I haven't had anyone ever try to shove their way in through my door. However, I question his version of events. More on that below.
I have.
I think there are inconsistencies in Cannon's story that make me question his truthfulness. Plus, there are things he did without considering how it may affect others, which to me is an indication of someone who is inconsiderate and possibly willing to do or say things for his benefit, even if it affects others in a negative way.
For example,
in this article it is reported that:
So, Cannon was so threatened that he assertively told the Pinkerton agents they needed to treat the Cannons with respect, and
they eventually dialed it back. They even became civil. So it seems that the "threats were made even before he got to the door. So the reports of"threats" are being made by Cannon as told to him by his wife. We're playing a game of telephone here at this point. I'll go ahead an say that it is most likely she cried, which to me denotes that she may have been highly stressed. Now, we don't know what her ability to handle stress is, but in general, people who are crying and stressed are not the best to have retell what happened. So the threats part of the story, to me, are suspect because of who made them. It wasn't Cannon. It was Cannon's crying wife. He isn't even sure when she started to cry. He just says that "at some point, the treatment by the agents made his wife cry. Assuming we are to believe Cannon that he assertively told them to treatment with respect and they. dialed it back and became civil, it seems to indicate his wife was crying prior to him getting to the door.
So you're agreeing that they started out by being threatening.
Would you agree that it looks like Cannon was able to keep a handle on his emotions and therefore was able to have a civil phone conversation with WotC's rep?
In my experience, though, many highly-stressed people become hyper-aware of their surroundings and are able to pinpoint possible threats quite well. They don't inevitably become unaware of what's happening to them, unless, perhaps, they go catatonic with fear/panic--which doesn't seem to have happened with Cannon's wife.
The one time someone tried to push through my door--and yes, foot in the door and all--I was able to recount the events afterwards quite accurately, despite me crying and being terrified, because I was alone at the time, without any form of back up. And yes, the guy who pushed down the door (a maintenance man who thought it was a good idea to try to physically force his way into the home of a 20-year-old woman who was alone)
corroborated my claims, so I know they're accurate.
(Also, nothing was done about it beyond an apology.)
According to this article:
So the interaction wit hre agent was nice and laid back. Again, I don't know how many people would feel threatened by people who are physically in their homes and have a nice and laid back conversation with a customer service rep. I know, you mentioned you had a very nice customer service rep talk you down when some company tried to charge you $700 for a $7 pdf; however, that is not what Cannon said. He said it was nice and laid back. No one calmed him down. He was already calm, from what it appears. So again, was he really feeling threatened? I doubt it.
Again, we don't know what Cannon's responses are like. Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Maybe Cannon is capable of keeping a cool head under pressure. Maybe he tried to keep everything civil in case the agent was armed. We also don't know what this "laid back conversation" is like. I've been super angry and am also good at not directing that anger at people who aren't at fault--including (especially) customer service reps.
Also, note that the article you linked says he called WotC
after the Pinkertons left. It doesn't say immediately after. It's quite likely he waited until he had calmed down.
According to the first article I linked, the article's write reports:
WoTC says it didn't happen, and if that was the only proof, I'd say, yeah, they can easily be lying. Probably would lie, too. But that isn't the only piece of information supporting their claim that didn't happen. They have a report which states otherwise, and a rep who spoke to them. The Pinkerton report could be exaggerated or downplayed, but Cannon himself states they became civil. He claims the interaction with the rep on the phone was nice and laid back. It seems even Cannon is giving some credence to what WoTC is saying.
WotC says that they didn't tell the agents to use intimidation. That's not the same as telling the agents to
not use intimidation. And again, even
if they were told to not use intimidation (and since the head of security is a former Pinkerton agent, he should
know to give that order), they may have ignored that and used intimidation anyway.
But saying that they
became civil means that they
weren't civil to begin with!
We both agree Cannon is knowledgeable of Magic: THe Gathering card game. He has a channel where he makes videos of the game and the cards. He has been playing the game for years. How many, I don't know, but I'm guessing it's more than 2. He knows his stuff. He knows when cards are being released. I'm willing to bet he knows that people who get caught early releasing cards, whether it is selling or making videos, end up losing early access to the merch, and possibly more.
So in other words, this knowledge means it doesn't matter that he became
more popular, because he possibly started by thinking he would lose out in the end. Which rather suggests that exaggeration for likes and subscribes isn't the case here, because he would have lost more than he possibly could have gained.
So we have a well informed YouTuber who gets cards from a friend that the friend should not have sent him.
Which means the friend is at fault, not him, and the Pinkertons shouldn't have been sent to Cannon.
Sure, Cannon was under no obligation to return the products. He was under no obligation to consider the effects it could have on the supplier. But that is a jerk move to do to your supposed friend. Putting himself and gaining, as you state below, a few hundred bucks, is not worth causing your friend trouble. Cannon could have made all the videos and held them until 12:00 am of the release date and put them all up. He could have avoided anyone knowing his friend released the cards before he was allowed to contractually do so. But he didn't because he's an inconsiderate clout chaser.
If the friend/distributor (and for all we know, Cannon may be the type who uses the word
friend the way others use
acquaintance) obtained the cards legally, and Cannon acquired them legally--both things WotC has agreed to--then it's not a jerk move. Unless you're saying that he should have known WotC would send a goon squad after him?
Because everything
I've seen says that WotC sent Pinkertons after
stolen cards before, not after cards legally obtained but unpackaged before their release date.
To some people a few hundred bucks more is a lot.
Dude regularly buys thousands of dollars of MtG cards and may own a house. Do you think he was
that desperate for money?
By the way, why do you think the guard that shot the guy in Denver had his charges dropped and didn't have to go to trial?
I'm going to guess it's because the justice system is borked and the agency has deep pockets and seems to have deflected the blame onto the people who hired the agent.
Have you looked into that incident? I don't want to introduce, or reintroduce that discussion, but you should look it up on your own, read what happened, and see if you think it the guy that was killed was completely innocent.
I wasn't aware that it OK to kill people who don't seem to be completely innocent.
I do know it, which means it's just another couple of points we agree on. I present them, though, because some people responding to this thread make it seem as if that is what they believe.
Do you believe that the people who tried to "destroy" the OGL are the same people that deal with people who bought a product before its release date?
They're both done by WotC. It hardly matters if it was Bob the Manager who made the call both times. But it was probably the same
group of managers. Unless you think each person capable of that level of decision-making always works alone, without sharing their plans with or getting approval from anyone else? Because if that's the case, then it's no wonder WotC keeps making stupid decisions!
Best case scenario, it
was the same person or group of people, suggesting that if they get removed the company might stop screwing up.
I wouldn't call it "immaterial." Either they all are terrible people willing to threaten and willing to engage in violence, or not all of them are terrible and willing to threaten and engage in violence. If some aren't, then there is a possibility that Cannon exaggerated and these particular Pinkerton employees did not threaten Cannon. You have to at least allow for the possibility that Cannon is not being truthful. That doesn't mean that it didn't happen, just that it is possible it didn't happen.
Again, it doesn't matter if they are all morally bad people. What matters is that the agency as a whole has a negative reputation that they are not trying to change, and indeed are relying on, and that the agent involved upheld that reputation by threatening Cannon and his wife.
