Quote Originally Posted by Jock Scot View Post
One of the main criticisms , prevailing and sadly, enduring ill feeling of the first "Gathering" in 2009 was that the locals felt that the Americans took over the show and the locals were not made to feel welcome in their own country. Not only that, American Clan representatives had American run Clan tents, I feel that there is a legacy of thinking that THAT is not going to happen to us again.

Now the planning of the new "Gathering" is a shambles and the end result is, it appears its not going to happen, who is/was/might/perhaps be in charge , or not, has this justifiable legacy of discontent and distrust to cope with, before all the other matters of suitable areas, logistics, finance, hotels, communications etc., to cope with and it looks like an almost inevitable conclusion has been reached-----its not going to happen.

What is going to happen under local Scots management ,is the usual smaller Clan meetings, gatherings and games and everybody is welcome.

I don't want this to sound Anti American and I really am not trying to be here, but the feeling was in Scotland that the first "gathering" was hijacked by those outwith Scotland and failed financially, its true and on those counts alone it failed, no amount of "outside" organisational skills from afar was it going to happen again. Whatever the rights and wrongs there was and might still be, that is I am afraid, the way it is. Thistledown in a recent post of his described the American Clan associations pretty accurately in many Scots eyes and when the dust has settled over all this shambles, perhaps it might be an idea if the Clan Societies from outwith Scotland think hard about how some of them go about things.

Before those from outwith Scotland leap to the keyboard and fire off a salvo of hurt angst and denials in my direction, there is no doubting, no doubting whatsoever that there are those in Scotland that also bare considerable responsibility for this latest shambles, as well as the last one.

Let us all learn from this and perhaps we might get it right next time, if not too much international damage has been done.
Jock,

Thanks for your post. No offense taken here. In fact, I think that the more transparent all parties are about these things, the better.

Perhaps the native Scots are being more charitable to my own countrymen than I am, but I'm not sure that Americans *want* the real thing. It's been my experience that most "Scottish-Americans" are really looking for the "romantic" rather than the real. This weekend's experience at Stone Mt. reinforced that. The Highland Games that I attended in Scotland (Elgin, Fort William, Stirling) were markedly different from all the American games that I've been to. My guess is that many Americans are looking for the American experience, but in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, Robert the Bruce statue, Wallace monument, etc., as a way of legitimizing their already strongly-held notions.

I suppose one really needs to think about what the purpose of this (non?)event is. If its a native celebration for Scots, then that leads one down a certain path with certain choices. If its purpose is to entice foreigners to "come back home" to Scotland and spend their money, then give the customer what they want.

Although my wife and I have discussed travelling to Scotland in the next 2-5 years, we'll likely bypass the Gathering, if it happens. I'd rather visit on an off-year when American-fatigue isn't at its high-water mark.

Cordially,

David