A MOMENT WITH MIKE: 7th Grade Time Machine

0 Aug. 21, 2018, 12:10 p.m.

Main Photo: A MOMENT WITH MIKE: 7th Grade Time Machine

By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

A Moment with Mike is a weekly opinion column where LiveRC’s Mike Garrison gives his take on hot-button issues, general topics, and conversations within the RC industry. The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of LiveRC.

Today’s message is short and sweet. Over the years I have misplaced a lot things such as wrenches, tire bands, parts, etc., but typically over some amount of time I find them all. I have been searching hard for quite some time to find the time machine that has taken us back to 7th grade, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere? I found all the non-stop 7th grade R/C drama, pointing fingers, whining, complaining, cheating, and social media soap operas – but still no sign of the time machine that I apparently stepped into at some point to take me back 18 years of my life.

My job is to find and report the latest news, new products, race reports, and exclusives in R/C car racing. Finding these things often means scrolling through Facebook and social media following one lead to the next until I find what I’m looking for. During this time, I bounce from page to page, group to group, and I see a lot. Quite frankly, I have seen too much, and I have had enough.

We all say and preach that we want R/C racing to grow, yet many of the same people “helping it grow” turn around and spend hours behind the computer stirring the pot, starting drama, whining/complaining, and slamming each other on social media, podcasts, FB live, and so on.

If we are going to act like 7th graders, maybe we need to be reminded like 7th graders that “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

I’ve been online for almost 30 minutes this morning and I’ve already been informed of what an idiot the race promoter is for picking XYZ brand for this year’s spec tire, the guy from the other end of the coast is a complete joke of a racer, not to buy ABC motors because the owner is clueless, and that the only reason the new guy won last night was because he is a lying cheater.

It is okay agree, disagree, and/or to share your opinions, BUT sharing your opinions doesn’t require you carry on into bashing other people, bashing companies, bashing organizations, bashing tracks, and/or bashing everything in between.

Bottom line is this…no matter how long you spend behind the keyboard causing problems, calling people out, whining, complaining, and stirring the pot – you’re not helping anything or anyone, and you are certainly not getting any better as an R/C racer because of it. If the same amount of time, attention, and effort was put in a positive way towards your OWN racing (no one else’s) and bettering the sport of R/C racing in general, we might all be able to return from this 7th grade field trip and you be awarded a real-life R/C champion - rather than just a wannabe R/C web warrior.

Put down the keyboard, pick up the radio, and let's go have some fun racing our R/C cars.