia. No pain, no gain as they say.