I can't locate the original Hegarty "Rebate Shops are the problem" article. If anyone can search it out I'd appreciate if you would provide a link.

It’s a funny thing about momentous times. What’s quizzical is that a large percentage (even a majority) can fail to see the correctness or incorrectness of an action until months and even years have passed and the reality of it finally sinks in. I don't have to point to events to draw an illustration. I'll let you pick your own. History is replete with them, but generally they involve support of the status quo and the mistreatment of a minority or those different than the persecutor. They involve the failure to see the harm and the wrong continues for much longer because of misunderstanding, lethargy and subservience to the powers that be.

Just before the story broke we were discussing the drug use issue on this board and there were a fair number inclined to look the other way or disagree with the idea that drugs were prevalent and impacting the game. No one is saying the doping of horses is the equivalent of persecuting a group of people. It’s a question of recognizing what’s going on. As a horse racing fan you have to decide is it a doping issue or is it about rebate shops? What is the predominate concern? If it’s not primarily an issue about rebate shops why should we tolerate the watchdogs of the game "phrasing" the issue as if it is?

I can't find the article again, but I believe Hegarty was doubly off base by quoting one rebate shop that he is not critical of in a story about the danger of rebate shops that should have been about doping. It was poor journalism and in my opinion is more than deserving of dissenting letters to the editor.



Post Edited (01-18-05 14:38)