There’s a divide within society when it comes to Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn.

On one hand, we have people who believe that it was right for Disney to fire Gunn from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for his disgusting tweets that joked about pedophilia. They believe that there are just some things you don’t joke about, and that Gunn’s nearly decade old tweets are good enough to damn his career.

Then on the other hand, we have those who believe that Gunn’s horrible jokes in decade old tweets are exactly what they are; horrible jokes in decade old tweets. While the jokes were horrible, we don’t see cause to see a man figuratively hanged in the public square for something stupid he said long ago, and was obviously not an endorsement of the horrible acts he described.

As I described in detail not long ago, I belong to the latter group. Personally, I believe that Gunn’s tweets were disgusting, but I’ve heard bad jokes that go too far all my life, and may have told a few myself. Also, it’s hard for me to believe that Gunn is the exact same person he was when he wrote those tweets years ago. He’s like to have grown since then, and it’s hard for me to condemn a man for something that another man did. In my opinion, an apology for the tweets would have sufficed. Disney did have every right to fire him as a private company, but I’m not sure they should have. I would hate for something I did a long time ago, that I regret doing now, to come back and destroy my career. You would too.

Despite Gunn’s disgusting jokes, he didn’t engage in pedophilia, and judging by what I’ve seen of him, as well as the company he keeps, I sincerely doubt he ever would.

This company he keeps includes one Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World actor Chris Pratt.

I make no attempts to hide my love of Chris Pratt, but there’s little wonder why. He’s a good Christian man who proudly and openly appreciates and loves America. On more than one occasion he’s been shown to have a good heart, and a caring spirit. Hollywood is filthy with fakes and spoiled adult brats. Pratt has demonstrated many a time that he is not one of them.

To me, at least, Pratt’s endorsement means a lot. Recently Pratt and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy actors got together and wrote an open letter to the public defending James Gunn, which Pratt posted on his Instagram.

Although I don’t support James Gunn’s inappropriate jokes from years ago, he is a good man. I’d personally love to see him reinstated as director of Volume 3. If you please, read the following statement- signed by our entire cast.

A post shared by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on Jul 30, 2018 at 9:41am PDT

Within the letter, Pratt and co. note that while they are not willing to defend his inappropriate tweets, they call Gunn a “good man.” Pratt notes that “there is little due process in the court of public opinion,” and that the political divide within our country will likely cause events like this one to continue.

“We hope Americans from across the political spectrum can ease up on the character assassinations and stop weaponizing mob mentality,” writes Pratt and his fellow actors.

Pratt, who is no stranger to dirty jokes himself, is 100 percent correct.

Gunn is famously anti-Trump and anti-right. He loves talking about it on his Twitter feed nearly non-stop. It’s easy to dislike or even revile Gunn due to his half-cocked political stances. Easier still to dislike him because of his tweets.

None of this necessarily makes Gunn a bad person. His tweets, although disgusting, were just bad jokes at the end of the day. His politics are a study in ignorance and inner-bubble mentality, but vehemently disagreeing with someone about Trump doesn’t make someone evil despite what some of Trump’s more rabid defenders will tell you.

The same rules apply to many on the right who have had the mob foaming at the mouth for their head on a silver platter and the destruction of their career, including yours truly.

The last thing I want the right to embrace is the leftist method of collapsing someone’s life because they goofed at one point, or disagreed with something they said. I’m not asking you to be okay with what Gunn tweeted, but I am asking that we stick to the principle of not silencing and destroying someone’s life because of wrong-think, or bad jokes.

Just because the left does it doesn’t mean the right should. The left is not the right’s leader, nor its example. We should not treat them as if they are.

I stand with Pratt and his fellow actors. Gunn should be reinstated as a Disney director. He’s clearly learned that what he did long ago was wrong, if he hadn’t figured that out through the course of his life already. It’s also a good lesson for all that being a provocateur can be fun, but that there are limits before it stops being funny and starts being unconscionably gross.

As for the rest of us, we should leave the mob and stop trying to position ourselves to throw the first stone. We on the right stand against mob mentalities as a principle, and it’s one of the principles I love about it most. We’re the side that sees past our personal preferences (and even outrage) in order to engage in logical and even-handed practices when it comes to public interactions. We’re the side that knows that a mob can be dangerous, as it’s quick to anger, and act, but slow to reason. Our entire platform involves rejecting this kind of governance.

Let’s not lose sight of our principles no matter how easy it is to engage in mob outrage or the fact that it’s often used against us.