Warning: I have an alcohol level in excess of 0.2% Barriers are down, spicy content is ahead. You have been warned.
Bifurcation, as in "the point or area at which something divides into two branches or parts."
Growing up, I was a voracious consumer of Sci-Fi fiction. The Big Three of Asimov, Bradbury, Clark, certainly. E.E "Doc" Smith, Pohl, LeGuin, Crichton, frequently. Series such as I, Robot, Lensman, Venus Equatorial, Foundation, Dragonriders of Pern, you betcha. Not so much once I became an adult, but as a teenager, it was rare to see my full face, as it was usually buried in those books.
I am also an avid player of a miniature wargame known as Battletech. Not going to go into the particulars of the game, because it's not germane to this article. One of the most prolific writers of the lore of the universe for this game is Blaine Lee Pardoe. He is a major contributor to the lore of the Battletech universe (every time you say "fluff" a kitten dies) and is responsible for a large part of the "lore bible" (a book for writers who want to write stories for this universe that details fixed events, major characters and their personalities/habits to provide a consistent world to the reader across multiple authors). As long as there has been lore about Battletech, Blaine (BLP for short) has been there. I personally don't read any fiction anymore, so I know next-to-nothing about BLP.
The other day, BLP spouted off against a poor review about his latest book. All I can figure was he caught BLP just right between what the guy said and where BLP was at the time, and everything in the world BLP was (might be) angry at became focused on this hapless creature, much like a magnifying glass on an ant during a sunny day. BLP took the reviewer to the woodshed and verbally beat him like the proverbial red-headed step-child. It seems the "reviewer" had an issue with which military unit was used in a given situation. In the grand scheme of things, this "issue" was about as important or earth-shaking as a bear shitting in Alaska north of the Artic Circle.
UPDATE: After delving deeper into this issue, I learned that this "reviewer" had been stalking BLP for a long time, and had made physical threats against him. The company attempted to mollify this angry person, which did not apparently succeed. It then progressed to "several people" to complain (sock-puppet accounts are hard to verify) to the company, and as an attempt to make the whole matter go away, simply ended their relationship with BLP. I am not blaming anyone (other than the stalker), however I need to point out that any attempt to mollify screeching banshees like this (the stalker, not BLP) only embolden them. You give an inch, they take a league.
Let me be clear, I am an apologist to nobody. I am only explaining from my perspective and insight non-evident thoughts and feelings about these or other events. My opinion and $7.85 will get you a cup of hot flavored water at a Seattle-Based caffeine dealer. Was this a good and proper response by BLP? I doubt it. Was it appropriate? In a personal setting, maybe. as a professional, no. Was it cathartic for BLP? I'm sure it was, I can feel the anger dissipation from here. If it had been me, let's just say the only thing that would have been left by this idiot would have been a smear of something like tomato paste. The fallout from this was entirely predictable because it's been replicated ad nauseum too many times in the past few years.
And due to the squealing and whining of less than five people, the owners of the Battletech IP have decided to part ways with BLP. The numerous works of BLP has entertained thousands of young adults and "adult" adults since the 1980's with his writing. Not to mention earning the owners of Battletech bucket loads of money through building that following.
As such, we have the latest example of the bifurcation of the US economy. Half of the country gets pissed off about something that happened (or didn't happen) and have decided to go off on their own. And because many of the largest tech companies are sympathetic to Leftist causes (Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, et.al.), it has taken many brave souls to break out the saw and bifurcate themselves from the Leftist corporations. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter going Woke, we now have platforms such as Locals, Parler, Rumble, ThinkSpot, TrueSocial and so on. We have The Daily Wire getting into producing movies in direct competition of Hollywood. We have news websites such as 1440, Bongino Report, The Daily Wire, Not The Bee, and more trying to provide Conservative (or at least balanced) reporting of the news.
This is the interesting part, and a major difference between Leftists and Conservatives: Leftists get all outraged and angry, march with signs and protest. A couple of months later, the anger dissipates and they tend to go right back to the offender. Conservatives don't "hate" (dislike) quick, but when they do, they "hate" hard. Once they make the change away from a company, it will be a long time, if at all, before the come back. Conservatives vote with their wallet. They don't complain, they don't raise a ruckus, Conservatives just stop buying from whatever Woke Company and they find an alternative and not come back.
A good example is Disney. Here's the stock value history I just grabbed from Business Insider:
Since Going Woke, they have been going Broke. This is a good example why its a bad idea for businesses to involve themselves in social or political issues. Their purpose is to provide a wanted good or service at a price point the desired consumers can afford.
I am terrible at predicting the future. While many Battletech players are heavily into the "gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes" over this issue at the moment, they are basically stuck, as no other game system is as good (IMO). That being said, they will be most likely purchasing less Battletech lore from now on. BLP gets the last laugh. Blane has diversified his writings into several avenues that are all returning money. He will still get royalties from what he has written. The assholes who told him to bug off will still have to cut a check to him every month for a long time to come. No better payback than that. As a sign of support, I just bought his techno-thriller, Blue Dawn. I bought it cold, just to support him. I haven't read a techno-thriller since Clancy. When I get to reading it, I will give you an honest review.