Well I thank you JL for the thoughtful reply. And I do want to be gentle in light of the impact to you as well. I think I see where you and I may be disagreeing on the connection of the two events. I don’t see a connection between proving a story you heard while employed is any more or less likely to be true by proving a story about Pete’s father with public documents. The latter has lead us to revealing details about past alleged victims from long ago.
I don’t think Pete honoring his parents, (even if they were terrible humans as it appears), necessarily proves anything one way or the other about Pete or his personality. Parent relationships are deeply complicated.
To step away from real lives to a made up example, let’s say Jane provides end of life care for her parents, perhaps an alcoholic and abusive father. She may arrange for military honors at his funeral. She may publicly give a eulogy. It’s not wrong or right, it’s just what Jane has decided to do. It doesn’t mean Jane will ever be her parents or that she is narcissistic for honoring them.
I know a woman whose abusive father disappeared when she was a very small child. She had no contact for 30 plus years. He reached out as his health was failing a few years ago to make amends before his death. It would have been valid for her to either reject or accept his offer. She accepted, while her sibling ultimately decided to reject it and continued to have no contact. They were both valid in their decision. She mourned him after his death with tributes but I don’t fault her, I recognize her feelings about it are complicated.
All this to say, I don’t fault Pete for caring for his elderly mother regardless of whatever person she was. While a lot has been revealed about Pete that is disturbing, caring and honoring an elderly parent to me is something we see in many situations. I agree a site dedication to his father is gross. But I am not sure how much it moves the needle for me on what I already thought about Pete. His father is not an excuse or explanation to me. I do not have sympathy for Pete but I don’t think less of Pete either. It’s more horribleness but reflects the actions of a different person.
The parents you get are the biggest crap shoot of this life. It’s not fair, it just is what it is.
If the point is to share or illuminate Pete’s own personality issues, ego or behavior or treatment of others, there has to be a more direct route than a story about his parents’ actions.
This route exposes the trauma of others from very long ago who have chosen not to participate here. While there is public records, the alleged abuser has been dead for a VERY long time and they went through the court process and jail time long before that. It would seem they should be able to assume their story is long buried unless they chose to bring it up. It’s wild some see it as a free for all forever and forever because it was printed in a newspaper decades ago. So forever and forever people on a platform not yet even conceived, could bring up Dustin was a victim? I mean I guess yes that is true. But man, how crappy for victims when you have longed moved on.
The direct experiences about Pete and his actions from current and former staff hold FAR more weight to me than if his parents were terrible humans.
Thank you for your candidness and showing ip here. I do appreciate you being here while some take the luxury of continuing to be silent.
This conversation is very complicated and I do recognize it’s difficult when the stories are all over meshed together.
lol
