“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” John Milton
There are those who will tell you cancel culture isn’t real. That it’s a boogeyman made up by bad actors to try to ‘crybaby’ their way out of consequences. I’m sure there is a small part of that that is accurate. But if you’ve been paying attention the past few years, you know that’s not truly what’s happening. Public shaming has become the new American way brought to you by some of the same people who would look you straight in the face and swear up and down that they are part of the ‘no judgment’ crowd. Anyone out there celebrating when someone loses their job, has their life turned upside down, or gets dragged through the perpetual outrage culture of social media is part of the problem.
I’m not sure what problem we are solving when expressing the “wrong” opinion, making a mistake as a younger person, or simply advocating for your own choices makes you unfit for polite society. Aside from the obvious creeps, degenerates, and criminals who deserve their fate, the vast majority of the people being cancelled are no such thing. Cultural “book burning” can’t be the answer to the problem of the perpetually offended. Before you go and start celebrating another person you don’t agree with getting his or hers, I hope the life you’ve lived is perfect because when there aren’t any of those people left to ban, cancel or rake across the coals of cultural purgatory, or willing to stand up for fear of losing their jobs or livelihoods, there won’t be anyone to stand up for you when your time comes. And it will come. It always does and all you have to do is read history to know it. The ones leading the charge of the cultural purge are not friends to any American who values the spirit of free speech. Grace, understanding, forgiveness, kindness, and patriotism are all going out the window to keep this country divided and stifle differing opinions because we are all stuck in “gotcha” land. And the worst part is, we didn’t even need the hand of government to help stamp out freedom of speech. We are doing this all to ourselves with the clear goal of making people too afraid to speak out for fear of the consequences, not from government, but from our fellow citizens.
There are those that will argue that if you choose to live life in the public sphere or on social media then you assume the risks of that decision and that no one is immune from consequences of exercising free speech. That’s certainly fair. But the line we have drawn now says that anything that offends another person isn’t allowed. Anything that makes people uncomfortable must be silenced. Anything that questions the approved narrative is best not heard. Is that really the world we want to live in? Because it’s surely where we are headed.
We’ve handed over the reigns of cultural power to some pretty misguided people at best and truly awful people at worst. And they won’t stop. Not until they tear the country apart by its very foundation, some by natural consequences of their ignorance or indifference and others by the design of their malice and intent. And maybe you think that’s an overreaction and, if so, you’re free to ignore it. But do so at least with your eyes open. These people are no friends of freedom.
Elizabeth Banak Books 