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“Woke” activism,
i.e. - “cancel culture”
In a recent speech by former president Obama in Chicago...
he stated that he sees college students and other young people
thinking they can only bring about change by being “as
judgmental as possible about other people…”
“That’s not activism,” Obama
said. “That’s not bringing about change. If all
you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get
that far. That’s easy to do.”
Cancel culture is about taking the easy route of shutting down
your opponents instead of engaging them in a debate. But what
does it mean to “cancel” someone?
What does it mean to be “canceled”?
Writing for City
Journal, Robert Henderson describes the act of
“canceling” as “an entertaining hobby—an indulgent,
dopamine-feeding activity practiced on social media until its
cruel practitioners, ultimately bored, follow the algorithms
elsewhere.”
But as Fred Bauer argues at National
Review, “canceling” goes far beyond social media. He
writes that canceling “is often about translating this digital
criticism into real personal pain.” This could mean anything
from causing a person’s media platform to be shut down all the
way to causing someone to be fired from their job.
“Canceling” is found all over on social media—from Twitter to
YouTube and beyond—affecting celebrities and politicians of all
varieties. Young people “cancel”
their peers.
The practice of “canceling” is sometimes used to de-platform
powerful individuals who have been convicted or credibly accused
of horrendous crimes (think Harvey Weinstein). But that’s
certainly not where it ends.
While some
believe cancel culture is simply ordinary
people voicing their disfavor of other ordinary people on social
media, in reality it is much more than that. Cancel culture is
the emerging tactic far-left activists employ to silence those
who say things or hold positions with which they disagree.
When you think of cancel culture, any number of campus mobs or
public shaming incidents on Twitter probably come to mind. But
there is one group of far-left activists that has been using
these tactics for over two decades.
The
root of the problem: The Southern Poverty
Law Center is the cancel-culture vanguard of the left.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a powerful and
well-funded organization that “cancels” groups and individuals
on a regular basis.
The SPLC attacks people that disagree with its far-left agenda,
labeling individuals and organizations as “extremists” or “hate
groups.” They’ve made millions while impoverishing the public
square of civil discourse. Long before there were Twitter mobs,
the SPLC began tracking groups they considered “hateful” in
1990.
The SPLC slanders peaceful Christian organizations like Alliance
Defending Freedom as “hate groups” for promoting views on human
sexuality and the nature of marriage that diverse people of
faith—including Jews, Christians, and Muslims—have held
throughout millennia.
The far-left
propaganda machine uses its vast wealth to
pressure corporations into discontinuing business with so-called
“hate groups,” while also pushing sympathetic politicians to
push those groups out of the public square.
Isn’t there a better way forward?
It wasn’t always this way. As recently as 15 to 20 years ago,
individuals and groups would debate, not seek to silence, people
with which they disagreed. Recent trends are a “departure from
democratic tradition,” according to President Ronald Reagan’s
speech writer Peggy
Noonan.
In 2015, then President Obama had something to say about the
hostility shown to conservative speakers on college campuses:
“Anybody who comes to speak to you and you disagree with, you
should have an argument with them, but you shouldn’t silence
them by saying, ‘You can’t come because I’m too sensitive to
hear what you have to say.’”
Both conservatives and liberals recognize that debate is better
than canceling. It doesn’t have to be this way.
The answer to our problems is not to silence others’ speech. The
answer is more speech. Freedom of speech fosters a vibrant civil
society. Ideas are freely exchanged, even ones that may offend
you or me.
Cancel culture shouts down unpopular speech. A society that
embraces cancel culture is mere steps away from using government
power to shut down speech. Surely both sides of the aisle can
agree this is not the solution.
People from across the political spectrum are prepared to do
away with cancel culture. There is a better way forward. But the
question is, will we take it?
by: Charles Snow [Charles
is a Tennessee native and lover of books and basketball.]
One focus of current cancel culture
appears to be
Columbus, but in fact, it is our American values and
exceptionalism...
The primary problem is that the very people
protrected by the Constitution and inherrent human rights are
the veery ones who are desecrating the Constitution and inuring
many, many lives.
People are easily distracted with an out of
context event and actually this is about Columbus when in fact
the deluded masses who are being incited to act as angry mobs
are being coordinated by a much more heious organized effort
fudned from outside of this Nation, with the intent to destroy
America as the Light of this world!
We all need to stop reacting to every little
stimulus distraction and look deeper at the root of the problem
that is the only way we are going to solve this mess.
We literally need to pray for these
misguided souls who have been lead to beleive events from 550
years ago are effecting their ability to live life and enjoy
their God-given American values and FREEDOM!
Do you see any stories about ANYBODY
breaching the borders to illegally enter into Venuzuela, Mexico,
Honduras, Canada, Britain, Germany, Russia, China?
Do you find that at all curious?
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