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Re: Can we see the real Pete??



> It's not wrong.  Pete is a guy you/we admire and you just want to know what 
> is really going on.  Right?

(God, Mark's gotta be lovin' this thread that's opened up!)  Listen:  I love Pete.
I respect Pete.  I worship Pete.  Pete & his music make me feel alive.  I see 
myself when I see Pete.

I've been worshipping & following the career of this man for over 20 years now.
Then, he is shown to have accessed a child porn site.  And when I look for the 
reasons why I'm told repeatedly to mind my own business, that Pete owes me 
no clear explanation, that I'm wrong for expecting an apology, that I should just 
let the subject die, & that it's wrong to try to glean knowledge from Pete's words.

I say, "Fuck that.  He's *my* idol."  I don't have dozens of posters of *you lot*
on my apartment walls; it's Pete's image that gazes back at me everyday.

> People are all different and our backgrounds are different.  We tend to want 
> others to "think like us" because it comes so natural, because we can 
> understand our own points of view. 

Yeah.....?

> On the other hand, there are real idiots out there that have twisted motives. 

What do you mean by this?  What idiots?  The idiots that make Pete jokes?
The idiots that think he's a pedo?  Why is it so difficult for you & others to
accept the fact that many people *don't* believe Pete's explanation?

> From all I've ever seen and read, I am confident that you and Kevin are not 
> such people.  You just got upset at the strange situation that Pete became 
> entangled in.  

No, I got mad at Pete, not the "strange situation."  I still don't feel that paying 
to access a child porn site is proper research for any goddamned thing.

> What we love is close to us.  To see him looking like he looks to the public 
> is uncomfortable if we ourselves are not clear about certain things.

No, to imagine Pete at his computer paying for & then looking at a child porn
site is uncomfortable.  The public reaction is totally understandable.

> You see, we know one another at a certain level and at one point I thought 
> that you actually thought that Pete was one.  

I wasn't fucking sure when the story broke, man!  What the fuck?!  Haven't
you ever been lied to?  Haven't you ever been deceived?  

I couldn't just make that leap & say, "What a load of rubbish!  Pete's not that
way!"  When Kevin posted that one-sentence email to IGTC that read, "Pete's 
just been arrested," I nearly loaded me fucking draws, man!  Apparently, you &
others were calmly sipping tea & preparing your "Pete Is Innocent" placards!
I thought I had entered into another dimension!  (So how do I jump into one
of those other parallel universes predicted by String Theory - one where Pete 
never entered his credit card info?!  Why'd I get stuck in this one?!) 

> But now I know that you don't think so.  

What if I did, Jon?  Would you hate me?  What if I thought Pete wanted to
look at some kiddie porn just for the evil of it?  For the dirtiness of it?  Would
you punch me the next time you saw me?  Talk behind my back?  Would I be
Schrade?  Or would I be Schrade Who Doesn't Believe Pete?  Someone to
be scoffed at.  How should I treat my friends who......don't believe? 

> Imagine how hard it is for Pete to explain himself and his actions to the 
> entire world.

Well, big fuck-ups require big explanations.  Pete's a big boy.  IMO, he hasn't
explained himself clearly.  But I haven't stopped listening.  I haven't turned 
away from him.  My posters are all still up!  ;-)


- SCHRADE in Akron