The ‘Stick To Sports’ Crowd Is Now Coming After Gaming Companies

There has been a trend over the past decade or so in which a very specific part of America's political spectrum appears to be simultaneously advocating for free speech" in ways that have nothing to do with the American system while also attacking all kinds of other speech and insisting that speech not happen. Hypocrisy isn't something new to American politics, of course, but the levels at which this is occurring are starting to get damned ridiculous. For example, the phrase stick to sports" has entered into the popular lexicon. It existed prior to recent times, of course, dating back at least as far as Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and Billie Jean King. But the reactions to figures such as Colin Kaepernick and LeBron James, who was told by one cable news anchor to shut up and dribble," has taken a tone that just doesn't fit with modernity.

It's something we might as well deal with as a culture, because this attempt to chill the speech of others is spreading well beyond the realm of athletes. The barrage of attacks against Disney by the state of Florida and its officials very much sent the wrong message to roughly half the country: if someone says something you don't like, there will be government-led retaliation. When leaders do that sort of thing, they send a message to their constituents: companies have no business commenting on public policy, particularly if we don't like their commentary.

Which is how you get this filtering all the way down to Bungie, a company that makes video games, dealing with blowback simply because the company put out a statement indicating it disagreed with a leaked SCOTUS draft decision that would eliminate federal protections for abortion and that it would support its own employees however it could.

At Bungie we believe that everyone has a right to choose their own path and that freedom is expressed across all facets of life. The leaked draft decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade represents a blow to freedom in America and is a direct attack on human rights.

By creating a divide between those who posses [sic] the fundamental right to make healthcare decisions that are right for them, and those who do not posses that same freedom, this decision, should it become final, will have far-reaching consequences that will be felt for generations across socio-economic lines.

Bungie is committed to safeguarding the freedom and privacy of its employees and providing support to all employees affected by this decision.

Standing up for reproductive choice and liberty is not a difficult decision to make, and Bungie remains dedicated to upholding these values.

I don't care where you stand on the issue of abortion in general, there isn't a thing to be angry about in this statement from either side. Bungie, as any company, is made of people. People who have opinions on the laws, or lack of laws, that effect their lives and the lives of their employees. This public statement was also done as much to be heard by Bungie staff, some of whom may be worried or frightened as to what this all means for them, as it was signaling its values to the public. And yet the company's announcement via tweet came with some replies that were the equivalent of telling the company to shut up and make video games."

The Destiny-maker, which is set to become a Sony subsidiary in the coming months, went on to defend its position in the replies to a heavily trafficked tweet that went out to the company's 2.8 million followers.

In response to a tweet arguing that Bungie shouldn't even be involved in this bunch of political BS," Bungie wrote, We've chosen our side and it wasn't difficult. Our company values exist beyond our games." In another response (to a since-deleted tweet), the company writes that it would prefer to use our platform to make the world better for our employees and beyond."

People, get it in your heads: Bungie is made of people. People have opinions on public policy. There is no more sense in telling the company to not make those opinions public than there is your pushing back publicly on those public opinions. It's literally the same thing.

And even more than some individual, Bungie is a company that makes culture. Asking that nobody at the company comment on things happening to our culture is silly in the extreme.

So, no, don't stick to sports. Don't stick to making video games. Don't stop arguing and discussing your disagreements with them, either. Either side telling the other not to talk isn't just failing to advocate for the free speech" so often cited, it's also just behaving like an asshole.