Cancel Cultured
I started writing this in the middle of the whole Jimmy Kimmel fiasco in which Disney execs were forced to react after they were bullied into pulling Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air for some time, after making light over how Trump "grieved" for Kirk, only for protests on his behalf to bring him back from that suspension. The suspension in general, had just as much to do with money as it does general bullying, but lets focus on that bullying (as of publishing this, Kimmel's show has returned to broadcast. Well, to markets not owned by Nexstar.) It seems the right in general has been on a bit of a cancel culture streak- and this version of cancel culture, being administered by the right, it did not start with the murder of Charlie Kirk, rather, it was cultivated long before. Doesn't mean they can't use his murder to aid them in doing the bullying they were going to do regardless.
Essentially, the same cancel culture they've been crying wolf about, well, that's actually the one being administered. The right is wielding it the same way they once feared it would be used against them, the same way they thought it would be used against their party. For the sake of censorship, pure and simple.
They thought and claimed they would be cancelled for the spouting of right-wing politics through sources like Newsmax and Fox News. Instead, two organizations, one who is attempting to form a monopoly through FFC approval (Nexstar Media Group), and the other known for its right-leaning manipulation and messaging (Sinclair Broadcast Group), have gotten Jimmy Kimmel off the air, if only temporarily. Done through the promise of a smooth merger, through the "gentle" urging from Trump's FCC chair and the money that could be made and the power one could exploit if a monopoly is formed.
The right feared hate organizations like the Proud Boys and other White Supremacist groups would be denied their right to march, instead, teachers, students, and employees in many other industries are getting fired for expressing their dislike for a person who has expressed some very hateful views and yet, who the President himself honored by attending their funeral.
They feared they would no longer be able to preach what they wanted in their churches. Instead, their prayers and their "god" is the only one tolerated.
They thought they would no longer be able to shame those looking for care at abortion clinics. Instead they had their supreme court overturned Roe V. Wade and made it so that care is hard to find due to it being rolled back.
They complained that those more deserving were being denied places at universities due to affirmative action. Instead, they went after those same universities, accusing them of brain-washing through the teachings of DEI and denying funding for those programs.
They accused students who protested the genocide in Palestine as being antisemitic when they just wanted the schools they were attending to pull their money; to divest in organizations that were currently aiding in Israel's genocide of Palestine. To be against Israel's actions- to call it the genocide it actually was rather than a "war" they labeled it as so.
This, of course, started during the Biden administration, and thanks to the condemnation directly from the president, who called himself a "Zionist", the promise of the peaceful right to protest turned into accusing students of being antisemitic. These students were punished as so, whether through violence , or through expulsion, firings, through cancellation. Does this all sound familiar? The floodgates were opened here. This is where the current cancel culture problem started- by punishing those who had a right to demonstrate against an atrocity and punishing them under the banner of protecting other students and faculty from antisemitism. The antisemitism that did occur was quickly denounced for the hatred it was.
And yet we saw how it made it easy for Columbia to fold to the Trump.
This is how one "cultures" a cancel culture. It starts when authority says only a certain few can practice their rights while others should be punished for doing so.
Consider where this went after the Trump administration went into power– it was Trump's ICE, the first of their high-profile kidnappings that went after those who very publicly protested the genocide. A test run of sorts. If not those considered antisemitic, who can we kidnap and deport?
This version of cancel culture might have been brewing for quite some time, but it finally got to this point thanks to that last fact. The Trump administration was enabled, thanks to the Biden's administration and Democratic and Republican politicians quick to condemn these student protestors for their use of their First Amendment right. Through the public pressure that ended with schools having to choose between their students and those who would label them as antisemitic. That's where the current bullying started, the right is just continuing that bullying. And this is what it is– literally straight from the school yard.
This type of bullying needs its instigators, of course, and in the case of the right, this comes from the top encouraging others to essentially become snitches in the guise of "patriotism" when this has more the hint of McCarthyism. Some have taken up the call of being essentially a tattletale. Enabled by those featured right by President Trump's side.
Enabled the same way when Biden called himself a "Zionist" and condemned those students, enabled the same way when the Democrats and Republicans did the same. There were those who paid a price for doing something they had a right to do. Enabled by media from both political sides saying it was fine to label and punish those protesting.
Like I mentioned, as of publishing this, Jimmy Kimmel's show has returned back on air. I would give the credit to the support from those who gave it, whether it was those who protested, who threatened to no longer work with Disney as well as those who decided to cancel their Disney Plus and Hulu subscriptions. Nexstar continues to hold out not airing the show through the affiliates, to continue to appease the current administration, but they currently look the fool for doing so. Just like always, it took standing up to a bully.
Like bullies, they think they can gain control through threats and violence, but just like any bully, they will eventually run into a victim that can defend themselves, or will have a support system to help defend their potential victim. It's up to all of us to provide that support system. The Democratic leadership is not going to do it, they don't want to. They'll only take the credit after we, the average citizen do the work, most likely for the sake of not hurting their donor network. Or they have their own motives in not doing so. It's why they didn't protect those students protesting who needed the backing, who were practicing their right to protest. Even if they disagreed, it was still the right thing to do. If they would have, we might not be in the same place we are now.
Just like it was up to the people who supported those protesting the genocide, it is once again it's up to the communities we build and the protests we enact to protect freedoms we have taken for granted, even free speech. The only way they can silence us is if we stay silent.
