In defense of Arie

Incoming ramble:

I don't think Arie is a villain, I think he's really bad at communicating. While that's not an excuse for treating people badly, it's also not an excuse to say someone is unquestionably an asshole. To use a somewhat relevant analogy. It's the difference between a prick and an asshole. A prick is like getting pricked by a thorn on a rose. On the outside it's beautiful, but when you reach for it, you're pricked, it's a little on you and a little on the Rose for inviting you. An asshole is someone who sticks their asshole in your face.

I mean throughout the "journey" we saw Arie struggle to find words and again, while these are "edits," they still do a good job of showing people holistically. Like Tia. Tia is probably a good person, but when she's faced with insecurities, she lashes out. She's not a demon, but she is insecure.

Arie had to leave the dinner table to "find the right words". He wrote to Emily Maynard in a journal because he couldn't find the right words. Again, this isn't an excuse to be a jerk and it's definitely something to work on, but Becca must've known he struggled with communication. It was pretty apparent. He's a prick, not an asshole.

But regardless. All this hate over the "videotaped" breakup. I like Becca K. and I don't think she'd be our bachelorette if they didn't film it. It enabled us to really champion Becca and avoid any he said/she said crap.

Also, at least we have footage of him talking to Becca about contacting Lauren. That could've easily been a he said/she said thing blowout on ATFR.

I get that Arie has this reputation as a player, but that's the he said/she said thing I'm talking about. When Arie didn't have cameras on him, he still reached out to Emily Maynard. And while he may have had a slew of "flings" that he hasn't owned up to, I attribute that to the poor communication.

TL;DR Arie's not that bad.