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Over the past few months a lot of negative sentiment and comments have risen up about the Professional Car Society. For those of you who may not be aware, the PCS is a club that, simply put, has done quite a few things that lash out against any hearse owner who is not a straight, normal looking white guy in his 50’s. If you’re goth, gay, tattooed or have a vehicle that isn’t completely stock they will exclude you, talk shit about you and in many cases be very more aggressive. I know this from over a decade of involvement with their club, some of those years as a chapter president and a host of their 2005 international meet. My point is, I’m not just a random shit talker, I have first hand experience in the true nature of this club and I can tell you, any stories you’ve heard about them are not only true but I’ve probably got ones that are worse.
Recently the issue has escalated to the point where an anti-PCS Facebook page and message board threads have appeared and I’d like to talk about that for a moment, please bear with me here, it’s worth hearing.
A part of me is relieve to see that other people are seeing this club for what it truly is and I get it, you’re talking to someone here who will never run out of vitriol and venom for that shitbox club (and I fully admit to taking part in these threads as well) but I also know that this isn’t the way. I don’t mean that in a “We should be better than stooping to their level” sort of way. My statement isn’t one of altruism, I firmly think we should avoid huge presentations against the PCS but NOT because I think we should take the high ground but because I want them damaged and I know of far better ways to do it than that. (Also, I realize that in a way this little diatribe is much like the Facebook page itself, ie: a public denouncement of their group but I gotta get the message out there so I’m in something of a catch 22 here, ignore the obvious contradiction in favor of the far more rewarding message I have to offer you)
First, I have many times thought about posting something on my website talking about how rotten the PCS was, how they have talked shit about other hearse clubs, excluded people and even the lovely little board meeting where they were talking about me and one of their geezer KKK members suggested they “Get a rope” to take care of me (On a side note, I sincerely invite whoever that guy was to TRY it, I would love to see you try to carry out a physical attack on me, it would end with me fucking the freshly made neck hole on your cooling corpse)
My thinking was that I wanted to show people who they really were to dissuade potential future members and allies.
The PCS tries to only show their good side to the general public and people they WANT in the club. If you’re a random yahoo off this street, they want you to think highly of them. If you’re a doctor, EMT or funeral director who doesn’t look funny and drives a bone stock vehicle, they want you. To everyone else they give their ugly side. I wanted to expose the side that everyone doesn’t see on a regular basis to damage them but I realized something very important.
You know that scene in the 5TH Element where the evil space blob is heading towards Earth and the military is firing huge weapons at it to try to kill it but that just makes it stronger? The PCS is that space blob, standard fighting won’t work, here’s why: You might think you’re giving them a bad name but you’re still doing something beneficial to them, raising awareness of their group.
I will give you an instance from my personal experience. A while back I had a fairly popular blog. Some people found some of my writings to be objectionable and decided to embark on a huge effort to tell everyone what an asshole/idiot/poser/dildo I was. For the most part people agreed with the negativity. I don’t think it’s because I am any of those things, I just know that people tend to follow whatever the precedent sentiment is, positive or negative. If they had said “Hey, look, this guy is awesome!” most people would have followed suit. People are fairly sheepish.
The thing is it erupted into a huge ordeal where it was literally HUNDREDS of blog entries and replies talking shit about me personally. Ever gone on the internet and seen 500+ people all talking about what a fucktard they think you are? Well friends, I have and I learned a few things from it.
First is that about 10% of all people will actually develop an independent opinion that is contrary to popular sentiment. Is it them thinking for themselves or just being arbitrary? Probably a little of both. The bottom line though was that I ended up with a ton of new followers on my blog because of this.
If they had hated what I had to say and just decided “Fuck that guy, ignore him” I would have ended the day with nothing extra but because they made a huge effort to try to drag me down they inadvertently added to my following and I ended the day in a far better position than I started it in and I didn’t have to do a damned thing, they literally did all my advertising for free.
Don’t do the PCS’s advertising for them. Sure, you might dissuade a few people from joining them but the chances are these are already the type of people the PCS would shit on anyways.
Now, do I believe that the PCS should be exempt from retaliation? Hell the fuck NO. I would love nothing more than to see them burnt to cinders but believe me when I tell you that there is a far better way to accomplish that and it’s already been in the works for years.
The deal is this guys: Years ago I decided to bury that club. They always said “If you don’t like our rules and the way we act then leave!” so that’s exactly what I did. Their opinion was that if they pissed off 5 or 6 freaks it wouldn’t matter to them. I decided to MAKE IT MATTER.
