When They Say The Quiet Part Out Loud

Why an admission in the wake of Gina Carano's firing should worry us all.

From the moment it premiered, I’ve been an absolute fanboy for The Mandalorian. I thought the character of Boba Fett was seriously awesome when he first appeared and delving deeper into the culture that spawned him was something I was ready for.

I’ve loved every minute of it.

However, the big surprise was Gina Carano who played Cara Dune.

Now, I was a long-time fan of Carano’s. I followed her MMA career to some degree and made it a point to watch as many of her films as I possibly could. I’ve watched her grow as an actress and her appearance on The Mandalorian was incredible.

And now, as I’m sure you know, she’s gone from the show.

There were all kinds of excuses given, but I was watching it happen in real-time. I watched as the mob demanded she put her pronouns in her Twitter bio, something that marks the left from pretty much everyone else on the platform.

They were shocked to learn that a women’s MMA world champion was a fighter, apparently.

At the end of the day, though, the mob won. Carano was fired from a Star Wars property that would have continued to boost her profile.

She hit the ground running, of course, but it still has to hurt.

Now, though, a report over at RedState has someone saying out loud the thing we all knew but to speak of it was to get one labeled as a conspiracy theorist.

A number of other celebrities are listed who had controversial comments and/or tweets yet maintain both a career and a relationship with the studio. Conservative writer Christian Toto points out another example in Bette Midler, a woman who delivers not only far worse invective but does so far more often. Midler is currently working with the studio on ‘’Hocus Pocus 2’’, with no career interruption. So how are they all permitted to continue working? One voice reveals the subterfuge.

“I don’t know what people at Disney personally believe or don’t believe with regard to politics, but as a corporate entity, they want to stay as trouble-free as possible. And anything that’s going to offend the left is a problem,” says crisis PR rep Juda Engelmayer. “I have clients who are making an extraordinary effort to post what the social left wants to see.”

And there it is. The issue is not saying something deemed controversial, it is all about who considers it controversial. Even if an outrage develops from something spoken or written by a star, if the left generally approves or forgives the individual then everything is acceptable. Appealing to those right of center is a genuine threat to a career. Chris Pratt can attest to this reality. 

Precisely.

At the end of the day, it’s about how the left is playing dirty. They’re playing dirty and we’re patting ourselves on the back because we’re not.

And the thing is, I don’t actually want to go down that road. I don’t want to be so exhausted from canceling everyone who disagrees with me. There’s nothing alluring in the idea of spending part of my day calling up people’s place of employment, tweeting about how people need to hound someone else or any of that.

On the same token, though, I’m not really a fan of watching the left dictate the terms of what is acceptable in today’s society.

Especially when many of them don’t think twice about acting like you’re racist while sitting in your own living room, simply because you can see an argument they don’t like. (Trust me, this happened to me just a few days ago.)

See, while many of us may try to avoid talk of politics with people we disagree with simply because we value those friendships, that’s rarely a two-way street. They may articulate it just fine, but then they don’t bother bringing up politics and expecting you to dance out of the way of the landmines they just dropped.

Then they’ll make it a point to destroy anyone who is part of the mainstream who dares to disagree.

People like Gina Carano.

See, they won’t bother with someone like me not because I’m all but untouchable to them, but because I work on the right and provide content to the right. I’m easy to dismiss because I don’t really provide something for society as a whole.

Sure, I’d like to believe that I do, but I know who my audience is.

But someone like Carano? Oh, you better believe it, and it’s pissing me off.

It’s not just that I’m a fan of Carano’s. I am, of course, but I’ve seen this happen time and time again. While they’re not quite as powerful as they like to believe—yeah, a nebulous “they” here, but we all know who I’m talking about, namely the belligerent scolds on the left—they can still damage people’s careers.

Which leaves the question of just what we do about it.

More and more, I’m leaning toward something I never thought I would.

Scorched.

Motherf***ing.

Earth.

Part of me leaning toward calling for the complete and total destruction of everything they hold dear. I’m thinking about calling for fire with fire and fighting back just as dirty as they have been.

But on the same token, I’m open to alternative approaches. I’m open to discussion of a better way.

The problem for me is that I don’t see it. If they’re going to destroy the livelihoods of anyone who dares to cross them, then the only way I can see to respond is to do the same to them. Bette Midler, as noted above, has said some vile things and is still working. Joss Whedon is accused of some horrific actions as a director, and yet he’s still working. Hollywood simply doesn’t care about bad behavior, they care about public outrage.

Maybe it’s time to muster up our own outrage. Maybe it’s time to drop the hammer on the left so they can see that not only can two play this game but while they’ve been calling us every manner of vile name for our beliefs, we’ve been playing nice.

Yet is it time for that? Is there a better way? I’m open to suggestions because I’m running out of ideas.