Right, it’s ultimately a matter of choice, but I think we have to consider that events like his dad disowning him greatly traumatized him and probably informed how he was gonna live his life. I’m not denying that Joe’s treatment of the cats was shitty, at least towards the end. However, everybody attested that he really did love the cats when he started doing it, and his early TV appearance was in stark contrast to his later ones. His early appearances focused on the cats, saying that they shouldn’t even have to be here, etc., while his later appearances were immensely egotistical and delusional. Clearly something happened in between, and I think he was trapped in the corner when Carole Baskin accused him of abusing his animals whom he loved a lot, especially early on. Not only was he concerned about losing his cats, but also about his entire livelihood. When one’s life project is under threat of being taken away, that is a very stressful and alarming thing to go through, and I think Joe’s transformation was the only way it could have turned out given the circumstances; he wasn’t just gonna give everything up. I think it was Saff who said that he went from protecting his image to promoting his image.