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The mechanical aspects of monster trucks ARE interesting, but it's really impossible for me to separate that from the fact that this is really PR for Feld Enter

by bozopi 8y ago

The mechanical aspects of monster trucks ARE interesting, but it's really impossible for me to separate that from the fact that this is really PR for Feld Entertainment. They're a family-held corporation famously known for owning the (now defunct) Ringling Brothers Circus... and for getting caught hiring a dirty ex-CIA official to wiretap and harassing their critics. (Clair George, an interesting guy. The highest ranking CIA official convicted - and pardoned by Poppy Bush - in the Iran-Contra scandal, among other dubious achievements.) Salon did a great series on this years back: Part 1: https://web.archive.org/web/20081012203919/http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2001/08/30/circus/print.html https://web.archive.org/web/20081012203919/http://archive.sa... Part 2: https://web.archive.org/web/20060203010938/http://archive.salon.com:80/news/feature/2001/08/31/circus/print.html https://web.archive.org/web/20060203010938/http://archive.sa... tl;dr - the owners of Grave Digger and Monster Jam are Not Nice People. (Posting as a throwaway because of this history.)

mirimir 8y ago
That is an impressive dirty-tricks story. Ken Feld adamantly did not want his late father outed as gay. That's not surprising, I guess. And he wanted to protect the reputation of Ringling Bros. Also not surprising. But the lengths he went to!
justtopost 8y ago
I am decidedly not nice when you come after my family as well. This reads like gossip, what is your personal beef?
- PavlovsCat 8y ago
  That's not "not being nice". "Not being nice" is something like saying "hmm, hi" rather than "Hey, so great to see you! You look fantastic!!" Being a thief is being a thief, being a liar is being a liar, and so on, that such things are "not nice" is a bonus, it doesn't replace what they actually are. And unflattering truths isn't "coming after" anyone, either. > Over lunch, Smith recounted a campaign of surveillance and dirty tricks Feld had unleashed on her in the wake of her 1990 magazine piece in the now-defunct Regardie's magazine. Feld, he said, had hired people to manipulate her whole life over the past eight years. Feld had spent a lot of money on it, he said. He may have even tried to destroy her marriage. In fact, Pottker would eventually learn of a massive dirty tricks operation, involving former CIA officials and operatives, that would target Ringling enemies such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups, not just Pottker. [..] > The final paragraph of George's affidavit was a stunner, too. It suggested Feld had set up a special unit, much like the Watergate "plumbers," to destroy anyone who threatened the image of the circus as wholesome fun for the whole family, not to mention a conscientious custodian of animals and circus children. It was headed by one Richard Froemming, one of Feld's executive vice presidents, George swore. His main target was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and similar groups that had annoyed Feld with charges that the Ringling Bros.' elephants were badly cared for. If someone does that kind of stuff, and their family doesn't "come after them" for it, it dissed itself harder, and more long-lastingly, than any author or journalist could.

by bozopi 8y ago

mirimir 8y ago

That is an impressive dirty-tricks story. Ken Feld adamantly did not want his late father outed as gay. That's not surprising, I guess. And he wanted to protect the reputation of Ringling Bros. Also not surprising. But the lengths he went to!

justtopost 8y ago

I am decidedly not nice when you come after my family as well. This reads like gossip, what is your personal beef?

PavlovsCat 8y ago
That's not "not being nice". "Not being nice" is something like saying "hmm, hi" rather than "Hey, so great to see you! You look fantastic!!" Being a thief is being a thief, being a liar is being a liar, and so on, that such things are "not nice" is a bonus, it doesn't replace what they actually are. And unflattering truths isn't "coming after" anyone, either. > Over lunch, Smith recounted a campaign of surveillance and dirty tricks Feld had unleashed on her in the wake of her 1990 magazine piece in the now-defunct Regardie's magazine. Feld, he said, had hired people to manipulate her whole life over the past eight years. Feld had spent a lot of money on it, he said. He may have even tried to destroy her marriage. In fact, Pottker would eventually learn of a massive dirty tricks operation, involving former CIA officials and operatives, that would target Ringling enemies such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups, not just Pottker. [..] > The final paragraph of George's affidavit was a stunner, too. It suggested Feld had set up a special unit, much like the Watergate "plumbers," to destroy anyone who threatened the image of the circus as wholesome fun for the whole family, not to mention a conscientious custodian of animals and circus children. It was headed by one Richard Froemming, one of Feld's executive vice presidents, George swore. His main target was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and similar groups that had annoyed Feld with charges that the Ringling Bros.' elephants were badly cared for. If someone does that kind of stuff, and their family doesn't "come after them" for it, it dissed itself harder, and more long-lastingly, than any author or journalist could.