With all that’s going on in the world, I feel the need to take a detour from my usual topics and discuss something of supreme importance. As a simple man who doesn’t go with the flow and instead pushes against the cultural current of loosening moral standards, lazy work ethics, and celebrations of degeneracy, I wonder when my number will be up. I wonder when the people in power above me will get around to silencing and destroying me. Not that I think I’m dangerous or even important enough to warrant such attention. And that’s the point.

The Precedent Has Been Set

I’m just a writer who loves talking about movies. I do my best to make sure my work falls within Fair Use Copyright law by transforming the works of art I discuss into something new through my analysis of them. I don’t just put entire movies or excessive numbers of pictures from them into an article as a pretense for copyright fraud. But as I write about movies, I frequently insert my own commentary about how the world is, what I think it should be, and where we are going if we don’t repent and humble ourselves before the God who gave us this Earth. Those things are not exactly compatible with our changing culture of aggressive atheism and inclusiveness, which is Newspeak for intolerance. I can easily see someone in power getting offended by my messages and seeking some dishonest excuse to take them down that would plausibly not run afoul the First Amendment. They could falsely accuse me of illegally using a company’s copyrighted material, and the truth wouldn’t matter. I would still be in trouble.

If certain powerful people can deplatform someone as important as a President of the United States and other high-ranking government officials and cultural icons, surely they would have no qualms about silencing someone much smaller and less likely to be noticed. Even the relatively tame and popular movie reviewers at RedLetterMedia are not immune to getting in cancel culture’s crosshairs. This is why I have warned people for years to follow the Golden Rule and not apply unreasonable standards of behavior to others that we would not be able to meet ourselves. If one person can be deplatformed for saying things we don’t like (and we can invent interpretations of their words to turn them into calls for violence), the door is wide open for someone else to silence us tomorrow on the same grounds.

I don’t celebrate the destruction of my enemies when it comes at the price of my own destruction. Remember Sir Thomas More’s wise words about giving the devil himself the benefit of law for his own safety.

How It Could Happen

We are all vulnerable in one way or another. I don’t personally host my Deja Reviewer website on a private server. I pay someone to do that for me. What if they one day decide my words of caution and reason are instead hate speech, and they don’t want to host my hateful content anymore? It could be done at the flip of a switch, and 10 years of work (including hundreds of articles) would be gone in an instant. My bank could tell me they no longer wish to do business with me because there are too many complaints of unknown origin and dubious veracity being made against me for them to want to continue being a partner to my bigotry. My employer could be threatened with a loss of business if they continue to associate with me after I’ve been tied to a dangerous group like a church or political organization that’s no longer in favor. There are any number of ways to end me or anyone else.

In the past, I’ve noted that false accusations have the power to destroy an innocent man’s reputation, even if they are proven to be untrue or get tossed out because of a lack of evidence. The presumption of innocence has been flipped to a presumption of guilt unless one is exonerated beyond question. This makes it impossible for society to function if someone within it can be crushed on a whim through no fault of their own. I didn’t realize that such an unfair standard would translate so swiftly from college campuses and rape accusations to the realm of free speech and association.

What I Intend to Do

So, I can be made an offender for a word. Now what? I will follow the example of the obsolete man from my favorite Twilight Zone episode and put my life in God’s hands. I will continue to do what I’ve always done, unfazed by this madness. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Let us learn to love one another, bless those who curse us, and do good to those who despitefully use us and persecute us. Doing so might win over our enemies and turn them into friends. By refusing to become bitter and return blow for blow, we will be justified by God. He will strengthen us to overcome our trials. He will wipe away every tear and correct every injustice. The meek (not the loudest or angriest mob) will inherit the Earth. If we believe Jesus spoke the truth, we have nothing to fear. Though I may be smeared one day with all sorts of mean names, I will not respond in kind. Even if the world wishes to silence people like me, God is always willing to hear my cries.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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