If You Wanted to Help a Friend, Would You???

OK, I am in a dilemma, this whole Facebook deciding who a winner is going to be is arguably just a popularity contest with the most friends to win.  I started asking my friends to vote for a good friend of mine Kirrily Parry who is a country girl born and bread.  Kirrily is not a size 0 and does not have the availability to call on allot of friends to vote for her.  I am all for country racing and competition but I have not been asked by Kirrily to do this and I have voted for other people as well.  I live in a very small town in Far North Queensland, and I know it is very difficult for the businesses to make money and the locals love an event that is for the people.  I have been criticized for my opinions that country racing should maybe have two divisions, a section for locals and showcasing local designers and milliners and then a separate section for everyone.  In result of my action I feel that people have seen that I am making favoritism, yes I have a favorite and many of them, I have voted for several people.  This leads me to believe that the problem may not be with my opinions it may be that I am supporting a friend but that I am bringing allot more people into the forum to vote that would not have.  If you wanted a friend to do well, would you not help them if they did not have the resources.  I in no way influence the way people vote, they can go through the contestants and decide who they want to vote for themselves.  At one stage I took myself off Facebook due to terrible amounts of bullying and onward incorrect comments about my mothering and love for my family.  This was not such an issue before I asked people to consider Kirrily for voting.  Everyone said I have not given them a forum to talk, here is your chance!  If you have something constructive to say I welcome it.  My love is for millinery and hats.  I do not work for anyone but myself and have no one to answer to but my conscience.  I lay straight in bed at night and I am proud that I have showcased Racing Fashion into such a public forum.  This not only allows couture designers to showcase and have more notoriety it brings millinery and hat making to a bigger audience.  I just want to give a friend a chance in a competition where she does not have resources.  I love that people have opinions and that they are not the same.  Otherwise we would live in dictatorship, in fact if you only believe in your own opinion and are not open to others you really try to discover paradigms otherwise you would be single minded.

Please note, that constructive criticism is welcomed, but nasty people can just go and report me to the school principal.