I wasn't trying to censor anyone Ig!
I just thought maybe we were going round in circles. We have talked about it often in the past and it has usually ended in
.
I think Paul was under masses of stress and handled himself generally very well, not unburdening himself in lots of 'poor me' outpourings to his fellow housemates. I would hazard a guess that he has been brought up to 'be a man', and he was trying to be fair minded.
He constantly talked about being a member of a team. He saw himself as one part of the whole, and in his exit interview he said he kept himself together for the sake of the team. I know the sort of chap he is, because I recognise the psychology from very close to home.
He is 'closed in' to all except the peole he loves and feels safe with. The persona he projected: eg fun-loving lad, was just a part of himself he kept for his mates, and going out and about. It's not deceitful, it's learnt behaviour, and a defence mechanism. He is insecure and he knows being a laugh makes him one of the crowd. He did have lots of devoted friends at all his potential evictions, some travelling each week from Germany, and he is obviously very well liked in his own circle.
If you cast your mind back to the 'life changing experiences' talk he had in the house, you will remember that he said he was mercilessly teased and bullied because of his ears, until he had them pinned back at 16 or 17. That means he will have learned to act the fool to survive.
Here he was, back in a situation where he knew he was being excluded. As Dean said in defence of Paul in week 9 to Brian. Paul was in a difficult position, from the beginning of week 3. He didn't know who he was being nominated by, so he couldn't form any relationships. He closed up.
People who keep themselves under that sort of control eventually do let the mask slip of course, and as Busy Bee has pointed out, and I have also said - Elizabeth just didn't like Paul. She wanted him out, so she observed him, picked her opportunities, wound him up and set him off.
The reason I am confident about my summation of his character is that I recognise it very well.
Josh almost incidental in this. It's just that Elizabeth picked up on his Paul's discomfiture and honed in on it. Bubble was the one who was most put out by it but he was liked by Elizabeth, and he was out a couple of days later.
Paul never instigated an unprovoked verbal affront. Amma was appallingly rude to him over a period of time before he tried (not very well, I admit) to defend himself.
I actually feel that the mockery which surrounded Paul, the muttering behind his back, the Narinder face pulling, etc was classic bullying. Sociometric analysis (Moreno, 1934) identified exactly the behaviour we saw in the house. Moreno called it scapegoating. I felt they were unkind to him and post Bubble they were downright cruel.
He wasn't very good at arguing his corner, and lacked the vocabulary, eloquence and confidence to carry it off. They knew that and exploited it.
The reason Bonzo, that I liked Paul so much was that despite this in general terms he was incredibly affable to everyone. Whenever he did have an issue about someone, we all knew about it and so did they.
He was a gentleman, he wasn't playing to the camera's and he was very sweet.
And, he also looked bloody marvellous in light blue boxer shorts!
See, now, don't you wish I'd just shut up?
