“Lately my favorite radio station has been covering right wing bullshit every week and I listen to it to punish myself. I wish it was from.
In part of a fan mail to your loyal Trib columnist, Andrew (withholding his last name) said so. I am not quoting the full text of his email. Maybe the closing sentence is “have a nice day, add nothing to this world.”
Well, thank you, Andrew. I should have shared his feelings with my two children.
I quote Andrew not only for his excellent judgment of your humble columnist, but also for his remarks on cancellation culture. In a way he is right. No one is actually “cancelled”. You can get banned, attacked, or petitioned from Twitter, but it’s hard to get banned from public view entirely.
Speakers are an exception. You can cancel the speaker. This is a very real manifestation of cancellation culture. I see it constantly. I have experienced it as a speaker and in speaker scheduling.
I’ve been involved in bringing in speakers since the late 80’s. In the old days, a sudden news controversy involving the next speaker added to the excitement and compelling nature of the programme. Now every news item is adding to the anxiety of organizers due to renewed push and letter campaigns by cancelers. And many of those who request cancellation seem unaware that they are doing otherwise reprehensible behavior. People have told me (and myself), “I don’t support a cancel culture now…”
I’m disappointed. I’m an old free speech guy. Let the person speak.
I regret what is happening between conservatives and liberals. Arguably, it was the liberals who started it so unfreely. Conservatives administered their own drug to liberals. Sometimes the only way to wake people up to bad behavior is to let them taste it. It has effectively enlightened their hypocrisy of propaganda.
But now conservatives are doing it, not just liberals. I see it vice versa, but among Never Trumpers it’s especially strong against Pro Trumpers.
Mr. Trump aside, among conservatives we see him impose a personal standard of political perfection on speakers. They may agree with the speaker on 9 out of 10 issues, but what that speaker said on TV and on her Twitter offers the cudgel of cancellation. There are two. I usually don’t know the offending remarks until it’s pointed out. Sure, some statements are outrageous, but what can we do? All humans are flawed.
Alas, what is the real culprit behind this forced cancellation? For the canceler, speaker disapproval is grounds for punishment. Punishment is met by cancellation. Still, the big drawback is that you can’t actually silence the canceled audio. This is because it usually represents the whole other voice. We encourage you to respond by embracing the voice and beating it down intelligently. That’s how you counter it.
Unfortunately, that’s not where we are in this true cancellation culture.
Paul Kengoll is a Professor of Political Science and Principal Fellow of the Institute for Faith and Freedom at Grove City College.