The Persecution of Scott Cawthon
Originally posted to Thinkspot on June 13th, 2021.
A few months back, a woman who was close to me at the time started talking about Disney's firing of Gina Carano. The words coming out of her mouth were typical of the average person; which is to say she didn't actually look into the issue. She was simply spouting off a version of events based on her reading headlines and only half-paying attention. This is how the truth gets mangled and discarded. It is, sadly all too common. When I corrected her on what had happened, she didn't waver in her opinion. She simply moved the goal post. "Well, she knew she worked for a company that leaned Left. She should have kept her mouth shut."
At the time, I was taken aback. Now, as I type these words, I am filled with disgust. It's amazing how quick people are to dismiss the most basic of freedoms.
If I may take a second to detour, there is a reason why the Founding Fathers created the First and Second Amendments as they did. Without Freedom of Speech --- without the ability to speak and believe without fear of persecution, one cannot be free. The Second Amendment backs up the first. It is a reminder from men who fought, died and asked their brothers and neighbors to do the same. Never let anyone take your voice from you. We fought more than one war for this, including the Civil War. None of the other Amendments matter without the first two.
The Constitution protects our people from reprisal by Government. Unfortunately, the illiberal, Marxist Left has found a workaround. If the government can't take your voice, they will simply form a mob and take it themselves. "Freedom of Speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences." I've heard those words a thousand times. I've even said them once or twice. It's a pretty simple concept that on the surface seems like common sense. Newton's Third Law says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you put something out into the world, there will be a reaction. Sure, makes sense. The problem is that no one ever examines what that means. Yes, there should and will be consequences to the things you say. We learn that as children, from the first time we confront out parents. But a mob is not our parents; nor are they our government. Who are you to decide what the consequences are for me?
Why are anonymous twitter posters allowed to decide who gets to be a person?
In the case of Gina Carano, the internet decided she was evil. It started because she refused to post her personal pronouns on her twitter profile and made a harmless joke about it. Yes, harmless. She said her pronouns were "beep bop boop", referring to robots. No one is harmed by this. Transgender lives are not endangered by this. From there the Leftist internet mobs grabbed their torches and pitchforks. She had to be fired. No, she needed to be crucified as a warning to anyone else that crossed the mob.
As horrifying as Gina Carano's situation should be to anyone with a shred of decency, it still follows a kind of logic. She was fired from her job for speaking publicly. The consequences were unjust, but they were still consequences of her actions.
Now let us consider what is happening to Scott Cawthon.
Scott is the creator the hit video game franchise, Five Nights at Freddy's. Five Nights at Freddy's or FNAF is horror game based around a common childhood fear from my generation of the Chuck E. Cheese/ Showbiz Pizza animatronics coming to life and murdering children. FNAF has spawned a successful series of books as well as movie currently in production.
Despite his massive success, Scott doesn't seem to speak much outside of communicating with his fanbase on reddit about the games. His twitter account is absent of posts. And yet the Cancel Culture mob has turned their attention to him. In addition to public attacks, threats and calls for boycotts, they've doxxed him.
Scott's wife is several weeks pregnant. Someone posted his address online. The same people who think the words "beep bop boop" kills transgender people have no problem handing a man's address over to people threatening him. There is only one reason to post someone's address in these situations. They want him to know that he and his family are in danger.
This is horrific. So what did Scott do to deserve having his life upended and threatened? He voted for President Donald Trump in 2020.
That's it.
He did donate a few thousand dollars to the campaign, but that's just the icing. Scott wasn't even posting Pro-Trump or political statements. He simply exercised the Rights given to him as a citizen of the United State of America. Someone dug into Scott Cawthon's life and used that information to start a campaign against him.
We have now officially entered the age of Thought Crimes. Put aside whatever personal thoughts you have about President Trump. At the time of the election he was the sitting -and yes, duly elected- President of the United States. In November, 2020 he had more votes than any other President in US history. Half the country voted for him. And yet somehow this has been decided not just to be undesirable, but ostensibly criminal?
Who decides that?
In 2016, I was part of what was called "Never Trump". I was not a fan of then-citizen Donald J Trump. While admittedly I found him very funny, I also found him utterly contemptible. I could go into the specifics, but suffice it to say I found him wanting as a human being and as a potential leader of the Free World. Looking at the four primary candidates (I am a- as I call it- Constitutional Libertarian), I found them all to be a joke and abstained from the vote.
I was quite vocal about my "Never Trump" position. So imagine my surprise a few months later, when a woman I had known online for over a decade had deleted me from her Facebook. When I asked her about it, her answer was that "People like you hate people like me." This woman knew intimate details about my life, including some fears that I was too afraid to express in my normal life. I told her that it made me sad to know that she thought so little of me that she thinks I would judge someone based on their political leanings. I would suggest the irony that it was she who was doing so, but that isn't true. I didn't vote for Trump. She really didn't know how I viewed things politically. It didn't matter. The very idea that I might have voted for ORANGE MAN BAD made me an undesirable. I wasn't a person anymore. To her, I was a vote for evil.
In 2020, I absolutely voted for President Trump. I admitted publicly around 2019 that I was wrong. Under President Trump, the economy was the strongest it had been in our lifetime, our enemies were convinced he would bomb them back into the stone age, we were withdrawing from unnecessary conflicts and moving towards a much more peaceful Middle East. He had also corrected several catastrophic decisions by President Obama, including the Paris Climate Change Accords and the Iranian Negotiations which fund Hamas. There were and are still many things I vehemently dislike about the Former President, but my positions are legitimate and based on facts. Scott Cawthon has publicly stated that many of these reasons were why he supported President Trump. Like me, Scott supported Democratic Primary Candidate Tulsi Gabbard. He also supported Kim Klacik, a black woman running as a Republican for mayor of Baltimore. He clearly has a nuanced view of politics, or at lease a less simplistic one than most people. Do any of these positions merit his life being turned upside down and his success stolen from him by keyboard warriors?
According to the illiberal, Marxist Left, yes.
We are guilty of the ultimate crime... dissent.
Ironic isn't it? The United States was founded on dissent. On men and women announcing that they would decide their own fate.
Scott Cawthon and Gina Carano have both made it plain that they will not back down to the mob. They will not bend the knee. We have a choice here. We can take the position of the woman I mentioned earlier and shrug our shoulders. "What does it have to do with me?" But if a random video game developer can be singled out and attacked for a vote, what is to stop them from coming for the rest of us? Let me remind you, Donald Trump is no longer even President. His vote and his money no longer matter.
The other choice is to stand up. There are more of us than there are of them. We simply choose to be silent and not rock the boat. Maybe if we're quiet, they won't come for us. Many a coward has died with that as their last thought.
Cancel Culture is no longer passive. The mob is actively attacking people for their private positions. The last stage on Cancel Culture is open bloodshed.
We can choose to turn a blind eye, but one day they will come for you and they may be armed.
#ginacarano #disney #fnaf #scottcawthon #cancelculture
