‘CANCEL CANCEL CULTURE’: Elon Musk responds to violent assault on Riley Gaines

Gaines posted her thoughts on the attack on Saturday, and among the outpouring of support was a message from Elon Musk, who said simply "Cancel cancel culture." Musk has been outspoken himself about the need for free speech—it's the reason he bought Twitter—and the problem of cancel culture. Cancel culture is when a mob of activists destroy a person's public reputation because that person does not comply with the mob's mentality.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1644875361111482368?s=20

"Imagine if the roles were reversed," Gaines had written, "and a group of white, conservatives ambushed someone within the LGBTQ community, physically assaulted them, and held them for ransom for 3 hrs... There would be arrests and repercussions for the perpetrators and the administration who allowed this.

"Instead," she continued, "the campus police and University did nothing. They were scared to assert any force and adequately do their job for fear of coming off as racist, transphobic, or anything other than an ally to the community. I'm tired of the double standards. When will enough be enough?"

https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1644209188619583491?s=46&t=bhRsCFycz_nOQT66mhEqCA

Gaines described the attack to Tucker Carlson.

https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1644502461594632192?s=20

Riley Gaines was an NCAA swimmer with the University of Kentucky, and in 2022, she competed against Lia Thomas in the 200 yard freestyle. Thomas is a man, a large man, who towers over the other swimmers on the women's teams. Thomas, who swam for UPenn on the men's team before determining that he is a woman and should swim on the women's team, tied for 5th place with Gaines. Only the trophy, despite the tie, went to Thomas.

The NCAA made it clear that they would be publicly awarding Thomas the 5th place trophy to appease Thomas' feelings, and had no cares for Gaines' win, or her feelings about it, at all. Gaines said at the time that as NCAA officials were handing out trophies on the podium following the race, one of them said "Hey, I just want to let you know, we only have one fifth place trophy, so yours will be coming in the mail. We went ahead and gave the fifth place trophy to Lia, but you can pose on the podium with the sixth place trophy."

This after Thomas had won a national title the night before, stripping the rightful winner of first place, and the third place winner of second. Gaines spoke out directly to the official at the time, but he still gave Thomas, and not Gaines, the trophy. Another swimmer who lost to Thomas in the 500 freestyle said "Wow, I can’t believe I just got beat by someone who probably wasn’t even trying their hardest."

A photo of the awards podium shows the stark contrast between the women swimmers and the man who, according to San Francisco State students, is undoubtedly a woman just because he says he is.

https://twitter.com/TheRightMelissa/status/1644878093767655427?s=20

After Gaines spoke on Thursday night, a group of people entered the classroom where she had been speaking. They turned off the lights, they attacked her. She was escorted out of the room and into another room, where she was trapped for three hours.

https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1644797430310002690?s=20

She was attacked, she was prevented from leaving, and the students that did this to her believe fully that this was the right thing to do. As Gaines was led away from the mob by security, into a room where she spent hours waiting for the mob to disperse, a woman gleefully screams at her "You cryin? You f*ckin cryin bitch?"

https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1644206766165737472?s=20

She had been on campus with TPUSA to speak out for women's rights. She wasn't there speaking out against trans rights, but for violent protestors who screamed, threatened her, cursed at her, and physically attacked her, speaking out for women is the same thing as speaking against trans people.

While under attack, while security was trying to keep her safe from the aggressive mob, Gaines filmed the activists, and posted the footage to Twitter. Women, who themselves do not believe the reality of their own bodies, can be seen shouting at Gaines, and leading chants of "trans women are women."

Men jump in as well, screaming and shouting, essentially, that women have no right to speak up for themselves or the female condition, that women have no right to their own spaces, that women deserve no legal protections on account of the vulnerability of the female condition.

Those men in the crowd that shouted Gaines down and drove her from the room where she was meant to speak were saying, fully, that women deserve to lose out in athletic competition to men who are bigger, stronger, and say they are women, demanding that even if the world doesn't believe they are women, the world accept them and treat them as such anyway.

Gaines has promised to "pursue legal action" in response to the attack. The Biden administration is moving forward with guidance to force states to allow boys to compete on girls' athletic teams.