I came up with the idea of starting the National Hearse and Ambulance Association, a club that would tie together smaller hearse clubs, get them all to connect to each other and create a sense of community and brotherhood between the clubs and people that the PCS had shit on. Their opinion was “We pissed off the Denver Hearse Association? Who cares, it’s 15 people in Colorado, what does that matter?” (at the time our membership numbers were a lot lower)
Well, I went to Alex Lohman of Dallas Trocas and Chris Diganci of Dead Ends and pitched the idea of NHAA and then there was a club of 15 or so people in Texas and a club of 15 or so people in Georgia. Now it’s 45 hearse/ambulance owners that the PCS will never see membership dues or participation from in their lifetime. When you start multiplying that number by how many clubs we currently have and our potential future inductees you can see we ARE a threat.
The NHAA has meets all over the place, they have Monster Bash, the Eastern Meet and HearseCon has been growing slowly but very steadily every year. These are all people spending their time, money and allegiance on us and not them. We are dividing and conquering that shitty ass club slowly.
The PCS does nothing to try to recruit new members. They mostly refuse social networking and resist new technology. They shit on any car that follows a trend or fashion and most importantly they fail to court the youth. If you’re under 40 they think you’re worthless and don’t care about what you might think. Think that doesn’t make a difference? Any business or organization that doesn’t court the youth and change with the times DIES, plain and simple. Why do you think Pepsi and Coke still sell like mad? Do you think Pepsi would still be selling if they were like “Hey, we have a way of doing things and it can NEVER change! We’re going to keep running the same commercial with Robert Palmer from the 1980’s forever!” no, they update with the times and they court the fuck out of the kids. When was the last time you heard someone say anything about the 4H Club? Never because that is another organization that died with its sense of tradition over change.
So here it is guys: You hate the PCS and how they have treated you? Absolutely understandable. You want to go Wrath of Khan and wound them? Good idea! But if you want to do that in a way that doesn’t backfire here is what YOU can do:
Go back to your club, go support your local hearse and ambulance club, Dead Ends, Dallas Trocars, Chariots of the Dead, Mortis City, WHOEVER! Go bolster them, show support, bring your hearse, recruit new members! Feel like starting an anti PCS page? Fuck that, start a PRO Nightmare Cruisers fanclub page. Adding to these clubs WILL subtract from the PCS, we WILL divide and conquer, that’s not my opinion, it’s a fact and my fucking PROMISE to you all. We can unite and we can be infinitely better than them because we will accept people for who and what they are and we can roll with the punches.
That’s it team, that’s how we beat the other guys on their own playing field. Thanks for listening, I am off to put my money where my mouth is and work on an update for my hearse website.
-Zachary Byron Helm
Recently the issue has escalated to the point where an anti-PCS Facebook page and message board threads have appeared and I’d like to talk about that for a moment, please bear with me here, it’s worth hearing.
A part of me is relieve to see that other people are seeing this club for what it truly is and I get it, you’re talking to someone here who will never run out of vitriol and venom for that shitbox club (and I fully admit to taking part in these threads as well) but I also know that this isn’t the way. I don’t mean that in a “We should be better than stooping to their level” sort of way. My statement isn’t one of altruism, I firmly think we should avoid huge presentations against the PCS but NOT because I think we should take the high ground but because I want them damaged and I know of far better ways to do it than that. (Also, I realize that in a way this little diatribe is much like the Facebook page itself, ie: a public denouncement of their group but I gotta get the message out there so I’m in something of a catch 22 here, ignore the obvious contradiction in favor of the far more rewarding message I have to offer you)
First, I have many times thought about posting something on my website talking about how rotten the PCS was, how they have talked shit about other hearse clubs, excluded people and even the lovely little board meeting where they were talking about me and one of their geezer KKK members suggested they “Get a rope” to take care of me (On a side note, I sincerely invite whoever that guy was to TRY it, I would love to see you try to carry out a physical attack on me, it would end with me fucking the freshly made neck hole on your cooling corpse)
My thinking was that I wanted to show people who they really were to dissuade potential future members and allies.
The PCS tries to only show their good side to the general public and people they WANT in the club. If you’re a random yahoo off this street, they want you to think highly of them. If you’re a doctor, EMT or funeral director who doesn’t look funny and drives a bone stock vehicle, they want you. To everyone else they give their ugly side. I wanted to expose the side that everyone doesn’t see on a regular basis to damage them but I realized something very important.
You know that scene in the 5TH Element where the evil space blob is heading towards Earth and the military is firing huge weapons at it to try to kill it but that just makes it stronger? The PCS is that space blob, standard fighting won’t work, here’s why: You might think you’re giving them a bad name but you’re still doing something beneficial to them, raising awareness of their group.
