Reply #193: thanks AIT

[m berst]

What happened, I think, was a self-feeding cycle of suspicion and defensiveness. Once suspicion was introduced, then people became more determined to "get to the bottom of it" which led to more charges which led to people defending themselves or others, which in turn led to more suspicion. Pretty soon, the truth was buried below several layers of charges and counter-charges, and everyone's radar was on full alert to figure out who was and who wasn't the enemy. A lot of people got unfairly bruised or maligned in the frenzy. Then people have loyalties to people, or admiration for them, as in the unfortunate problems around Bev Harris, and that adds another dimension.

The best thing is to let things cool down and the layers of confusion will fall away on their own. Every attempt to get through those layers of confusion was adding yet another one. So we go slowly but surely now for a little while, re-establish strong communication with one another, rebuild trust, and have faith that the full truth will reveal itself sooner in a calm atmosphere than in an atmosphere of growing hostility and suspicion.