Quote:
Originally Posted by JackieBlue
I’ve never claimed to be impartial. I do, however, try to be logical and objective. The only thing that I’ve tried to “rein in” is the determination of some people on this board to deny, against all reason, that there is more here than meets the eye, who assume that because Richie has given no reason that suits them for why he left the tour, he must therefore be irresponsible, disrespectful, uncaring or, now, have mental problems.
But now that you mention it, the thing I find interesting is how none of the objective people on the board seem to mind “when others are having a go at Richie” or find humor at his expense without knowing his reasons; but they come screaming out of the woodwork, guns blazing, if anyone dares to suggest the possibility that there might be trouble in the land of Jovi and, IF so, like it or not, Jon would in all likelihood bear at least some of that responsibility.
If you are saying that there is zero evidence that proves Jon is at fault, you are perhaps correct. However, there is increasing evidence that strongly suggests that there is some discord in the band and that such discord may be the reason Richie’s not on tour, whether people want to acknowledge that or not.
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For what it's worth, it wasn't meant as a personal statement about you or anyone else- just a reflection on this argument in general. It does seem to be the case though that on trying to bring balance to the argument, Jon often has questions asked of him, and I've yet to understand why. I'd imagine there definitely is some kind of discord among the band
now, but I can't see anything that confirms it from
before Richie left.
Any comment attributed to Richie since- unless it was on Twitter- is still at this point unverified, but if true hints at problems with Jon's handling of the situation since, not before. The interviews with Jon, have again come after the event, and I'd think that no matter Richie's reasons, Jon is entitled to be pissed off that Richie bailed on the tour and left him to face the music.
I get that we're working on assumptions a lot of the time, but it seems a lot of folk are assuming Jon played his part, but I think that comes from our own perceptions of the WWWB interviews and CEO remark. As has been said, if he was this tyrannical monster some have painted him to be since then, the rest of the band, his family, his friends- they all would have stopped coming back a long time ago. Yet Richie gets painted as the victim of Jon's oppression when you could argue its his ego that has caused this. If it is about musical issues, or his album or whatever, why is it often assumed Richie is the hero for being true to himself or having integrity? Is it not as likely that Richie has rocked the boat, sulking because he believes his album deserves more prominence? Or arrogantly thinking he's now too good for Jovi's music? Who knows? It's just frustrating that people keep pointing to Jon when Richie is as likely to be culpable for this, if not more. There's nothing but assumption dragging Jon into it.
And as for people having a go at Richie, some of it is justified. We still don't know his reasons for leaving so yes, we should reserve judgement on that front, but his tweeting has been completely unprofessional and frankly disrespectful at times, and legitimises some of the anger towards him. Coming out and saying everything's good and he's f***ing great has tested people's support and whatever way you look at it, it was stupid to make those remarks.