We all agree that he's a scumbag. I, nor any of the folks responding in that vein that I can think are "spinning a narrative" starting with him being a scumbag. The narrative that he is a scumbag is being created by his actions. And that is the genesis of my comments.
So you honestly thought he was an upstanding citizen 2 months ago? I didn't. I've thought Irvin was a scumbag for quite some time.
We went over this back in January. Even before the 1989 thing came out, people were already trying to lay the NYE case on Irvin. When I brought it up then, I was told he doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.
You're free to assume the worst about the dude, but trying to pretend that's a reasonable position is more hypocrisy than I'm willing to swallow.
You seem to want to review the thought process in review. Meaning (as I said above), that we're using "scumbag" as a starting point. As opposed to his actions leading to that. It is his own actions that lead to my comment "he still thinks it's okay to rape people". His own actions make that a reasonable statement. Everything he does is to deflect from the issues at hand, and point blame at everyone else. Nothing in his actions points to him having learned anything from a vile act that he committed.
Then we look at how his business is run. How members of his team feel its okay to act. (Remember, he managed to be in a group of people that found rape to be acceptable behavior: Like attracts to like) We see how he's responding now.
There's plenty to suggest that he's self-serving, and that he's willing to exploit people in ethically questionable ways for his own gain. You'll get no argument from me on that.
But I can't take you seriously when you keep trying to claim that Lloyd and the people around him consider rape as acceptable behavior. It's nonsense. There's no business practice he has engaged in that lends any credibility to that argument. Employing questionable business practices doesn't mean you're okay with rape.
You seem to be stuck on the notion that people are pissed that he did a seminar; but you're also ignoring the context that people are using to being annoyed by his seminar. He did it as a cover up and a redirect.
The assumption is it's a cover up and redirect. If any other gym had a student get raped by a fellow student, we'd view them hosting a free rape prevention seminar in response as a positive. But in this situation, it's a crass PR move.
And the reason I've been stuck on the subject of the seminar is that all of these replies I've made originated with someone referring to it as Lloyd exploiting the NYE case for a "cash grab".
I hear you saying that you think he's a "scumbag", but we all see you defending him every step of the way. It isn't logical.
I'm not defending him every step of the way. I'm speaking up on points where people are going what I consider over the line. But you guys hate that. You'd prefer I be a fan of TLI, or that I be a member of their team, or even Lloyd himself. You want me to be 100% for him (like devnull) or 100% against him (like the groupthink here). Sorry, but I'm not going to play that little game.
I think he is a scumbag. I think he probably raped the girl in 1989 and got away with it by way of perjury. I think his marketing is awful. I think his Mastermind and other non-martial arts ventures are nothing more than MLM. I think his "baller" video is something I'd expect out of a high school kid to rep wealth when he doesn't actually have shit. I think the tax lien is legit, and it represents a serious issue even to a millionaire (because unless he's full retard about his money, most of his wealth won't be liquid). I think he did the Kumite to promote Keenan and TLI in the guise of showcasing some top brown belts. I thought his GracieMag statement was idiotic, and only served to make things worse.
But none of that makes any bit of difference. Why? Because I dared say that maybe, just maybe, Lloyd Irvin chose to hold that seminar because he felt bad for the NYE victim and wanted to do something to help, which also happened to be a nice PR move. Holy shit. Obviously that means I'm his fucking fanboy and think he can do no wrong.