The Problem With Cancel Culture Is It Doesn't Go Far Enough

Cancel Culture:

noun

The phenomenon or practice of publicly rejecting, boycotting, or ending support for particular people or groups because of their socially or morally unacceptable views or actions: Cancel culture can ruin careers, but it can also make a public figure think twice before posting controversial comments.

There are varying definitions of Cancel Culture, which is agreed upon when people engage in socially or morally acceptable behavior. They receive public pressure to renounce their views, apologize, and change. The end results of being “canceled” can be a loss of a job or career, humiliation, and shame.

Unfortunately, there’s no longer a universal standard for what’s socially and morally acceptable. The other end of the spectrum also praises the actions that once were considered abhorrent. Racism, for example, was something you never wanted to be accused of; now, in some circles, it’s regarded as a badge of honor.

“Let them call you racists. Let them call you xenophobes. Let them call you nativists. Wear it as a badge of honor.” — Steve Bannon.

When someone get’s “canceled” nowadays, they often pop right back up, never apologizing and finding supporters willing to provide a new source of income. Scott Adams, the Dilbert creator, found himself canceled after making racist statements, including advising white people to stay away from all Black people.” Hundreds of newspapers canceled his syndicated comic because they couldn’t take the public pressure that would come from still running the comic strip. Adams soon discovered his racism had supporters. A week later, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, Adams announced Dilbert’s return in Dilbert Reborn on his website on March 13, 2023.

Scott Adams had a lot to say in a televised interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN. He described how his racism was intended to highlight “anti-whiteness in our culture.

“So here’s the quick summary: I was concerned that there was a lot of anti-whiteness. I used some hyperbole, but my purpose was to teach them and anybody else who wants to listen the tools for success.”

Adams said not only would he not apologize but that he made his racist comments intentionally so that he could begin an earnest conversation. When asked if he owed anyone an apology, he said the following:

“No, because I did it intentionally. I offended people so that they’d be drawn to the solution.”

The problem wasn’t that Scott Adams was canceled; the problem is he wasn’t canceled enough. There was a time when there was no place for racist comments, but now they’re written off as hyperbole, dismissed as jokes, or ignored because anyone opposed to them is just part of cancel culture. Adams claims his goal was to improve race relations. That’s strange coming from a man who went thirty-three years before he introduced a single Black character in the Dilbert strip. That character only existed to mock workplace diversity and transgender identity and identified himself as white. Did I mention he called Black people a “hate group?”

“Would I do it again to get to this place? I must tell you I feel like I’m supposed to be here. It’s a weird feeling. Like I never felt bad about being canceled, and I can’t explain that, except that I feel like I was supposed to be here. I feel like the race relations in the country are so broken that you just have to stir up some crap to get anybody’s attention and maybe convince them to look forward and maybe work together with people who have exactly the same goals.”

Adams is just an example. Do you remember when Donald Trump bragged about what he could do to women when he didn’t know he was being recorded?

“I did try and fuck her. She was married. I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. … I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there and she was married.”

“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

There was a time when Trump would have been canceled for his comments which came to light in an October 2016 video. Trump would have dropped out of his campaign, and the Republican Party would have pushed him out the door. Instead of being thoroughly canceled, he was elected President of the United States the following month.

More recently, we have New York Congressman George Santos, a newly-elected Republican. The lies he told to get elected are still coming to light, in addition, to resume padding about where he went to high school, college, and his employment history. Santos stole money from a veteran with a GoFundMe site to raise money for his dying dog. He claimed his mother died during 9/11. Santos falsely claimed his grandmother was a Holocaust victim, that he was Jewish, several of his employees were killed during the Pulse nightclub shooting. He was once targeted for assassination, among other things. These lies don’t include those about his finances, some of which are undergoing criminal investigation. Has George Santos been canceled, or is he still walking the halls of Congress and casting votes?

The list of those that should be canceled out of public life is long; the problem is that nobody is actually canceled. People can be taken out of context, misspeak, be misquoted, have opinions that change, or speak/act out of ignorance. All of these may have ramifications, but it is okay to be forgiven at some point.

What shouldn’t be acceptable is to be racist, misogynist, homophobic, and more, and when you get caught, double down and turn bad behavior into a profit center.

No one, almost no one anyway, denies the bad behavior of these three and many others. They should have been canceled; instead, they are encouraged. Their behavior hasn’t stopped; it has increased.

The failure to cancel behavior only allows it to flourish. Ron DeSantis is laying the foundation for a Presidential campaign based on conduct that once would be canceled. He declared Black history has no educational value, he routinely attacked the LGBTQ community, he dropped off asylum seekers wearing summer clothing in winter climates because he could, and he increasingly denied voting rights. DeSantis has no fear of cancelation; he knows he will get more votes instead.

Freedom of speech is now the excuse for allowing racist and hate speech. Constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor, regularly writes in his blog and other publications about how “conservative speakers” are unfairly denied their right to speak freely on college campuses. He means students should be denied their First Amendment right to shout them down or complain about using their tuition and student fees to fund hate speech. Turley seems almost exclusively concerned with protecting “conservative speech,” which has become indistinguishable from hate speech.

We don’t need less cancel culture; we need more of it. Those who engage in public racism, etc., should face a public response. We shouldn’t have to continually deal with Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert when once should be enough. Why is Matt Gaetz still free? We know he paid for transporting a minor out of the country to have sex. We know much more, but the Justice Department is afraid that their witnesses lack credibility because, in some cases, they engaged in the same behavior.

Why did Michael Cohen go to jail for behavior that only benefitted his boss and was done at his behest? Our failure to cancel only leads to more bad behavior. We need to do more canceling instead of less, and we’d all be better.

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This post was previously published on The Polis.

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