Cancel Culture is the enemy of freedom. It punishes people for not conforming. Anything you say can and will be used against you in public by people on social media. The Left is suppressing free thought, open discourse, and disagreement among reasonable people in the name of tolerance and social justice. Right ?
All this Wokeness and Cancel Culture is what made Donald Trump and MAGA possible. People were wrongly deemed racist, sexist, homophobic, and hateful for having or expressing views that do not conform to the Left. Especially ordinary working class whites.
This is the conventional wisdom. Cancel Culture is the same or worse than censorship which is always governmental.
And let's be clear Cancel Culture isn't a good thing. A free society allows people to speak and express themselves any way they choose. It creates and nurtures an environment of openness. Atleast that's what I believe as a Liberal.
But now we're in MAGA land living under Authoritarian Trump. Every day he's eroding the rule of law and democracy. ICE seems more like a bunch of goons targeting Hispanics than law enforcement just doing the job. The National Guard has been Federalized and deployed as occupying army in Democratic run cities to intimidate citizens and usurp local law enforcement and officials. The Justice Department is going after people Trump sees as enemies like James Comey and John Bolton. What's worse is that millions of Americans are fine with this.
So I can't help wondering. If Cancel Culture could have been stronger and more thorough would we be here? If it had vilified and demoralized people who support Trump and what he stands for. What if he had lost in 2016 because people would have been ashamed to vote for him? What if he was banished to the fringes unable to impact politics or participate in public discourse in any meaningful way?
Just maybe we wouldn't be in this current mess fighting for the survival of our freedom and democracy.
But in a free society, the kind I hope we all cherish there's room for the most despicable and objectionable speech and thought. Our political pluralism makes room for Fascists and even the few Communists left who are mortal enemies of freedom and democracy.
Sure, Cancel Culture can be thrilling. I gotta admit as a Black man it feels good to stick it to a racist sometimes.
However we Cancel people who can't survive the pushback sometimes. Furthermore, we stifle thought and reasonable disagreement in the name of inflexible, ideological, purity. Not to mention it's symbolism and rage take the place of concrete action to achieve the truly just society it's practioners claim they want.
If Cancel Culture could defeat MAGA and bring down Trump let's do more of it! Yeah, that's the ticket!
Then again maybe not.
