Over the course of few days, there had been some awful stuff that had come to light. Everyone should feel safe, and people should work towards making our world safer.

As long as I had known Mike, he had been a target (which is another topic, but I don't see how this is fair either). Mike is a boss. He's the type to respect your freedom of speech, and your right to express and hold an opinion even if it bothers him. And you could bother him directly, even. You can come into his chat and berate him. He would not ban you. His belief is that it's soft to care about what simply isn't true about him, when he knows better who he is. There's a reason why Mike's chat was a place to hang out among many NA dota people for years. Maybe his approach is right. Maybe it's wrong. But that's the Mike I know. And these are his principles. I share this with you all as a reflection of his character.

I write this because I came across stuff like this: https://imgur.com/a/J8XY747
I do not believe that he's the type to pimp out pro players using "his fame". Nor to behave in a predatory manner around women. Okay, not to put his business out there (SORRY MIKE), but the dude doesn't even talk to girls. So like, what women? These are rather serious character defamation claims, right? Depending on the nature of these events, it could be career destroying. So, where's the accusers' accountability in all of this?

The boss that Mike is, Mike doesn't want me "whiteknighting" him. I thought a fair bit about this. In a way, Mike doesn't have a lot to protect. You the public already don't like him as is, and there isn't much to cancel of his on-going life. So why bother? While I am not perfect, I feel like I have a decent judgment of what is right and wrong. There are times when I lay awake at night thinking about all the regretful shit I've done. Was I going to add one more to the list when I didn't come to stand up for my friend?

I've had someone whom I consider, for a lack of a better English vocab, a saviour (은인;恩人) who had no one to stand up for him when he had the spotlight on him. The bitterness and pain was real in his experience, and I do not want to become another bystander.

However, to my surprise, it not only took me some time to write this, but some courage as well. Because I am absolutely terrified of the cancel culture. Because this shit _is_ scary. There are people that depend on me for my job and my income. And I definitely put myself at risk by getting on top of any soapbox. But it is with the blessings of those who I need to protect that I speak up for my friend. Because this is not right, and it's not fair.

There's a lot of misinformation and nonsense, all the time. Take this for example: https://imgur.com/a/Km9Phyq. The dude's username is ProfessionalAgitator... and his source is "his games". Widely documented behaviour, huh. To me, it's incredulous that there are 340 people that upvoted this. I wish I could just brush this off being a troll given his username, but all forms of irony is lost on Internet. I mean, who cares, it's just a pub thing, yeah. I get it. But still, you know?

Is it not disingenuous that the community that aim to better itself is also upvoting a libelous claims to the very top? Where is this community that self-govern and attempt to do right by their people?

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