Wilomn
New member
Robin, let me address why some of us, myself in particular, defended matt so long and what another, perhaps not often seen by outsiders or relative newbs, side of the BOI and fauna is like.
We do stick up for one another because we feel that we know eachother better than the guy having the problem. We've often seen, as with matt, where in his past a problem was handled quickly and properly and we really really want to ASSume that all of his problems will be handled the same way.
We invest of ourselves in eachother, we form unspoken bonds here that we are fighting on the same side, hold the same ideals true, want the same good for our fellow keepers that we know ourselves to hold true to. We SEE that and then it's hard NOT to see that when one whom we know, maybe not personally but well enough to speak for, falls from that standard to a lower one that is NOT acceptable.
Even then, when we've seen it, we hope, we know, we hope that it's a temporary aberration, not a permanent dive into poor business practices or, even worse as has happened, scumbaggitry itself.
It's not that it's a clique thing, anyone showing for long enough the standards and honesty that we/me/us want to be known as having ourselves will eventually become part of that group if they want to, sometimes whether they want to or not, and then, once there, they too get the unasked for backing that you saw with matt and the EXTREME disappointment that you now see in regaurds to matt.
It's not that we want to back a known bad guy. It's just hard to see one of your own fall. You keep hoping and hoping and when you finally realize that it's just not going to happen, he's not going to go back to that guy you stood up for blindly, time has passed and folks who don't understand what you and the other supporters had invested in that support misunderstand.
That's where I think a lot of the ill will and bad feelings come in. It's not that we/I want to give a bad guy time to be bad, to excuse his bad ways. We/I felt such surprise that it was hard to believe the change and being hard to believe it took a long time to sink in that it was for real.
It happens sometimes but not because we/I thought it was ok for him to do, just that the incredulity rendered us unbelieving for too long.
We do stick up for one another because we feel that we know eachother better than the guy having the problem. We've often seen, as with matt, where in his past a problem was handled quickly and properly and we really really want to ASSume that all of his problems will be handled the same way.
We invest of ourselves in eachother, we form unspoken bonds here that we are fighting on the same side, hold the same ideals true, want the same good for our fellow keepers that we know ourselves to hold true to. We SEE that and then it's hard NOT to see that when one whom we know, maybe not personally but well enough to speak for, falls from that standard to a lower one that is NOT acceptable.
Even then, when we've seen it, we hope, we know, we hope that it's a temporary aberration, not a permanent dive into poor business practices or, even worse as has happened, scumbaggitry itself.
It's not that it's a clique thing, anyone showing for long enough the standards and honesty that we/me/us want to be known as having ourselves will eventually become part of that group if they want to, sometimes whether they want to or not, and then, once there, they too get the unasked for backing that you saw with matt and the EXTREME disappointment that you now see in regaurds to matt.
It's not that we want to back a known bad guy. It's just hard to see one of your own fall. You keep hoping and hoping and when you finally realize that it's just not going to happen, he's not going to go back to that guy you stood up for blindly, time has passed and folks who don't understand what you and the other supporters had invested in that support misunderstand.
That's where I think a lot of the ill will and bad feelings come in. It's not that we/I want to give a bad guy time to be bad, to excuse his bad ways. We/I felt such surprise that it was hard to believe the change and being hard to believe it took a long time to sink in that it was for real.
It happens sometimes but not because we/I thought it was ok for him to do, just that the incredulity rendered us unbelieving for too long.
