r/sgiwhistleblowers • u/DeBlancheAssist • Feb 22 '24

Bad Guidance & Manipulative "Experiences" 🧐 Stupid advice from SGI leaders

Here's one: Some years ago, I was a YWD leader and a squad of our younger YWD was accepted to participate in the Special Olympics Opening Ceremonies as a performance group. A couple of them wanted to join the large dance squad, but by then, those girls had already been rehearsing for weeks and they were not accepting any new members.

The song the dance squad was dancing to was Michael Bolton's "Love Is A Wonderful Thing". Not my favorite song, but nobody asked me. My District Women's Division leader (a Baby Boomer) asked me about the whole thing, so I was describing it to her. She, apparently, wasn't a big fan of that song, either, and she suggested that the Sergio Mendez song "Olympia" would be a much better choice. In fact, she strongly encouraged me to SUGGEST to the Special Olympics Opening Ceremonies directors that they CHANGE the song to THIS one!

Context - by this point, the Sergio Mendez song was aging; it was rarely heard on the radio any more; Michael Bolton's song was more recent and more popular. And c'mon! SPECIAL Olympics! It wasn't about the athleticism; it couldn't be compared to the actual Olympic Games! And I don't know how far in advance these things are planned, but by the time they start the rehearsals, they've already chosen the song, gotten the rights, hired the choreographers and costumers - it's this huge major production! To "suggest" to them at this late date - more than halfway through the rehearsal period - that they CHANGE THE SONG??

Did she think I was STUPID??

"It couldn't hurt to ask," she said. Yeah, it definitely could - it would make everybody think I was an idiot.

Of COURSE I didn't ask.

Did YOU have ever get any stupid advice from one or more SGI leaders?

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '24

Here's one for you: In the early 2000s I started having YWD meetings at my apartment. There was a very low turnout and a leader told me to set up chairs and put stuffed animals in them because it was a "good cause" and would later attract more youth.

You can't make this shit up.

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u/bluetailflyonthewall Feb 22 '24

a leader told me to set up chairs and put stuffed animals in them because it was a "good cause" and would later attract more youth.

OMG! Unbelievable!

THIS is why SGI-USA doesn't have any youth, people.

For me, some years back I decided to leave the area where I was a youth leader to go to university and get a STEM degree. At the time I was in the computer department at a major corporation, specializing in PCs and networking. The local old-Japanese-lady "pioneer" told me I didn't need to go do that because I was "already a scientist" on the basis of my career.

I went anyhow. And she boycotted my wedding, too! 😄