Ron doesn't deserve such kindness but...
I'm watching Nick's stream about Ron's interview, and I spotted something from Ron that might be missinterpreted by Nick.
Ron says we only saw bits of his past behavior and that he was worst, to which Nick comment that it means that Ken is even most on point on his evaluation. I don't think Nick got was Ron was trying to explain there.
What Ron was trying to say, in my opinion, is that we think he hasn't changed because what we see from past him is not as bad as he really was, that he was way worst than we know, and that therefore, he did change.
However, Ron has been lying a lot, so I won't take as face value that he was indeed worst (and I also keep in mind that we may have a accurate evaluation of past Ron, but that he thinks we don't because he doesn't realize that we can read inbetween the lines).
I took Ron's remark the same way that Nick did:
"That's you saying that you are as bad as Ken is thinking; you just don't feel that you're that bad
anymore." (
https://youtu.be/gtZZFzdEUJ4?t=2579, for the timecode on that quote)
Just to start with, Ron's comment was an admission that he was way worse than we even know -- except we
did know; it was pretty obvious. Granted, what we have
receipts for was only the tip of an iceberg, but it wasn't hard to tell that there was more hidden under the surface. We knew, but it's still gratifying to hear him admit it.
But basically, Ron is upset that he's being called horrible
now, because he thinks he's getting cheated out of the credit he deserves for "fixing" the horrible that he
used to be.
He's changed!
In reality it's incredibly obvious that he's always been an abusive control freak (and you really don't need to be a licensed therapist to notice it; people had him sized up long before Ken came along). Now he
verbally threatens and abuses people instead of
physically beating them... that's his big improvement. He's a changed man, y'all!
This quote, I think, sums up Ron pretty well:
"I think it's dedication to the process, and falling in love with the process of being a better person."
(
https://youtu.be/gtZZFzdEUJ4?t=2672)
Ron's in love with a process, because the process, to him, means he
is becoming a better person. But that process doesn't guarantee that outcome, as is obvious from the fact that Ron is still the person he is. The process is nothing more than virtue signaling. Ron has learned to go through the motions of a process to fool some people into thinking he's improved when actually he's still a horrible person.
tl;dr, I think your last statement nails it: we have an accurate evaluation of Ron, but he thinks we don't because he doesn't realize that we can read between the lines.
