I guess that maybe it's that I'm more of the 'glass is half empty' initial mindset or maybe it's my age (I've seen far too many bands come and go), but I knew almost from the first announcement of the "break" that this was a permenant split. And perhaps that's why the "why did he say that" aspect of Darren's comments never bothered me........ I suppose that I never believed his denials.

But the thing was that I felt badly for Darren. Yes, it was his words and his credibility that was on the line when he posted what he did at SavageFan. And yes, it was his choice to take on the majority of the publicity work within the band. And yet, my mouth has gotten me into trouble too many times in my life (and will many times to come before I die) to point the finger too badly at him. So I never knew or honestly cared what his motives were -- was it saying what he knew the press and fans wanted or was it denial on his part of the reality facing him. But I DID know how it felt to put your neck on the line and do something (maybe with the purest motives or maybe hoping to play the "game") only to have it blow up in your face.

BUT it was Darren's words and his image that people believed. And I don't think it was unexpected or silly for any of us to have believed him. Call me naive, but even Darren went out of his way in interviews and the like to say that we could believe what came out of his lips (remember that quote about not believing what we read; but rather what came from his lips?). So Kat, it's understandable that people like you and Steen and others trusted that Darren and Dan would treat us like the "cool and intelligent" fans that Darren kept telling us that we were and to believe his words. I think that fact got lost in all the blame that fans put on each other in how we handled each other's reactions over the split.

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I posted this, watched a bit of tv and realized as I was heading to bed ........ I guess that I did care what Darren's motives were afterall. I must have believed that they were good motives or I would have been questioning more. But having a core belief (yep, there's that word again ........ fans need to believe lol) that Darren is a good man who didn't intentionally mislead people is what allowed me to simply accept that he had said what he did in interviews and posts even though I didn't believe that what he said was 100% truthful.

<font color="#9966FF" size="1">[ March 08, 2005 11:57 PM: Message edited by: Dyan ]</font>