The Doctor Of Style wrote:
Nas wrote:
Juice's Lecture Notes wrote:
Nas wrote:
I imagine Reader wouldn't have been bothered by the honest vitriol from people he was never friendly with. There's probably at least one person he used to be really friendly with that he would have hoped would set aside their "disagreements." We all have to live with the thoughts we put out, though.
Well I don't think he and I were ever friendly, but at one point I sensed there was a begrudging respect, at least on an intellectual level. In fact at one point I think we had reached détente. Then something changed, and I honestly don't recall being the impetus. Then it was just hatred.
The Reader of the last 5 or so years was edgier than the Reader before then. I would intentionally poke younger Reader and he never responded in kind. He would occasionally remind me of that. It's unlikely I would have gotten away with it his last 5 or so years of posting.
I didn't know him nearly as well as you did or for as long as you have. I never sensed much of a difference from the time that I began posting regularly until the day he died. He was outspoken about what he perceived to be bigotry and when you do that you are going to rub some people (namely bigots) the wrong way. His relationship(s) seemingly changed as a result with some people but he was ok with that it appeared. I think more than anything what kept him posting was the positive interactions (and there were quite a bit) with people that he didn't perceive to be that way. And contrary to the belief of some, He had MANY positive interactions with people here who held different views and were of a different race than he was.
That is why the cheerleading regarding his being a bigot (conveniently by a clown that disagreed with him) was completely off base and unwarranted.
The earlier RR ignored a lot of stuff, or he was more understanding. I got texts and PMs from him back then when I may have been too emotional or overreacted to something. I recall an exchange when Leash and I butted heads. He told me I should reach out to him because we were "BOTH good dudes." The same Leash that was used as a tool to attack him with.
No doubt, he stuck around because of the positive interactions. He and Seacrest strongly disagreed, but they maintained a friendship offline. He grouped texted us a couple of years ago to tell us about the battle he was facing. Seacrest was even there assisting during one of his last visits to the hospital. Reader valued the friendships with even the people he disagreed with politically.
As Seacrest pointed out, Reader was half Lithuanian and 25% balck. That balck wasn't even a slaveship balck. He would have been more "self-loathing" than a bigot if anything but skin color matters. I try to appreciate the complexities of the guy I considered a friend. I don't have an issue with others feeling differently. I suspect Reader wouldn't either.
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