I finally realized what this whole DMG/Loudon/WGI situation reminds me of.

It reminds me of last summer when gas prices were making their big steep climb.

In one day, gas prices would go from, say, $2.89 a gallon (I wish!) to $3.05 or $3.07. The higher price would stay there for two or three days until everyone had seen the gas stations' sign boards and had a chance to absorb the sticker shock. Then, they'd drop the price back down to $2.96 and everyone would be filling their tanks like there was no tomorrow because gas was suddenly so "cheap." This happened repeatedly over the course of several months.

Now, the analogy breaks down there because higher gas prices are inevitable and lethal tracks (IMHO) are not. But if there's one thing that DMG understands (and here I'm talking primarily about Bledsoe and Atlas, not the front guys), it's market psychology. If you want people to accept something scary, first show them something absolutely terrifying and then back off it. They'll be so relieved that they're NOT getting the terrifying thing, that they'll enthusiastically embrace whatever lesser evil you put in front of them. Wait for it.