The following is a letter sent from the founders of East Side Games to their employees in response to recent world events. We are proud to work at East Side Games, and we thank our leadership for making our workplace a safe and caring environment.
At East Side Games we are not tolerant. We are not inclusive. We will not defend your ‘right’ to free speech.
We do not tolerate the intolerant and we refuse to include the exclusive.
“Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”
-Karl Popper (1945)
There is no room for Nazis, the KKK, white nationalists, or “I am not racist, but…” at ESG.
If any ESG employee, contractor, business partner, platform or service provider is proven to be a member of, supporter of, or associate with of any of these vile organizations, all relations and cooperation will be immediately terminated. Though you may have a right to free speech and association, that right does not absolve you from the consequences of those actions. The first of many consequences shall be the leadership team at ESG asking you to fuck right off, the second being escorted immediately and unceremoniously to the door. If there are legal consequences to our reactions, we will openly face them.
If you are civil, if you are kind, then you have a home here, and we can work together to build the inclusive future we all want to see. Anyone who wants to defend or condemn ‘both sides’ or fight vehemently for one’s ‘right to say it’ can also, fuck right off. There are innumerous outlets where these abhorrent and repugnant viewpoints get a voice, including the most powerful offices in the world. Our workplace is not one of those, and you are politely being told to go exercise your freedoms someplace else.
With all the kindness in our hearts,
The ESG Founding Team
Jason Bailey
Josh Nilson
Galan Akin