I will give you an instance from my personal experience. A while back I had a fairly popular blog. Some people found some of my writings to be objectionable and decided to embark on a huge effort to tell everyone what an asshole/idiot/poser/dildo I was. For the most part people agreed with the negativity. I don’t think it’s because I am any of those things, I just know that people tend to follow whatever the precedent sentiment is, positive or negative. If they had said “Hey, look, this guy is awesome!” most people would have followed suit. People are fairly sheepish.
The thing is it erupted into a huge ordeal where it was literally HUNDREDS of blog entries and replies talking shit about me personally. Ever gone on the internet and seen 500+ people all talking about what a fucktard they think you are? Well friends, I have and I learned a few things from it.
First is that about 10% of all people will actually develop an independent opinion that is contrary to popular sentiment. Is it them thinking for themselves or just being arbitrary? Probably a little of both. The bottom line though was that I ended up with a ton of new followers on my blog because of this.
If they had hated what I had to say and just decided “Fuck that guy, ignore him” I would have ended the day with nothing extra but because they made a huge effort to try to drag me down they inadvertently added to my following and I ended the day in a far better position than I started it in and I didn’t have to do a damned thing, they literally did all my advertising for free.
Don’t do the PCS’s advertising for them. Sure, you might dissuade a few people from joining them but the chances are these are already the type of people the PCS would shit on anyways.
Now, do I believe that the PCS should be exempt from retaliation? Hell the fuck NO. I would love nothing more than to see them burnt to cinders but believe me when I tell you that there is a far better way to accomplish that and it’s already been in the works for years.
The deal is this guys: Years ago I decided to bury that club. They always said “If you don’t like our rules and the way we act then leave!” so that’s exactly what I did. Their opinion was that if they pissed off 5 or 6 freaks it wouldn’t matter to them. I decided to MAKE IT MATTER.
I came up with the idea of starting the National Hearse and Ambulance Association, a club that would tie together smaller hearse clubs, get them all to connect to each other and create a sense of community and brotherhood between the clubs and people that the PCS had shit on. Their opinion was “We pissed off the Denver Hearse Association? Who cares, it’s 15 people in Colorado, what does that matter?” (at the time our membership numbers were a lot lower)
Well, I went to Alex Lohman of Dallas Trocas and Chris Diganci of Dead Ends and pitched the idea of NHAA and then there was a club of 15 or so people in Texas and a club of 15 or so people in Georgia. Now it’s 45 hearse/ambulance owners that the PCS will never see membership dues or participation from in their lifetime. When you start multiplying that number by how many clubs we currently have and our potential future inductees you can see we ARE a threat.
The NHAA has meets all over the place, they have Monster Bash, the Eastern Meet and HearseCon has been growing slowly but very steadily every year. These are all people spending their time, money and allegiance on us and not them. We are dividing and conquering that shitty ass club slowly.
The PCS does nothing to try to recruit new members. They mostly refuse social networking and resist new technology. They shit on any car that follows a trend or fashion and most importantly they fail to court the youth. If you’re under 40 they think you’re worthless and don’t care about what you might think. Think that doesn’t make a difference? Any business or organization that doesn’t court the youth and change with the times DIES, plain and simple. Why do you think Pepsi and Coke still sell like mad? Do you think Pepsi would still be selling if they were like “Hey, we have a way of doing things and it can NEVER change! We’re going to keep running the same commercial with Robert Palmer from the 1980’s forever!” no, they update with the times and they court the fuck out of the kids. When was the last time you heard someone say anything about the 4H Club? Never because that is another organization that died with its sense of tradition over change.
So here it is guys: You hate the PCS and how they have treated you? Absolutely understandable. You want to go Wrath of Khan and wound them? Good idea! But if you want to do that in a way that doesn’t backfire here is what YOU can do:
Go back to your club, go support your local hearse and ambulance club, Dead Ends, Dallas Trocars, Chariots of the Dead, Mortis City, WHOEVER! Go bolster them, show support, bring your hearse, recruit new members! Feel like starting an anti PCS page? Fuck that, start a PRO Nightmare Cruisers fanclub page. Adding to these clubs WILL subtract from the PCS, we WILL divide and conquer, that’s not my opinion, it’s a fact and my fucking PROMISE to you all. We can unite and we can be infinitely better than them because we will accept people for who and what they are and we can roll with the punches.
That’s it team, that’s how we beat the other guys on their own playing field. Thanks for listening, I am off to put my money where my mouth is and work on an update for my hearse website.
-Zachary Byron Helm
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