This. The importance of having someone in your life who will not hesitate to say you are acting like a cunt when you absolutely are cannot be overstated. You can pick out people who don’t have that at a thousand yards at any social situation where minor conflicts can possibly ensue.
Thing is, we have plenty of reason to think he did have people checking him, and his response was to turn a deaf ear and run away. I mean he lives in Washington because his mother expressed concerns over his collecting, if that's not an attempt to check someone, what is? We don't know how she worded that, but it doesn't seem like it was an ass-chewing the likes of which we could expect from you or Iron Hamster. It was probably minor, and look what he did.
Not to mention all his stories about his slew of 9-5s. They all indicate that he was warned repeatedly, he gave them the finger, and they gave him the boot. That was almost 15 years ago, and before that we had him running away from anyone in the FGC who had some criticism of him.
Rich was right about Phil demonizing people the instant they try to check him, and the underlying cause is that the shithead refuses to accept the word "No". He has always prioritized his whims over getting along in the world, because he is the center of it in his view. Impede those whims in any way, and his response is, and was, only ever going to be a temper tantrum.
I see no difference between Young Phil refusing to learn from the bad rep he earned shitting up the Shoryuken forum, and Grumpy Old Phil being a drunken, paranoid, hermit cult leader after so many years of expanding upon that rep. The FGC, his mom, his friends, Leanna, his employers, his fellow YouTubers and streamers, they all told him "No", and his reaction never was different at any time.
You and I need friends and family to check us. Phil needs a psych ward to keep him locked up for the good of himself and everyone else. He would never learn to appreciate it, but it would still be the right thing to do.
