Crestfallen has a history of vague statements about serious issues that have occurred at its events.
Often, in order to avoid upsetting the people involved in bad behavior, the statements the Crestfallen staff would prefer to make are vague and indistinct. These statements undermine confidence in the Crestfallen staff’s stance toward these actions. Chaz recommended that the statement I requested for continued work with Crestfallen be written as follows in order to make it more appetizing to Beren.
My actions in the past damaged the trust and respect between Scott and me, and harmed Scott’s character, which I had never intended. I have only ever known Scott to act with integrity in his work, and any rumors to the contrary are reprehensible.
Moving forward, I will endeavor to support and lift up my staff and defend them when necessary against any unsubstantiated accusations. I would like to publicly apologize for my actions, and I will strive to do better.
Notice how the new statement does not actually name the incident or describe what was done. It simply says that something bad happened and something better should happen in the future.
The update in this Buttondown newsletter is another example.
During the course of the event, we had a breakdown in our safety procedures and responses. A good portion of this was caused by the heat and humidity. Tensions ran high and disputes occurred on multiple levels. Because of this, I feel it is necessary to go over the systems we have and the people we have in place to deal with these issues before they grow larger than we can handle.
At the event that Brittany Perry was running, Vince Errico verbally abused Mike Fife because Mike let himself get too hot in his fursuit. This is not stated in the post; it simply says that “disputes occurred on multiple levels.”
This Facebook post also follows the same style.
We have had a person come forward, share appropriate information, and are moving forward with making decisions regarding everything that has occurred.
What happened? What was shared? I have no idea what was going on here.
In each of these instances, the bad behavior is never visibly addressed; rather, it is treated as a private matter that does not inspire confidence that the game protects the players involved. The perception among players is that Vince missed an event and that it was acceptable to verbally abuse Mike Fife.
As an example of this behavior on a larger scale, a good way to see this sort of statement is to look at how large American news media outlets cover the Palestinian genocide. This article does a great job of showing it.
When the Israeli army kills Palestinians (as it often does), we read that “protesters have died.” The passive voice is the favorite rhetorical tool of propagandists worldwide, who “regret the mistakes that were made” without having to admit who made them.