The last couple days, most of you have heard about the news coming out of Australia. To briefly summarize, in case you haven’t: Target & K-Mart of Australia (not affiliated with US companies) have decided to stop selling Grand Theft Auto V, one of the most popular games of all-time. It’s release last year was, as IGN put it, “the most successful launch of an entertainment product in history.” Hell, I just bought the fucking game again, this time for the PS4. They’re still flying off the shelves.

Here in America, we have a nasty habit of taking our rights for granted (the ones we have left, anyway). But not everyone enjoys a culture of free expression. We haven’t always valued it either. It took decades of legal battles over obscenity, pornography, satire, and press freedoms, before we got to where we are today. Those can certainly be rolled back, and they have been, in some cases. Sitting back and resting is not an option. There’s a well-connected group of people who would like to take us back, and they don’t play fair.

This is the guy @Polygon sucks off. He hates our games & he hates our culture. SJW dogma is his concern. #GamerGate pic.twitter.com/OnfPf5XYWf — Ethan Ralph (@TheRalphRetort) December 4, 2014

https://twitter.com/Alison_prime/status/540600843540918273

Jonathan McIntosh (aka #FullMcIntosh) is one of those people. He’s an authoritarian. Anyone can be an authoritarian, it has nothing to do with left or right. There are both kinds, and they unite on an issue like this. Remember that impotent little bastard Alex Lifschitz breaking a copy of GTA V? It’s funny as fuck, but it’s also illustrative. The same guy who considers himself a hardcore lefty, agrees with fundamentalist religious nutjobs (not that all religious people are nutjobs) on video games. They both hate the capitalist society that lets each person decide for themselves. They can’t even use honest facts, either. They always have to resort to distortions and outright lies (like Anita Sarkeesian did with Hitman: Absolution). Luke Reilly explains:

“It’s disappointing, however, that the success of this petition appears to have hinged entirely on exaggeration and misinformation. The petition’s creator asserts that GTA V “encourages” players to commit sexual violence and kill women, claiming the “incentive is to commit sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get ‘health’ points.” This is, of course, all false.”

So, not only do they want to censor our games, they also have to lie about it to get the job done. And make no mistake, they do want to pass laws eventually. They’ve already tried to impose some restrictions in California. Thankfully, our Supreme Court has been strong on this issue. But that might not always be the case. Liars and agitators like Anita and McIntosh and not gonna go away without a fight. That’s one reason I’ve always said that GamerGate would last years. They’re here for the long haul, so we need to be as well.

If this isn’t the wakeup call we needed, I don’t know what is. Many of you reading this right now live in Australia, and we welcome your comments on the situation there. I know they had to fight long and hard to even get games like this. Some people want to drag them back into the dark ages. Do what you can to offer your support, and also redouble your efforts here in America, and elsewhere. If we slack off, the censors will win. We can’t let that happen.