Recently, two creatives surrendered to woke mobs: the small-press horror publisher Silver Shamrock Publishing, and big-time indie developer Scott Cawthon of Five Nights at Freddy’s fame. I consider both of these to be rather sad, as wokeness has been stifling creativity in professionally-made media for a long time, and every creator who backs down makes things harder for others who don’t want to tailor their work to a privatized censorship board.
The Silver Shamrock case is particularly bad because the publisher initially made these statements in defiance of trigger warnings:
Caution:
This post promises to be long, some might even say long-winded, but one that I feel is necessary. Proceed at your own risk…
Anyone that knows me, knows I try to be Switzerland. I don’t jump into every social media fracas. Honestly, there seems to be a new one every…
2) day and it becomes exhausting. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that so many of these are tar babies. Once you touch it, you’re stuck with no way out. So, I’ve stayed neutral for this allegedly bad behavior and that one. And, oh, don’t forget that one over there. But, I’ve…
3) noticed a disturbing trend the last handful of year, and it keeps growing, like a cancerous tumor. Soon, I fear, it will be inoperable.
You know, I grew up in the Satanic Panic era. We had nonsensical people judging us by what we listened to, what we watched and what we…
4) read. I got into horror because it felt like it was the one place where I belonged. These were my peeps. There were no rules in our world. It was horror. You threw them out the window. And we were never judged or bullied by our fellow horror lovers. Some liked splatterpunk.
5) Others rocked out to quiet horror. Vampires were all the rage for a while. Then you had zombies. No matter who you were, horror had something for you. We were one of the first genres to celebrate female authors (Shirley Jackson, Anne Rice, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and hell, even
6) Mary Shelley). We dug writing by the LGBQT+ communities. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to recognize the difference in Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, Michael McDowell, and Caitlin Kiernan, but we didn’t care. Why? For the same reason we loved Freddy Mercury and Rob Halford.
5 replies1 retweet46 likes7) They kicked ass. We didn’t give a shit about their sexuality or what bathroom they used.
And that’s the way we liked it. It was always us against them, and it was that way for my 30+ years reading/watching horror. And you didn’t fuck with our fellow peeps or you’d get yours.
8) We’ve weathered every storm, fought off every enemy, to ensure no one messed with our genre. But somewhere along the line, we left the back door open. And the enemy snuck in, disguised as one of us. All of a sudden, they want to change the very thing that made horror great…
9) No rules. All of a sudden, horror couldn’t have this or do that. They wanted to water down our utopia by putting restrictions on things they found distasteful. Now we need trigger warnings on everything, just like in their world. Trigger Warnings? On Horror? Are you fucking…
10) kidding me? You can slaughter a whole house full of humans, but don’t lay a finger on a fluffy pet. Does anyone else see a problem here? Do they not realize this is fiction, that no REAL animal was harmed? I could go on and on, but it all boils down to the enemy insisting…
11) that we make horror… more palatable. Easier to digest. Not so offensive. Horror? Not YA, but horror? Hmm… you’d think they’d just go read something else, right? Oh no. That’s not the way it works now. They want you conform to what they want, or they’ll make you pay via…
12) a social media firestorm. Has anyone else seen an author crucified for their ideas and writing? I have. Many times. And no one says a word. Why? Because they just want to write horror. They just want to read horror. They don’t want to fight against these… well, bullies.
13) That’s exactly what they are. You will do what they want, or they’ll bully you into submission. Fuck it. I can’t stand by and idly watch these wonderful and creative minds walking on eggshells, afraid to create horror in fear of being cut off at the knees. No more.
14) From this day forward, Silver Shamrock Publishing will be the voice for all horror authors. We will fight for your right to create. Censorship is a dirty word, and it’s one step away from swastikas and jackboots goose stepping in the streets. We champion all authors.
15) And we will not stand by and allow these bullies, disguised as horror fans that think they know more than you, get away with their bad behavior. They’re bullies. Plain and simple. So take a breath, and go create. Create whatever the fuck your lovely, twisted mind comes up…
16) with. I, and so many of my fellow horror fans, want to read it. Because there are no rules in horror. And if someone tries to stomp down your creativity, message me. I want to know. I’ll be your voice. Why? Because, I’ve got your fucking back!
Excellent, right? A robust, muscular defense of creative freedom in a genre that relies on the unfamiliar, unknown, and uncomfortable for its power — this is the way every publisher, large and small, should behave.
