For clarity, this post is not aimed at any specific person. It's just a little rant at the injustice of our world...!
This is an old chestnut that keeps turning up, and I'll say it yet again - most of the "Ground Owners" are in fact NOT owners, but rent the land we shoot on. How can any one of us comment on the finances of theses guys when we have absolutely no idea of the scale of their expenses? Who knows what rent is charged by the ACTUAL landowner, or the other expenses that a shoot provider is faced with? How many "Ground Owners" have had traps and clays stolen that need to be replaced in order for next week's shoot to go ahead?
We can guess all we want to, we can do our own maths based on guesswork, and we will come up with a figure that feeds our spiteful ire to justify our outrageous indignation at the injustices of the world - then we can make sarcastic comments about these people based on exactly that - guesswork. By its very definition, "guess" is an alternative to "don't know". If you're comfortable with that, fill yer boots, but we have enough problems from the "Anti Brigade" without turning on the people who provide us with the opportunity to feed our passion for this wonderful hobby in which we CHOOSE to partake. I forget who said this and I'm paraphrasing, but I remember an adage that goes something like this - "Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt".
Do we, when faced with a smaller bill at the checkout in the supermarket than last week, consider the suppliers who are screwed into the ground by the powerful buyers? Do we consider the livelihoods of the farmers and their staff, and the rest of the supply chain, who also have families to feed, when we've saved a couple of quid? Do we consider that that couple of quid is at the expense of ordinary people and NOT the big supermarkets? Of course we bloody well don't, because we're all too bloody selfish and wrapped up in our own, self-serving, greedy little lives. And we don't want to know, because we don't like feeling guilty!
I will say that I've won money at 6 different grounds in the last year, and by far the highest payout was at one of Steve Lovatt's grounds. Just a 100 reg ESP shoot and a class win, but paid over double the winnings from any other ground. Am I now to start whinging about the other grounds and how they're ripping us off and wallow in poisonous, self-pity? Or should I thank the man, consider myself fortunate to have won a few extra quid, and go back next time and try to do it again??
These are all rhetorical questions, by the way, because now I've had a rant, I'm really far too tired for a debate.
reved:
