If we're going to be anything approaching a community and work together to grow this space then it's essential the elder statements and figures with big voices be responsible with the public debate tactics they use.
An argument "won" in the fans' eyes because you got the other guy "cancelled" is not an argument won. It's just giving in to the worst aspects of our nature and playing off the evil that lurks in the hearts of all. We can be better than that.
Disagree with, dislike them or deride them as much you like, that's an entirely subjective discussion about tone, but punching below the belt is fucked. Not least since so many of us have had that done to us and know how unfair and destructive it can be.
It's also time to make note of the clout-chasing drama merchants who sit like little demons whispering the most ungenerous and disingenuous interpretations of the arguments to the participants and onlookers. These people are tangible evil in our space.
One of the reasons I have striven to promote some figures with intensely polarising public personas is that working with them and talking with them I've seen that their flaw is in translating what they're saying to the layman or without vitriol dripping off it.
I'd hope that through my content with said figures, ppl have begun to turn the corner and see the value they bring and how easily maligned they are and that, similarly, they soften over the years and what was nasty becomes funny if a little mean instead.
I've known @LSXYZ9 for years now and no matter the climate I've been in his corner many times, whether I agreed with the sentiment of his arguments or not, because I think fundamentally he is very easy to misunderstand but seeks to add value to our space.
@LSXYZ9 Just as it disgusts and disappoints me to see him getting mobbed when he says specific trigger words or phrases himself in a manner that makes bad faith actors able to misquote or misinterpret him willfully, so I am saddened the way this drama has played out.
