Re: The average shmo's perception of Pete.....

["Schrade, Scott" <sschrade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, I went out Friday night but didn't see too many of my friends to
get their reactions on Pete.  I didn't go out Saturday night because it's
just too damn cold here in O-HIGH-O.  Real cold.  For the past week we've 
had *high* temps around 20 degrees or less.  And this week's forecast is 
the same.  I keep telling people around here that God is angry over the
arrest of Pete.

Anyway, I did speak to a few close friends on Friday.  To initiate the
conversation I asked them to take the following "Pete multiple choice
quiz:"

	From your knowledge of the Townshend story, which best describes
	your feelings on the matter:
		A. Pete's probably a pedophile.
		B. Not sure, waiting for more info, will give him the
benefit
		   of the doubt.
		C. Pete's definitely *not* a pedophile, he just made a
foolish
		   mistake.

Three people answered "B."  One person answered "C."  And one person had
no opinion & said he really didn't care one way or the other.

Two of the people who answered "B" said that an important factor of guilt
or innocence would be the amount of *time* Pete spent on the illegal site.
They said if it was just a few minutes, that's OK.  But if it was like
four or five hours, that's a bad sign.

One of the people said that the time spent on the site *didn't* matter.
(Curiously, the guy who said this is very familiar with the internet, while
the other two who said the amount of time on the site *did* matter aren't
frequent internet users).

My good friend Curt was the one who answered "C" - Townshend's definitely
*not* a pedophile.  He agrees with the argument that the lack of any pre-
vious evidence or suspicious behavior patterns shows that Pete isn't a 
pedophile.

Incidentally, when I went out, I wore my "Who trench coat" which says "Who"
on the back, a la the QUAD album cover.  I was in a bar packed with in-
ebriated friendly-looking strangers & not one of them engaged me in con-
versation on the matter.

So, I guess I was wrong.  There wasn't any huge backlash directed against
me.  Most are giving Pete the "benefit of the doubt."  None had condemned
Pete as being a pedophile.

Also, I went to Borders Books & Music yesterday & bought the January issue
of Uncut magazine which features The Who on the cover.  When I was checking
out the girl clerk asked, "Are you a big Who fan?"  "Yes," I responded.
She continued, "Between the magazine & the pin on your coat, I figured you
must be."

"Yeah, it's been kind of a hard week to be a Who fan," I continued - hoping
this would get her to say something about Pete's trouble.  But she kind of
nodded & didn't say another word.  I'm not quite sure what that meant.  Per-
haps she was embarrassed to bring the subject up.


- SCHRADE in Akron