Curt Schilling is Going Down in a Blaze of Glory

Now that Curt Schilling is unemployed, he has the freedom to post as many memes to his Facebook account as he likes, without fear of professional repercussion. Conservative comedian Steve Crowder—I struggled with whether to use the word comedian, here, because I think even prop comics would be embarrassed to use image macros—posted the image you see above, and Schilling shared it to his own Facebook page. Yes, Curt, you did not make the post. You did not originally post it, but you shared it. I understand that's been a confusing concept for you these past couple days, and so I wanted to go over it before we move any further.

The macro itself is a classic example of a very specific sort of Facebook memery: the completely nonsensical analogy that really makes you think. Here we have two people, linked by two opposite events: a promotion and a firing. Shaun King became a columnist with the New York Daily News after working as an activist and writing for the website Daily Kos. He has also been accused, by the CHUD's at Breitbart, of not actually being a black man, an accusation he has vehemently and repeatedly denied. Nevertheless, because we are dealing in memes, his non-blackness is presented as a fact in the macro. We're already in specious territory, here, which is effectively home turf for Facebook Memes.

Then we get to Curt. Whereas lying liberal liar Shaun King got a promotion to the Daily News, Curt was fired! And for what? Thinking men should use men's bathrooms. Where's the justice?! The unchecked power of the P.C. Police claims another innocent victim.

Except that's obviously not true. Curt Schilling was fired for repeatedly and brazenly giving his employer the finger with his social media activity, which also happened to be repeatedly and brazenly bigoted. And Schilling did not say he thought men should use men's bathrooms. He posted a disgusting meme to his personal Facebook account that, shockingly, misrepresented and misunderstood the issue of transgender equality vis-a-vis bathroom access. Then he commented on the post, talking about where a penis should pee and, perhaps as chillingly, using the words "designed for the penis."

So, that leaves us with the following breakdown on the meme: Allegations against Shaun King presented as fact : nets promotion :: Mischaracterization of Curt Schilling's actions presented as fact : nets firing. It's the internet's version of a zinger sound byte that sounds good once—yeah, why'd Curt get fired when this guy got a promotion?—but once you think about it makes no sense, because oh yeah, because Curt was sharing horrible, bigoted, and false information and his company finally got tired of dealing with the blowback, my bad, forgot about that.

It's obvious these two people and events have nothing in common and are wholly unrelated except for one thing: the same people who get mad about Shaun King's writing are mad that Curt Schilling got fired. But that's not Shaun King's fault, or the fault of your salty father-in-law's pet phrase, "liberal logic." It is Curt Schilling's fault, and Curt Schilling's fault alone. As a tireless advocate for personal responsibility, surely he understands this.