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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sacrosanct" data-source="post: 8598181" data-attributes="member: 15700">I think it's important.  Again, I'm not saying he gets a free pass here.  I absolutely think he needs to take responsibility for what he said and did.  There has to be repentance before reconciliation.  But when you have someone like Ernie, not the most astute person to begin with, then add cognitive damage from years of substance abuse on top of that, it's important to ask that question when you see a change in their behavior and mindset to be toxic all the sudden.  I don't think there's any saving LaNasa from his views, but I do think there's a chance for Ernie still.  If we don't even consider the reasons a person may have changed for the worst, then we're admitting there isn't any reformation for anyone, ever.  That's a position I don't believe.   People have their beliefs shaped based on personal experiences and (mis)information exposed unique to them, and those things are complex.And when it came down to the rubber meeting the road in the past, Ernie bent over backward to help members of the LGBTQ community.  So for those people, he showed who he was and it was different than now.  See what I mean about things being more complicated than we think?  If you're going to judge someone based on "what they show you who they are", wouldn't you look at everything they showed you, rather than one specific segment of their life?Ernie wasn't a bad person for most of his life.  By all accounts,  he was a good person.  Then recently he became a bad person.  Whenever that happens (to anyone, not just Ernie), I think it's worth asking why and how.  Once again, I am NOT saying he doesn't need to be held accountable.  And I completely understand why a whole lot of folks are done with him; it's not up to you or me or anyone else to be responsible to keep giving him more chances--that's up to him and he chose to double down.  I'm not asking you or anyone else to give him a free ride, or to stop criticizing him.  He has earned that reaction.  And I'm not asking anyone to spend any time or effort to try to help him, because that's not your (general you) responsibility.  I don't expect anyone, especially those who were the target of his toxicity, to forgive or forget so easily.   He said some really hurtful and alarming things.I just happen to think if a good person changed at some point to hold toxic beliefs, there's a chance they could change back, especially if we can identify a cause for that change in the first place.  Many of us have changed to be better than who we were in our youth.  I certainly know I have.Was Sloth from the Goonies a bad person because he did bad things in the past because the Fratellis were his only influence until he found Chunk?  Not the best analogy, but I think it gets the point across.  That being, when you have an impressionable and malleable mind, do you place full blame on the simpleton for behavior that is the result of manipulation by others?</blockquote>

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