But this show of moral courage was fleeting. A few days later, they follow up with this:
This has been a tough weekend for many of us, and the blame falls squarely on my shoulders. In my attempt to reach out in solidarity to authors that may have felt bullied or censored over the content of their writing, I lashed out at trigger warnings without fully comprehending the subject. I’lll be honest. I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around the importance of them. I’m fortunate. I don’t have trigger issues (at least I don’t think I do). It wasn’t until a kind soul reached out to me behind the twitter world and compared them to how the MPAA rates movies. That’s when something clicked in my head and it all started making much more sense.
First and foremost, I want to apologize sincerely to anyone that I affected with my comments. I take full responsibility for the mess I created. Starting in July, all future Silver Shamrock releases will use a trigger warning system that I hope everyone can benefit from. My goal has always been to bring the horror community together, to have a safe and inclusive environment where we can all thrive and enjoy some amazing stories. I’ve never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I promise to work hard and learn from my mistakes. Thank you to all of you that have reached out with support and guidance. It really does take a village sometimes.
Sincerely,
Ken McKinley
Silver Shamrock Publishing
From a strong stance in favor of artists to craven cowardice in favor of the very bullies he said he would defy. I truly feel sorry for the authors who read the initial remarks and felt encouraged, but now have to watch as that same individual bows down to their tormentors.
Now let’s turn to Scott Cawthon, who has gained much wealth and prestige for his Five Nights at Freddy’s horror game. It was discovered that he donated to many Republican politicians, including Donald Trump. This angered the woke mobs, and some of them sent death threats to him and his family.
At first he was defiant, saying that he wouldn’t apologize for the donations or for his right-wing beliefs. To his credit, he has not apologized as of this post.
But then he posts this on his website, stating that he is stepping down from active development of the FNaF IP to focus more on his (rather large) family. While he doesn’t directly mention the recent controversy, it’s obvious that he had to step down because of it.
Thus this is a surrender, just like the Silver Shamrock case.
We have to ask ourselves why these creatives were so quick to call it quits when far-left Twitter activists damned them as evil. It’s easily to point at the Twitter outrage itself, and that is part of it, but not because of the effects on the target.
I speculate that these hate mobs are so effective because they scare the creative’s assistants. Let me be clear that I know nothing of Silver Shamrock’s internal workings or Scott Cawthon’s team.
Publishing and video game development are not one-man shows: both jobs require assistance from multiple parties. You could be extremely committed to creative freedom and unwilling to bend to woke mobs, but if vital team members or business partners don’t feel the same way, your projects can’t go forward. Either the team members fear they’ll get passed over for other jobs, or the team members themselves disagree with your stance, or the team members just can’t handle the stress. Whatever the reason, it would force you to capitulate because you cannot afford to sever these relationships.
I believe it was this, and not the Twitter mobs on their own, that spurred Cawthon to step down. If this is true, it shows why the right influence network is crucial to any creative. The lesson here is to know who your friends are, and don’t make promises you can’t keep.
I hate that a climate of fear has been allowed to develop around the creative arts. It truly is pernicious, unfit for any citizen of a liberal democracy.
In better news, The Perils of Sasha Reed releases on Kindle Vella in mid to late July. Sign up for my mailing list so that you know when it’s ready!
All these people that thought they stood brave in the face of “Satanic Panic” are quickly learning that they weren’t standing against anything. there was no bravery or courage: it was all a scam. An industry of subversives just wanted to seize control and gatekeep everyone else out, and that’s what they did.
Right now it takes ACTUAL courage to stand up to these industry gatekeepers. And we’re quickly learning just who was (and always have been) full of hot air.
I no longer believe the narrative of the “defiant” 1980s artists, because history has proven they were full of crap. It was just an airbrushed image the media gave, and not reality.
The quicker we ditch these fakers, the better we’ll be.
I came to that slow realization ever since Anita Sarkeesian came onto the scene. People who were shouting angrily at Jack Thompson were bowing down to Sarkeesian. At first I didn’t get it, but over time, I did.
It’s simply friend/enemy. Thompson was a Christian conservative, and thus an enemy; the (largely progressive) video game industry closed ranks to defend one another.
Sarkeesian, on the other hand, is one of their own — a friend. When she said to stop the sexy stuff, they listened because they wanted to remain progressives in good standing. After all, being seen to defy feminism would endanger their professional relationships.
But yes, the narrative of the “defiant creatives against the Religious Right” is just that — a narrative. Even in the mid 90s, the Religious Right was already a punchline.