via legalinsurrection:
I have a column today at Real Clear Politics, Cancel Culture is Real.
Read the whole thing at the link, and share it. Here is a brief excerpt:
During his July 4, 2020 speech at Mount Rushmore, President Donald Trump referred to the “political weapon” of “cancel culture,” describing it as “driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees.”
Trump’s cancel culture reference was scorned by liberal media outlets such as The New York Times, calling such “culture war” comments a “straw-man version of the left.” Similarly, liberal writer Judd Legum dismissed claims of “cancel culture” as “something that does not exist.”
Yet cancel culture is very real, and it’s getting worse with the increased power of the Black Lives Matter movement. There are numerous documented examples of people being investigated or losing their jobs for criticizing BLM’s origins or tactics.
Even left-of-center authors and professors, in an open letter in Harper’s Magazine, decried the growing “intolerance of opposing views [and] a vogue for public shaming and ostracism …” They too were met with denials that cancel culture was a real problem.
This cancel culture has nothing to do with criticism or debate, and everything to do with silencing opposition so there is no debate. I know. I’m going through it now over my criticisms of BLM….
Related:
QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED. On Bari Weiss’s Resignation: Where Did ‘Cancel Culture’ Begin?