Oliver,
There was another side to Marc that you probably didn't see. Yes, I saw what you described and yes, I got yelled at by Marc. Yeah, he even scared me at first. After awhile, I realized he was all bark. To me it wasn't "treating me like shit." Getting screamed at didn't bother me that much... it's just the same in the Army, I imagine. Although the GMs were too much. Then again, I could never take that personally (I never got a GM).
When he screamed at me, I tried to see where he had a point. When he didn't, I slammed him for it. That's the thing, most people didn't know how to handle Marc when he was out of line. I did.
One time, I had Clare run an encounter group and I smoked him in it, calling him every name in the book. Clare even criticized Marc in the group for being "defensive."
I also, on multiple occasions, confronted Marc on various things and we talked it out. That's why we got along so well. I stood up to him.
Marc also could be incredibly kind. Did he play favorites? You're damn right he did. Was he out of line with it? Probably sometimes. I sometimes got criticized for things that probably weren't my fault. He was tougher on me than some people. But on a couple occasions, he called in on his days off to see how I was doing. He even called in to wish me well one night when I got shotdown for the newspaper not being done. And he came in once on another day off to run a phone conference for me. That's the thing: I know he cared.
After Elan, Marc and I fell out of each other's good graces. I said I was starting an anti-Elan site. When he refused to talk to me about the Skakel case, I called him a coward. That set him off. We didn't speak for about 2.5 years and except for a call in 2001, haven't spoken since. And today, we're not nearly as close.
I still don't agree with everything Marc stands for. I don't agree with everything members of my family or my wife stands for either. It doesn't mean I care about them any less. When you build a relationship with someone, you don't stop caring about them just because you fall out of favor on certain issues... even if you're so angry that you sever ties. That's just the nature of relationships -- you don't stop caring.
Does that answer your question?
[ This Message was edited by: Peter Moore on 2004-05-14 09:29 ]
